First day of work - monday 24th of October

Saturday in the afternoonwe arrived in Floresti, Romania. This day we used to rest from when we had to get up really early; we went to a big shopping mall to look around and shop a little bit, but we also went there to compare the rich part of Cluj/Floresti to the poor Roma people in Floresti. The rest of this day we used to rest. The next day, Sunday, we also used to rest and get used to the Romanian culture. We went to the city centre of Cluj and looked around some churches. We also went to the central park of Cluj, which was very beautiful with all the colours of the Autumn. We had a good dinner at a pizzeria, and in the evening we evaluated the day as a group, like we do every day. Today was the first day we had to work in the Roma area. First we met with the people who have been working at St. Charis for a longer period of time. Then we opened the day together and we discussed who was going to do what during the day. First I helped cleaning the building used to meet and organize e.g. games for the youth in the area. After that, I cleaned the leaves around the school building to make the area look more beautiful, which helps to make the other Romanians feel like this area is developed and they can be treated like all the other people living in Floresti. In the afternoon, I went to an ABC-class to see how the children in the area get educated, and it was very interesting to see. Children of around 14 years old didn't even know how to read of write, and they learn this in this ABC-class. I thought it was very nice to see that these children had joy going to school, which made it an awesome experience. Now I'm going to bed to have another nice working day and more awesome experiences tomorrow.

Daan Assies