The Last Day of Camp

It has been an interesting week with a variety of emotions. From the beginning of camp when we first met with the children we were uncertain what to expect. The volunteers as well as the children became more comfortable day by day. This daily contact and interaction helped us develop a bond with the kids making it an exciting experience. Daily it was a challenge attempting to communicate and working through the language barrier to create a relationship and building trust with each child. It was a joyous experience to find some of the children could speak and understand some English. We were able to communicate because each of us were willing to step outside our comfort zone, even though at times feeling foolish we just continued to make the effort. Although some of the children were shy at the beginning and some were very outgoing all of the children made an effort to communicate with us from hugs, a touch of their hand or just making hand signals.

As each day past I found myself in disbelief after hearing some of the stories of how some of these children live on a daily basis with little to nothing. I never heard any of the children complain about their lives or their individual situations. They enjoyed the attention we gave them and were happy to be here. They never complained about the food or accommodations both of which in the United States we would think were not enough for our children.

The experience I had was truly amazing. I think of my children who have really never wanted anything. These Romania children have almost nothing and they are thankful for the week at camp that was given to them through the dedication of the American people who were made aware of the need of these children by a woman who adopted a child from Romania many years ago and was lead by the Lord to help the children she saw here who were in need and choose to do something about it.

The volunteers on both the Romania team and the American team quickly became friendly and worked extremely well together. The end the camp came quickly and the children thanked each of us with hug's and kisses. Many of the children cried as they left their new friends and we in turn were touched by our contact with them.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our message from Romania and for those of you who have supported the “Heart of Hope” Good Shepherd camp your gift was very much appreciated by these children who are gifts from God.

God Bless you all, Jana Young