Oportunitate Spontană de a promova “Familia AMURTEL”

Posted on June 28, 2010 by admin

La programul Open Day care a avut loc la Centrul de zi Izvorul Speranței am avut oportunitatea spontană de a sensibiliza comunitatea din Pănătău despre munca pe care o facem cu copiii noștri din Familia AMURTEL, atunci când una din profesoare prezente la program a început să critice dificultățile copiilor noștri la școală. Din păcate, puține persoane din comunitate sunt conștiente de efectul traumelor și neglijenței din copilăria timpurie asupra devoltării cognitive și comportamentale a copiilor, având tentința de a-i judeca atât pe copii (ei sunt răi) cât și pe noi ( nu-i educați cum trebuie).  În concluzie a fost o oportunitate scurtă de a oferi informații și să explicăm de ce punem accent pe expresiile creative precum dificultățile copiilor la școală, fiecare având nevoie să-și descopere talentul pentru a-și construi încredrea în sine. Apoi au fost interesați să vadă filmul despre copii noștrii și a fost foarte frumos să vedem cum expresia pe fețele tuturor s-a transformat și s-a luminat, simțindu-se mândri de copii. De fapt aceasta a arătat cât de mult simte comunitatea acești copii ca facând parte din “unul de-al nostru”. Dacă nu ați vizionat filmul – aveți aici legătura pentru videoul Familia AMURTREL:

http://vimeo.com/9515893

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Neohumanist Education In Bucharest Jan-May 2010 Update

Posted on June 28, 2010 by admin

Many Faces, One Heart

During a cold and icy winter day, our friends from the Bucuresti Noi school travelled all the way across the city to join our morning Circle in Mihai Bravu for a special day dedicated to the theme of diversity “Many Faces, One Heart”.  The children had made life-size paintings of children from around the world, and discussed ways that people are different in the ways that they look, in the things that they like and in many ways, yet there is always something the same in our hearts.  This was one of many of the interesting curriculum themes covered this year. Other special themes included:  “My Friends”, “I am a child, just like you”, “Forest Brothers and Sisters”,  “Birdhouses”, “Travelling through the stars”, “SOS Planet Earth” and ” Little archeologists”. Continue reading →

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Disaster Relief Management Training

Posted on June 26, 2010 by admin

The Disaster Response Management Training, held June 18-20th in the “Fountain of Hope” After School Center in Panatau, Romania was very successful. There were 10 Romanian participants – all with backgrounds in social work with children – and all now very inspired to participate in future Rapid Response Team initiatives, both on local, and in some cases, international levels. They were delighted to discover that they could apply their existing experience and skills within a disaster response in a very effective and needed way. Our focus was principally on Child Friendly Spaces as a target intervention, but they gained broader experience in Cluster Approach, Sphere standards , assessments , etc. as well.   Our next goal is to finalize a protocol with the branch of the national army responsible for disaster relief – and then we will develop a project proposal to gain seed funding for a “CFS in a Box Community Kit”.  We plan to have a team ready to go into communities to train local communities to set up and run a CFS – mostly in the events of flooding, which is quite common in Romania.  In the meantime, through the network we created, we will already begin gathering such supplies…and we will begin regular sessions of post-traumatic stress prevention both for self-care and for building the capacity of our team to share such techniques with affected populations.
It was a very satisfying weekend, and we were grateful to have Paunkaj Doug Skipper who shared his experience of 3 years of work in the AMURT and AMURTEL Tsunami Disaster Relief operation.

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News from “Fountain of Hope”

Posted on June 23, 2010 by admin

Open Day program

 

 

 

Friday, June 4th,  the new director Larisa of the Fountain of Hope After School Projectt, organized our first “Open Day” program for the local community. It was very successful – teachers from the primary school, members of the town council, parents, and other supporters attended, as well as 3 classes of children from the primary school. There was an exposition of the children’s crafts and artwork, snacks, leaflets, and the screening of a short video about the project. The goal of the event was to create more community participation,  and involvement in the project, and indeed, several people expressed a desire to help through volunteer work. All were very appreciative of the work going on in the project, and were happy to get to see it from the “inside”. They also enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, unlike the traditional formal events in the schooIs and were happy to be able to discuss openly with us. It was especially exciting for the children to see themselves on screen during the video, and they were very proud to be highlighted in this way in front of their classmates from the school. The admiration that they received from their peers  was important  in supporting them to overcome the stigmatization they sometimes feel about attending the center.

New 3 minute video of the Fountain of Hope:

You can see an english version of the video that was shown during the event at:

http://vimeo.com/12394768

Constructive summer activities for local youth

The Center will also continue to offer recreational activities for local youth during the summer, such as cultural evenings with open air screenings of films ,  traditional painting on glass, dances, karaoke contests, etc.

To donate online:

 

 

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