“The Garden of God”: A Conversation About Volunteering in Romania

A few weeks ago, United Planet Program Advisor Bridget Manning sat down with two familiar faces from abroad. In 2012, Bridget spent the summer interning in Romania at the Pro Vita project, and met Marian and Megan during her stay.  Marian grew up in the Pro Vita community, and he met Megan the previous summer when she was volunteering there on her first Quest. The two of them have stayed in touch since. This particular week, Marian was visiting the U.S. to spend time with Megan. We’ve posted the audio recording and transcription of Bridget’s conversation with Marian and Megan – take a listen!

  Listen to the original interview!

Marian: So I’m Marian. I’ve been living at Pro Vita for almost 13 years now and I’m glad to say it. Before I came there I lived in the city and I’m glad that I found this place because I actually didn’t have a place to go anywhere else.

Megan: I’m Megan. I’m 22 years old. I’m from Concord, MA. I am recently a graduate and am now a registered nurse. And I went to Romania for the first time summer 2010 and I’ve been back three times since.

Marian: Pro Vita is great. The experience that you can get just by coming there is all impressively shocking… this is in a good way of course! You can see culture coming in together…

…Since the volunteers started to come from United Planet…the kids are more pushed to study new things and study more English. For example, if it wasn’t for United Planet or the volunteers that are coming there every year, I couldn’t speak right now, the language that I am speaking and the way I’m speaking. It’s the volunteers that came and all about the people that realized that it’s good to help people.

Bridget: So from what you said with the language, just to clarify, it’s because the volunteers were there that they helped you conversational-wise to understand the language better and to practice it?

Marian: At school all you do is learn grammar, but if you don’t use it, you lose your talent.

Bridget: And would you say it’s a motivation too? Because you want to be able to speak with the volunteers, to the kids?

Marian: Yeah, you have volunteers there working pretty much what you’re supposed to do and the least thing that you can do is communicate.

I think communication is the most important thing in this world. If you don’t communicate, you don’t know anything about the other person.

Bridget: So you said you’ve been at Pro Vita for 13 years, and you’ve had a great experience there. What was it like interacting with the volunteers from different organizations? There was United Planet volunteers, but in general, the volunteers since a lot of them were from all over the world? What was that like meeting new people pretty much throughout the year?

Marian: At the beginning, I would say it was a little bit like…my personal, when I’m meeting new volunteers, I’ve been shy to present myself.  Because I know I don’t know them, they don’t know me, and I don’t know their culture, they don’t know my culture. That is when we come together.

Bridget: I definitely saw that, throughout the summer; just like, different communication. Like in Romania they’re more blunt, like quicker to say what they actually mean whereas in the U.S. you might step around it. Which I think at first volunteers were like, whaaat?

Laughter ensues.

But then they realize that’s normal. Like they would never be offensive, even if at first they might, not take offense, but you know…it’s very honest. It’s a very honest culture.

Bridget discussed culture shock in a previous interview. Read about Bridget’s personal experience in Romania for her perspective!

Bridget: You talked about interacting with the volunteers. How do you feel the volunteer work has changed that community over the years?

Marian: Most surprisingly, pleasant. Yeah. All they do is just come and work and with a little bit of help from us of course, they’ll learn how to work in spirit, like in a team spirit.

That is all about that place, Pro Vita…if we don’t work in a team, then one is working and the other hundred people are watching and it’s not fair. So the volunteers have been doing a really great job, and I recommend that they keep on doing the same great job.

Bridget: Maybe just talk about your experience too?

Megan: I think the first few days I was there, it was kind of like, oh my god, what did I get myself into? This place…all of these strange sounds and I was just like, oh my gosh, I can’t speak any of the language; it’s very frustrating when you can’t communicate. You try really hard and you both are laughing about it because you’re like, ha-ha, trying so hard to bond, but it’s hard to do that when there is a language barrier. But it definitely gives, as we said earlier, a lot of motivation to the kids to try to learn it. And I mean, us as well, but Romanians…I thought it was truly challenging to grasp and you know, you’re only there for so many weeks that it’s hard to really catch on. But I’ve always loved volunteering internationally and doing that, so this wasn’t anything new for me.

It’s definitely a very welcoming place and it’s run well…I had a wonderful time; I made so many friends, you know, friends from America, friends from Romania, and it was great…welcoming; and friendly; and happy. And there was so much love there which I wasn’t sure if I was going to see that, because you hear orphanage in Romania and you’re not really sure what to expect. But under the circumstances that they’re in, and the resources that they have, they make it work. And there’s so much love and teamwork and everyone pitches in when they can. It was just really nice to see this community working together.

Bridget: Yeah, I remember, one of the women there called it “The Garden of God” one day. I remember her telling me that, and I don’t know what I believe, but they’re very religious there. And that was just really impactful to me because I really think it’s so unique in while I was there, I was like maybe there is a God.

Things would happen, and…I never felt that close to believing before. And it fades now that I’m back here, but I remember one day I was on a hill and there was a rainbow from end-to-end and I was like, well, *clap* God exists! Like, you know, it’s just so special; it’s true though!

It was just a really special place, and I think for every volunteer it’s different for why it’s special, but I think a lot of people come away with a positive outlook.

Megan: It’s very eye-opening for Americans. It’s a very different way of life, and it’s very different coming from a nice house and a family.

It can be a reality check for some kids, to be like, oh hey, I should be really grateful for what I have, or it can just be like something for you to realize, like there’s other things that are important in life.

Bridget: And they can still have family and love, even if it’s not a typical situation that we might have. They may not have actual parents but there’s so much love around…

Well that was a great overview of everything you guys did and just your own personal thoughts. So really, that’s all we wanted to get from you!

Marian & Megan: Thank you!

Thank you Marian and Megan for taking the time to sit down with us while you were visiting Boston! Everyone in the office loved getting to meet you! We hope you inspire other volunteers to keep in touch with those whom they meet on their Quests as well!