Kindness Days - another
summer experience
At the Smiles Foundation we are ready to
do things that will bring joy to people, no matter in what way, simply
because we feel this is important. At least once in a while, everyone
needs a little excitement about something, just to make the day
brighter and to forget about how difficult life can be. And when doing
that, we are not only limiting to our regular projects, but sometimes
go out and put together some special plans for people that are not
enrolled in our programmes.
We
call this a Kindness Day. In the past, we
have done many activities with disabled children
for instance, or with elderly, or with special needs groups like Down
Syndrome and Autistic Associations, who were so happy to participate
and we were just as happy to be able to offer a special day out to
them. You can read about it in our past articles, it was always a
wonderful time to make new friends and to share the love, hope and
faith that will always motivate us to do what we do.
This year we tried something a little bit
different. We decided to offer a special day in the city to some
children from our own projects. They have never had the chance to do
what we were planning, so it could only be a great time for them. So,
five children from Salard also had the chance to enjoy an
unexpected and most interesting day in Oradea.
We started the day with me going to Salard
to pick them up. As agreed one day before, this special opportunity
was given to Vanessa, Alex, Shony, Pishty and Martzi. All of
them going to school, all being rewarded this way for the efforts they
make! So when I got there, of course they were all ready to go, they
were actually waiting for me at the corner! They were all nicely
dressed and washed, except for Martzi. His sad face told me something
had happened. I asked what was it, why is he not ready and I found out
that his parents, who had to go to work, asked him to not go anywhere,
as they needed him to take care of his younger brothers…
bad news! I called immediately his dad and under no
explanation did I accept this situation! I helped him to understand
how important it was for Martzi and I was happy to hear it was ok to
go after all.
Then we all loaded the bus and despite the
different language, we all agreed this is gonna be a great adventure!
The first stop was the Zoo where we met up with several Mission
Trip guests who were joining us for the day. They had never been to
the Zoo before, so it is no wonder they felt a little bit
uncomfortable with the rules of not knocking the protective glass and
not climbing the fences… And for once or twice I have to admit they
did break those rules. But once they started the tour and saw so many
exotic and "never-seen-before" creatures, they were so amazed! Seeing
all those snakes and reptiles, the fancy coloured birds, the noisy
monkeys and lazy bears was so extraordinary! And feeding the monkey
and horses was prime! What an experience!
After the Zoo, we had to eat something. The
excitement soon transformed into hunger which had to be addressed. And
what can be better to do this than those beautifully roasted chicken
at KFC? There we went!... They had never had a KFC meal before.
The fries were not altogether alien to the kids, but the meat was
something else! And the sauce… And the toy they also received! That
was such a treat!
Next was the movie, in the new cinema! We
went to see "Finding Dory". Of course the glasses, the soft
chairs, the large screen and powerful sound were huge, let alone the
immersive experience of 3D. The movie was dubbed in Romanian, so they
could understand something. This was again a first for them, as none
of our Salard kids had ever been to the cinema. And I think, this
probably would be the case also for their parents, who would probably
enjoy this experience just as much as they did.
To conclude the day, we had some
table-tennis arranged, we spent another hour or so playing, after
which an ice-cream was the perfect way to finish. We were supported in
doing all of these activities by the mission trip guests, who very
patiently helped take care of the child ‘assigned’ to each one of
them. For this, a sincere big Thank you to everyone!
Adi Matis
Adrian Matis
Assistant Director of Smiles Foundation Romania
adrian.matis@thesmilesfoundation.org
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