We are happy to tell you that we have started Romanian language lessons in the camp in Rădăuți!

The children were very receptive and understood, most of them, the importance of knowing the Romanian language, as long as they are in Romania. The alphabet was the first step. Each was given a notebook, a pen and a seat in the makeshift classroom next to the Yellow Bus. Some of them, already learning German and English in Ukraine quickly saw the analogy and started writing. Others were remembering how to write or even learning to write handwritten letters from the Romanian language alphabet. That’s how we ended up transcribing Mihai Eminescu’s Sleepy Birds, Curly-Haired Cat for the little ones or Nichita Stănescu’s love poems for the grown-ups.

Of course, we can’t learn them all the first time, but along the way, the lessons became more than just knowledge, they were life lessons that we got from them and they got from us.

Humanity and kindness are not about race, gender or ethnicity. Education and human relations is what remains after we leave the school benches, and the power of example is a truly infectious thing. It was enough to have a few children in the “class” as their friends came with their notebooks to receive an assignment. Sometimes they got tired and wanted to give up, but seeing others get involved, they didn’t give up so easily. I then went on to read, they were reluctant, because they didn’t know, but later, when they saw their results, I got to tell them.

We have to tell you that it was fun for us too to remember how to write the letters by hand like in the book.

We thank all the volunteers who got involved and are getting involved in the activities with the children from the Refugee Camp in Rădăuți.

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