CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Camp Champ!

Okay, I have a few minutes so I will try to give you as much as an update as I can for as long as I can! Yikes.

So I made it (finally) at 4 a.m. and Tricia and I talked for a while so I got to bed it was about 5. I had to get up at 8 to get ready for the day and start going for the day on 3 hours of sleep. We are all aware that does not work for Amanda. But I got up and met the rest of the group and had a delicious (for reals) omlette from the Hotel Moldova. Then we headed up to the Foundation Office and unloaded the boxes that we had brought. One of the girls that is with us has a husband who plays for the Green Bay Packers (Brady Poppinga) and they have a foundation called Poppinga Pay it Forward that gathered a whole bunch of stuff. And when I say "Whole Bunch" I mean about 85 tons of supplies. Seriously. Clothes, toys, medical supplies, you name it. I unpacked the camp supplies and then helped them get things organized and it took a very very long time. We also had a meeting with a bunch of the staff where we introduced ourselves and went over the agenda for the week.

After that we went to the Elena Farago orphanage to see the teens. I tell you what I was a celebrity there. The boys were running at me and it was SO SO SO SO good to see them again. We talked and hung out and all of them kind of introduced themselves and talked about where they are in life and what they are doing. We also met the new director for the place and he is a great man. His eyes just totally light up and I can tell he really cares about the kids there. He has a really good heart and he made me feel really comforatble about having the boys there. They were leaving for camp the next day so that was our only night to hang out at the center.

After that a few of us went to the Children's Protection office where the painter Costica has his studio. A few of the girls bought paintings (he wouldn't sell the one I wanted, it was one of Oana's.) and we saw all of the amazing murals he's made for the kids in the Children's Protection building. It mostly houses kids in emergency situations who are being abused and it was a really nice and clean facility.

After that we headed back to the Foundation Apartment to have dinner with the Bridge to Success boys: Claudiu, Adrian, Vasile, Sorin, Danut, and Bogdan. Oh, how I love those boys so much. We ate and hung out and Brooke brought all of them tons of Packers clothes. They got brand new shoes, shirts, coats and pants all from the team and I think most of them were autographed. They were really excited even thought they have NO IDEA what American Football is. They still were pretty excited. I gave the guys a few CD's and we had a good talk (of course) about how we expect them to make good decisions and how what they decide now will really effect them and how we're so proud of the gains they've been making lately. It was so great to see them and I was so sad that they all left for camp and I wont get to see them again! They all seemed happy and healthy and I just love them so much!

The next day was the first day of camp and it was so awesome. The theme for the day was all activities that had to do with Christmas (the parents thought I was totally nuts) and we decorated Christmas trees, made ornaments out of pipe cleaners and beads, made macaroni necklaces and decorated big wooden stars. The little kids (3-5ish) came first and the older kids came later. We did the same thing for both groups and it was a blast. We had so much fun! The kids are really awesome and the moms were so supportive and so helpful with the kids! We had a lot of fun with camp.

After camp the first day we went to the special needs orphanage. It still is getting so much better! We brought bumper pads for all the cribs and got to tie them all on and hold the kids. Yes, Debbie, I got to hold Alexandra again and she is so sweet. We played frisbee with a few of the older kids there and hung out for a while. After that we did some organizations of the camp stuff and clothes stuff for a long time and then a few of us went to Happy Time for dinner. After that we totally just hit the sack. I was still trying to catch up on sleep which was about the longest process ever.

Tuesday we did camp again with the theme of Animals. We all got there and started to set up and the parents and kids all came and we were about ready to start when we realized that not one person there spoke English and Romanian. None of the staff had shown up yet. We pulled out crayons and paper to kill some time... then we needed more time to kill so we pulled out the parachute... We didn't get an interpreter there until almost an hour late! We got things going and it ended up being one of the funnest days. We had kids crawling around acting like animals and a whole bunch of pictures and masks and we did some races while acting like animals. It was probably the funnest day of camp. After that we went to the Barlad Children's Hospital and delivered a whole bunch of medical supplies and delivered toys to the kids that were there. It was so fun to be playing Santa and taking toys to all the kids. We couldn't hold any of the babies or take pictures which is probably best considering the 800 I have of Stefan from last year. These poor mothers had to deal with all of us totally invading their privacy as the nurses took us into all the rooms. It was really cool to see the therapy room there. They were doing a lot of massage therapy there with the kids and it was so interesting to see it. The room was really nice and colorful and they were doing massage therapy with a girl with muscular dystrophy and another boy with some leg problems. I had never seen that room before and it was really cool.

After me and Tricia did some mad Barlad shopping, we met all of the staff for dinner at Alona's which turned into about a 3 hour affair by the time we all ordered and ate. It was a really good time to just sit and have fun and talk to them outside of the setting with the kids. We just kind of had fun and ate a lot and sat for a long time.

Okay, I think 3 days is about all I can cover in one blog. I have so much to say about the improvements in this place. Elena Farago is incredible. The special needs center and the hospital seem so much better staffed and the kids seem so cared for. The parents are even getting so much more involved with their children. I am just so happy with the situation these kids are facing. It seems like the whole town is coming together and taking care of these kids. We talked to a lady at the hospital who said that things are looking better because parents are excited to have kids and "wishing to have children." I have been so pleased with how things are looking here and it's making me so happy for these kids.

Okay, that's enough for today. Love you all! See you soon!

3 comments:

Here And Happy! said...

Oooooooooooooooooooo HOMESICK!!!! Amanda, it sounds like you are doing an incredible job. I don't know if I could have pulled off what you're doing alone this year. I got tears at the mention of those EF/foundation guys--I really do love some of them so much. I miss the staff. I miss Barlad. I even miss the dogs and the crazy ride from the airport! Give it all a big hug for me and hang in there--you're almost home.

Ashley said...

Next child I have be he a man or a woman I will name it Bogdon. What a funny name. Keep up the good posts! I love reading what you guys are doing. See you soon.

Erika said...

My mom is probably thrilled with all the awesome stuff you guys are doing! You are born for that stuff, Manda. Seriously. Party planner/philanthropist....totally your thing!