Letters from volunteers

Feedbacks from volunteers who changed their value systems due to cooperation with Civic Association Provázek:

Jarunka: As I saw so many beautiful children I felt tears in my throat but I quickly realized that this is not the way to help them. And thus I said to myself that I am here to give them joy right now and if everything goes well we can be happy together… thanks a lot for the possibility given to us to feel our humanity…

Hanka: As I realized that children want the contact not only through games but also through stroke and holding I was given such a big gift to be able to stroke and hold them. And their need for this contact has filled my life so much and I felt happy with them, so happy as I never had been before.

Maruška: As I thought about everything before I went to children’s home I was expecting (from myself) that I would be bored by the activities with children the second or third day and I will be exhausted. Contrary is the case. I was looking forward to the time spent with children every day and every day was completely different. I enjoyed it a lot and I was really interested in it. Every day ment a big lesson for me. A lesson in getting known myself and the others as well.

Marie: My greatest experience? Friday lunch. I was trying to feed one of heavily handicapped girls the whole week but I never suceeded because she always got stubborn after a few spoons, she refused to eat more and got angry. But on Friday I got my satisfaction because she ate the whole portion of pasta!!!

Veronika: thank you for helping me to „open new door“ in my life.

Zuzka: Children generally give you immediate feedback and that was the biggest honorarium for us.

Leni: I took care of two-years-old boy when I was in children’s home. I spent the whole weekend with him and he felt well when he was with me. But when we came back to the other kids he cried a lot and called his mummy… It was really sad, I really wished to take him home with me so that he has no reason to cry so much anymore… It is difficult to write about it, it might seem as a “cliché“ but this is what I felt… It cost me many thoughts to be able to explain to myslef that I helped him at least a bit to cope with the first shock caused by the sudden changes in his life and the fact that his mother abandoned him…

Katarina: It is strange that a maternal instinct works even with someone else’s children. I would take the boy home with me immediately. I even dreamed of him at night.

Lenka: All abandoned children together deserve much more love.

Miluše: You do not have to be psychologist to see how many benefits the work of volunteers brings to the kids. We could see a big progress on them and I am very glad that we can make something better than just be interested in business.

Anna: So we became volunteers. Children gave us lots of energy but they also took it from us. We played with them, we wiped their noses. Some of us even took care of those who were not lucky in their life and who are handicapped. Handicapped people have a kind of magic inside. they often watch the world around them with big beautiful eyes. Nobody knows what is going on in their heads, what they are thinking about. We are often afraid of them because we do not know how to treat them. they are very mysterious but they are here with us and they deserve love, company and not just our sympathy.

Kamil: I started to appreciate common things that I have as home where I can come anytime, family or my health much more than before…

Nina: It was one of the best weekends in my life. Not only I could be with so many children together but I also could make myself clear about my personal values. I realized that things that I solve every day do not mean anything there. that there are completely different values in the homes and I think these ones are better than mine.

Ondra: At first I had entirely refused to go there but then some invisible power pushed me there – FORTUNATELY!!! My oppinion about handicapped people was clear half year ago: it is useless to keep them alive because they cannot profit from their own life, they do not feel anything. I thought they must only suffer and we have to pay for them. Today I would rather thrashed myself for this. A few glances into their eyes can change your oppinion forever.

Petra – Little Clown: I took part at a project called Little Clown. After we arrived, the kids were full of expectations. Seclusively, but with a great curiosity, they were peeping at the case, where the paints and all the other interesting things were hidden. Clare and Ken gave them out a kind of swatch, which showed what they can get painted. While the children were eagrly flipping through the swatch, two of them would sit down and create a mask of Spiderman, a butterfly, a princess, a dog, a clown or something else. The other children were playing a game prepared by David and Klárka – the children danced to music around paper stars spreaded on the grass and when the music stopped, they had to take one of them. In the end they liked the painting so much and they were so enthusiastic that various pictures (flowers, suns, flags, ships…) must have been painted also on their hands and other places on their bodies. Eventually, also the staff of the Children´s Home together with their directress yielded to the charm of this activity.

Monika: The Saturday was a great success. We went to the ZOO on Saint Hill near Olomouc, we rode on a small electric train, Renda „drove a car“ (red electric one), he climbed the „monkey track“, he fed animals and we also spent a good time at aquariums. We climbed the observation tower, I did´t feel very well there, because it was swaying in the wind, however, Renda had a great time. Then we got something to eat and visited some shops. Renda tried slotracing and after a nap in the car he also tried riding on a scooter. We visited a boat on a dam, Renda ordered a Cappy juice and he quite enjoyed pouring it to his glass on his own. We watched the fish and swang on the waves.

We sang in the car Mach a Šebestová song, which Renda hummed a few more times during the rest of the day. He was tremendously happy and cool and it was the first time I heard him laughing aloud. I think we had a really beautiful day and I hope Renda enjoyed it.

Only one thing makes me wonder – and because I´m not familiar with the background, I don´t know what could be true and what Renda makes up (which he can do very well!) – he talks about his mother 4–5 times per day (that they have a new car, a new baby, they were on a trip), but mainly that his mom told him she could see him constantly, that she had had a screen at home, where she was always watching him and knew what he was doing, with whom he was playing and so on. I told him that his mom was probably joking and that the adults sometimes plays jokes like this.

Kristýna: I have a very good feeling about my visit to the Children´s Home, especially about the attitude of the head nurse and the other care workers and also of the other volunteers (including the experienced ones). I liked the organization of time schedule for particular groups, the entertainment and most of all the children themselves. Their spirit, the way they divided the short time amongst themselves, how their eyes were shining when they saw the puppets and learned that they would get these, too… etc.

Then I was surprised that the meeting wasn´t sad…I might have said this before..Yes, it is sad that children are so unlucky to be born to a such a family that they end up in a children´s home, however, the children themselves didn´t seem sad at all. Maybe they are too small for this. Of course, I realize they miss their moms, dads or other close persons they knew or they miss someone yet unknown…anyway, it seemed to me that they enjoyed yesterday´s time as much as they could. It was fun. Even saying goodbye was rather charming and sweet. The character of a volunteer is important as well, I guess. I am the one, who is oversensitive and who also cries at the most inappropriate moments, but yesterday nothing of it came to my mind. Everything was just nice and meningful.

Martina: I think that the Home is equipped much better than many households (as usual). Despite this fact, the children still seem to miss something. It´s surely love and then the dvelopment of particular abilities, which are necessary for their future lives. I think these are: fantasy, systematic nature, courage to try new things, self-esteem. It´s related to being a part of a group and comparing with the others constantly. As I see it, the kids draw badly. It´s apparent that they only know how to colour in the colour books. For example Kuba wasn´t able to draw any shape or person, which he should be able to do at the age of 7. He only can colour in an empty space, otherwise he´s a really smart boy. When I tried to advise him or the other boy, they just stopped drawing without any further effort. They have no persistence, they simply run away. Who made me sad the most was the little girl. She lives in her own world and doesn´t care about anything else.

Next thing – concerning their fantasy: I was very surprised how little they can or how much they are ashamed to work with it. Do you remember how the boy was afraid to bark like a dog? And how they only said – I don´t know how to do this – and how they weren´t able to create anything or play with the marionettes. It´s normal for children of their age to act, to play something. But when they play, they destroy the toys instead.

Téra: Even though we know that the situation in Children´s Home is terrible, the extent of deprivation is still surprising. Therefore I think that at least the first visit is psychically demanding and one feels extremely powerless. But I was pleasantly surprised by children and their willingness to share this.

Thank you very much for the insight into your job. Although I spent there only a couple of hours, it was something totally incredible. On Saturday I managed to get to the smallest babies, I bathed two infants. On Sunday we went out with two bigger ones. It was amazing that even the eight-month-old baby is glad to see something else than the Home. The walk in the forrest was something wonderful and extraordinary for them, they even didn´t want to go to bed then.

The first visit to the disabled children was not really pleasant, because the fear of unknown was very strong, nevertheless, we spent there the longest time. We helped with the feeding and we were allowed to bathe one girl, too.

But the greatest reward for me came, when we managed to teach them how to claptheir hands and we made them laugh by singing and playing. It really is a very strong experience for me and I thank you very much, indeed.