For several years, United Planet has been proud to partner with a wonderful orphanage in Romania. We have sent hundreds of volunteers, and they report about the generosity, dedication, and joy of the people who work there.
Megan, a volunteer who traveled to Romania this summer, summed up her one month experience in Romania, remarking:
“I have never felt so attached to a single community I have been involved in my life. The people were so welcoming and kind. It is a beautiful country. ”
We’re sad to report that on December 12, 2011, the orphanage suffered a devastating fire, which damaged several buildings.
Fortunately no one was hurt during the fire, which blazed until late hours of the night/early morning. Melanie, the United Planet Program Director of Romania, reports that everyone is safe, and the living quarters were not damaged.
Local people and staff at the orphanage evacuated everyone immediately. Due to dense fog and bad roads it took the fire truck 1 hour to reach the orphanage. The community is busy cleaning up and assessing the full extent of the damage.
The fire at the orphanage, around 3am in Romania
They lost a lot of valuable items, and several rooms need to be reconstructed — including the kitchen.
This community provides vital services to many children. They all need our help now more than ever. We’re happy to be sending several volunteers to the orphanage this winter, and we hope they can be part of a quick and effective clean-up to help the community move on from this difficult time.
We’ll leave you with a heartfelt message we received from another volunteer, Katalina, who traveled to Romania this summer:
Some of the kids in class at the orphanage
“The children there are amazing and so precious and they taught me so much about caring for one another and love. The adults there are extremely kind and they were so hospitable. I, along with other volunteers really enjoyed our stay and it was a wonderful way to emerge cultures and help out the people. They are all amazing they made the stay very comfortable for me and the other volunteers. We always had a lot to do and we always felt needed. I’ll be going back next year and hopefully stay for longer!”
Thanks for being part of United Planet! We’ll keep you updated on the progress of rebuilding efforts at the orphanage in Romania.
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
