A pleasant getaway to the greenery of the «Dendrariu»

On Thursday, 7^th of August, the Charity Centre for Refugees (CCR) together with refugees, asylum seekers who are attending Romanian language classes at the Ion Creanga Pedagogical University and children participating in the Summer School visited the famous „Dendrariu” park in Chişinău, which was founded in 1973, on the former territory of the Botanic Garden. The 83 ha park is under national protection, because of the scientific and practical importance to the Republic of Moldova.

About 50 people took part in the visit and enjoyed the lovely weather, beautiful nature and the escape from the city noise. Besides that, the Romanian teacher, who also participated in the event, arranged a practical open-air lesson on the topic of nature.

CCR expresses its gratitude to the administration and Director of the park ‘Dendrariu’, Mr. Ion Uzun, for giving opportunity to refugees and asylum seekers to visit the park for free!

Traditional picnic in the village of Costeşti

     UNHCR Moldova together with its implementing partners hosted a perfect summer picnic for refugees, asylum seekers and local community. The event served as an opportunity to commemorate World Refugee Day in an informal meeting and to honour the courage and determination of families who have fled their homes because of persecution or violence. This year the traditional picnic took place on the 2nd of August in the village of Costeşti, district of Ialoveni.

       The picnic started with a briefing about the agenda of the day, a short introduction about the UNHCR support for persons of concern in Moldova and presentations of the Bureau for Migration and Asylum and UNHCR implementing partners: the Law Centre of Advocates (LCA), the Charity Centre for Refugees (CCR) and AVE COPIII.

Interview with Gabriela Roşca, a local volunteer at CCR

Gabriela Rosca, an 18-year-old Moldovan girl, who took initiative to become a volunteer at the Charity Centre for Refugees (CCR) and help vulnerable refugee/asylum seeker community during her summer vacation.

CCR appreciates efforts, help and work Ms. Gabriela did for refugee/asylum seeker children and women, and hopes to have her support in future.

1.Please give a brief description of the tasks involved in your volunteering position.

I think I will start with three words:”Helping all people”, with all that I can. My daily routine begins at 9.30, when I come to the Charity Centre, and every time I find there some of our children and start speaking with them. I ask, what their pleasures are or what they are interested in. During these hours I help CCR team a little bit and in the end of our day I prepare a sweet table for all the children. So, every day I come to the centre, I have to do a different work with different persons there. When I have free time, I communicate with refugees/asylum seekers and just stay and relax with other CCR volunteers.

Meeting with UNHCR persons of concern from Syria

On 24^th of July 2014, took place a meeting with Syrian PoCs organised at the initiative of UNHCR Moldova. The event was attended by the UNHCR Programme Coordinator, Mr. Dinu Lipcanu, the Director of Directorate for Asylum and Integration, Mrs. Ecaterina Silvestru, as well as representatives of CCR and Ave Copiii. There were present more than 30 refugees, asylum seekers and BHPs from Syria.

The overall objective of the meeting was to inform Syrian refugees, asylum seekers and BHPs about the emergency support grant offered by UNHCR Moldova. Mr. Dinu Lipcanu gave a detailed information about eligibility criteria, types of support (business,

Summer School for refugee and asylum seeker children

     In July 2014, the Charity Centre for Refugees, an implementing partner of UNHCR Moldova, gave start to the Summer School for refugee/asylum seeker children. This initiative aims to expand speech and Arabic language skills, to inspire and motivate towards creativity, art, music, history, multicultural background.

  Every Tuesday and Thursday, refugee/asylum seeker children have a programme with diverse activities. The day of the Summer School starts at 10 a.m. in the morning with Arabic language lessons given by Mrs. Amalid Karim, a refugee who worked as a teacher at primary and secondary school in Iraq. These lessons seek to boost the level of Arabic language in written and oral forms. But the most important is to help children not to forget their mother tongue, because may be one day they will have opportunity to return back to the country they were forced to leave. Besides that, children enjoy studying music taught by Mrs. Dima Deiri, a refugee from Syria. While participating in music activities, children are enhancing language and social-emotional development and increasing musical skills and knowledge.

      With the help of local and EVS volunteers, refugee/asylum seeker children have art lessons, where they express inspiration and creativity. During art activities, children make greeting cards, paint ‘mandalas’, create towns in 3D format, etc. Moreover, children and their parents have opportunity to watch films, cartoons or play different games. CCR is happy to see that children have fun creating and learning new things together at the Summer School.  The School day ends with some refreshments.