Sponsor's update from Bucharest

Child sponsorship update from the SOS Children's Village Bucharest, Romania from Spring 2008

Spring has come once again and with it brings the promise of rebirth, of new beginnings. Thinking on what we should focus this time, it became obvious that nothing brings more hope and joy then the individual stories of some of our children, with their real struggles and successes. Instead of concentrating on the overall picture, this time we would like to introduce you to some of our children, with their particular hopes and dreams. These children are Alexandra, Petrisor, Ruth and George.

Alexandra is one of our young ladies now. Always happy and optimistic, full of energy and attitude, she is a fighter. She successfully combines excellent academicals performance with a fierce passion for sports and especially basketball. On the sports side, last year she has lead her team to win the silver medal in our international yearly SOS sports competition, held in Triavna, Bulgaria. She is already looking forward to this year’s competition that will take place in Macedonia, on the shores of the beautiful lake Ohrid. But as we were mentioning, her talents are not limited at sports activities. Her dream is to become an accountant and she is very much aware that for something like this to become reality, you should study and work hard. Ever since she has become to prepare for the important exam that the students in our country have to pass on the completion of the 8th grade (called the “Capacity Exam”), she was determined to have excellent marks that will allow her to enter on of the top economical high-schools in Bucharest. After almost one year of preparation, the exam finally came and we are proud to tell you that she has gotten the much needed marks, which allowed her to enter the desired high-school, embarking on her trip towards becoming a young talented professional in her field.

Children studying hard

The next young man that we would like to introduce is Petrisor. Coincidence or not, he is Alexandra’s twin brother and he shares her passion for study and school. But in a way this is where the similarities end between the two siblings. Unlike Alexandra, Petrisor has got this attitude filled with perfect calm, never raising his voice and never hasting. Talking to him, there is one thing that impresses you from the first time you meet him: peace. It’s hard to ever see him irritated or impatient. He’s a great friend and he gets along with all the children in our village, finding some common ground with each one of them, even though sometimes their personalities could not be any more different.

Because of this, he was elected as the “mayor” of the Children’s Council in our Village, which is a body composed of children with the role of giving feed-back on the adults’ suggestions and changes and bringing forward the requests and desires of the children. We all know how hard is to make yourself understood by a large group of people and try to lead them in a direction and yet he’s excellent at this! His dream is to become a medical doctor and more precisely, a surgeon. In Romania (and we’re sure it’s the same in the rest of the world) it one of the toughest carriers when it comes to the amount of study and preparation you have to put into it. It starts with the high school, and then with the Medical University, residential period and a long string of post-graduate courses for all your professional life.

Talking to him, he’s very much aware of this and yet he’s completely determined to achieve his dream one day. Like in Alexandra’s case, the first step towards his professional dream is to have good results at the “Capacity Exam” so he can enter a good high-school. We are so happy to let you know that his results were excellent and now he’s the student of the most prominent chemistry-biology high-school in the town!

Ruth is one of our artists. It’s so easy to see how talent just manifests itself in some people, without any outside help, with no special courses or lessons. Ruth loves to draw. It’s been her passion since childhood. It’s the way she expresses her emotions best. Art and drawing in special it’s her realm of stability. And to get this feeling you only have to talk to her once. Looking at her hands, covered with beautiful jewelry with intricate patterns, the leather and steel wrist-bands, you can see she is an artist to the core. She’s got this gentle yet intense personality, enjoying a good painting as much as taking part in a basketball match (under the leadership of her team captain- Alexandra).

Her dream has always been to become an architect. Again a profession that’s anything but easy. Intense years of study seasoned with difficult exams may not be anybody’s dream when it comes to choosing a carrier. Yet for Ruth, nothing is more appealing! She dreams about becoming a successful interior designer and she’s determined to work as hard as she needs to, in order to achieve this.

Being of the same age with Alexandra and Petrisor, she was also one of the students knocking at the gates of the high-school this past year and Yes, we are very proud to share with you that she is now the student of the best Architecture high-school in Bucharest, on her way to achieving her professional dream.

Work experience, prepartion for the future

George, the fourth child that we wanted to talk about is quite different from the first there. From a carrier stand-point, he has never enjoyed theoretical subjects and long hours of study. His dream has always been to become an actor. Therefore he has always focused on practical issues rather then on theoretical ones. As a consequence, it’s not his school results that we would like to share here with you (even though he’s the student of a vocational school that he choose) but he’s life skills.

As all the young people in the world, George always wanted to have more pocket money, which will allow him to get this latest cell-phone or a powerful computer. And yet pocket money is never that generous. To fix that, he took a deep breath and went to one of the Mc Donald’s restaurants asking for a job. Being only 16, he was taken in, but with the normal reserve. In a few months, George proved to be one of the most determined employees that fast-food restaurant has seen so far! Working hard and with great skill he was able to move up the hierarchy and in a few short months, he was supervising the practice of other newly came interns in the restaurant! He was so successful and his example had such a deep impact on the village that many of the children here ended up working in Mc Donald’s for the entire summer! This is the point where all the four stories come together, as Alexandra, Petrisor and Ruth, after passing their “Capacity Exam” also started working with George in the same restaurant! It was such a surprise to drive up to the drive through window in the Mc Donald’s and have Petrisor take my order!

All of a sudden you realise that the “children” are not children any more, unnoticed they become young men and women, ready to tackle life, following their individual paths towards becoming independent responsible adults! In closing we would like to add that the only reason we get to do what we’re doing is you! None of these would be possible without your support and dedication.

Thank you so much for your permanent effort and care.

Alin Paun, Village Director, SOS Children’s Village Bucharest