Care & Community - MOLDOVA Volunteer Stories

Care in Moldova - Kate Watkins

My daily life as a Care volunteer is a busy life and each day is sure to surprise me with a new experience - no two days are the same! My working week begins on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday and Thursday I volunteer in Bobocel Kindergarten (which is my host's Grandma's kindergarten) where I help teach English to children between 5 and 7 years old. I wake up at around 7am and have breakfast which varies every morning, but often I have bread, meat and cheese. I aim to leave the flat at 8:15am and it takes at least 30minutes to get to the kindergarten by maxi taxi, depending on the traffic.

By the time I arrive at the kindergarten, which is around 9am, the children have had their morning walk around the school and eaten their porridge and are now ready to learn a new English rhyme, which either I or the English teacher have prepared for them.

There are 30 - 40 minute lessons, in which I assist in all, so we are usually finished by 12pm at the latest. At this time, the children make their way back to their classrooms where dinner is served. For dinner they have soup, bread, rice and meat. Often I also sit with the children during dinner and eat with them. However, it depends on which orphanage I am going to in the afternoon as I am told at the beginning of the week which orphanage to go to during the week. If I am going to the centre Divertis, I stay in the kindergarten for dinner.

For the children at the kindergarten, dinner is followed by nap-time, but not for me! Some days I go straight from the kindergarten to Divertis, which is a day care centre for children from disadvantaged families and is only a short distance away from the kindergarten, about a 30minute walk. Divertis is a great place for the children to go in the afternoons after school - it's a place for them to play and relax with their friends and learn new skills after a morning full of lessons! I volunteer there from 2pm until 5pm, which is when the children return home for the evening. The ages of the children range between 6 and 14 years old. In this day care centre the volunteers play lots of games with the children and take part in all of the activities that either the volunteers or the care workers have organised for them, for example, origami.

If it is Abracadabra orphanage I am going to in the afternoon, then I leave the kindergarten after the English lessons and have dinner back in my host's flat. I meet other volunteers at around 1pm, which is when we make our way to the orphanage. It takes around 45minutes to get to this orphanage by trolleybus. Abracadabra is an orphanage for children as young as 4 to 12 years old. We play games with the children and teach them new games they can play together and also learn new skills at the same time. My day finishes at 5pm, so usually I am back at the flat at 6pm at the latest - it takes at least 40minutes to get back during this time of the day and also having to wait for trolleybuses in between!

In the evenings I have tea with my host family (which often consists of potatoes or rice, meat and bread) and spend time talking to them. Every now and again I meet up with other volunteers in the centre, which is only 20minutes away from where I live by trolleybus, and go to a café and just relax and socialise.

On Wednesday and Friday mornings I have time to relax as I only go the orphanage at 2pm. Sometimes I read or listen to music and often I go into the centre to ring my family back home or write a few e-mails. I have also been to school with my host where I sit in the English classes and talk to the students.

I also volunteer at Divertis every Saturday morning, from 10am until 1pm, so it's usually an 8:30am start. Sometimes on Saturdays the care workers arrange a trip for the children, for example, a trip into the centre.

Sundays and Mondays are my days off. During my days off I spend time with my host family and with the other volunteers. Usually all of the volunteers meet up and arrange to go somewhere, for example, a visit to Orheiul Vechi or a weekend trip to Kiev. Other weekends, I like to just spend my time relaxing and visiting the great markets in the town centre!

Kate Watkins