October 2015 – adventuresinromania

English Oct ’15

Our English club with the Elena Doamna orphanage students started on Friday, Oct 2 and went off without a hitch ! We are reviewing what we went over last year, namely verbs in the present tense, pronouns, possessive pronouns, adjectives, and prepozitions, and practicing reading. This is the same group we worked with last year, mostly in the 6th-8th grade, and we look forward to advancing their talents this fall! We opened up a small space that we are renting close-by to the Orphanage to have the English lessons, as opposed to going into the Orphanage like last year. We find we can have more control over the classroom if it is in a neutral space. We also started up an open English club on Thursdays from 4-6pm in response to the request for helping more students with understanding English. The students who come Thursdays are from the Elena Doamna and Ion Creanga Orphanages. We have 12 students this year in our Friday club, and between 6-8 students on Thursdays, but we are spreading the word.

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Preparing the classroom

The first class on Friday

Pray for them as they learn to be smarties!!

Saturday Awana program
Saturday, October 3, 2015

For our first Saturday children’s program of the fall, we took the kids out of the center for a day in the open air! We played games, heard a story, had time to play, and watched sheep. It was fun!

It was the first of style of combining 2 orphanages for the children’s program. For two years, we had been splitting up the team that does orphan work on Saturdays to go to Elena Doamna Orphanage and one team to go to Ion Creanga Orphanage. We want to do it this way now, because it gets our leaders all working together and not going in two separate places. It also gives a chance for the children to spend time together. Our future gatherings will take place either in the open air, a common space, or church all together. Pray for these little ones to remember the good principles they learn as they grow up !!

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Statistics

In Romania in the year 2000, there were: 87,753 orphans/abandoned children.

In the year 2010, there were: 62,000 orphans/abandoned children.
(To read more about why there are orphans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_orphans)

While numbers are going down, there is still a large group, with a high concentration in institutional orphanages in the Eastern part of the country. To effectively serve this marginalized group, there is a need for compassionate individuals to be willing to do life with them: support during the school year, providing extracurricular activities, and offering possibilities for them to grow.

Romania Pop. 20,121,641 people (2011 Census).
Piatra Neamt, Romania Pop. (our town) 58,000 people.

Num. of children at Casa Ray Orphanage (private) : 20

Num. of children at Elena Doamna Orphanage (state) : 116

Num. of children at Ion Creanga Orphange (state): 74

Country's Induction in the EU: 1 Jan, 2007.
Conditions of orphanages have greatly improved with the country’s induction in the European Union, and grants have been given to certain orphanages and infrastructure to make renovations.

Psalm 68: 5-6

" El este Tatăl orfanilor, Apărătorul văduvelor, El, Dumnezeu, care locuieşte în locaşul Lui cel sfânt. Dumnezeu dă o familie celor părăsiţi, El izbăveşte pe prinşii de război şi-i face fericiţi; numai cei răzvrătiţi locuiesc în locuri uscate. "

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" A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. "

Month: October 2015

Starting English Club 2015-2016!

First Saturday program