A sandwich and a friendly cuddle

Each of us has a story why he or she becomes a volunteer. There is a common denominator, we all wish to make someone else’s life better. By doing so, our lives become more, better, richer, too.

I’ve been a volunteer since this spring. I felt empty inside, I needed a new experience where I got some feedback on my usefulness, I wanted to feel good in something or for someone. And I wanted this experience free of charge. One way of getting this was by volunteering, with the aim to bring some joy, happiness to someone every day.

This has happened during the kids` activities at Cotuș. The gypsy minority showed their enthusiasm and their openness towards us, it looked, that those days when we were there, has been their bests, the kids may not attend school or nursery, therefore it is such a special time, when they can participate in organised activities.

My fear was that the two hour daily activities may not be enough. Once we started our work, I was able to see, that these hours gave the kids such opportunities to try out games or activities which they haven’t done before. We had the puppet show on Tuesday. They enjoyed my storytelling and they also felt curious and brave to try out the puppets. It turned out that they can storytell and that they have so many skills they wouldn’t have discovered without these activities. A sandwich and a pack of biscuits felt a real treat for them. These kids from underprivileged backgrounds appreciated our work and our efforts so much. For them our help and support felt enormous.

I can’t stop thinking on the way our lives are nowadays. Most kids are used to have everything, are not able to appreciate a new toy, a new piece of cloth or their food. They may have everything, but for a reason, you can’t see happiness on their faces. On the contrary, kids from Cotuș were so appreciative, so happy, they screamed of happiness when they saw our car arriving. We made their day by being there, playing together for two hours daily, eating a sandwich together and just by being there for them.