Hi! My name is Erica, I am Italian and I arrived in Romania to take part to this program a week ago.  I will be a volunteer for “Gipsy Eye” Association, and I will be here for a short period to support their work with children in the school of Cozmesti, and to help them planning new projects for the future . I am a psychologist and I am really interested in developmental and multicultural psychology. My first week here is almost over and I can say that it has been full of new experiences, faces and places. It is my first time in this country, but I’m really curios about Romanian culture and Roma’s culture.  I am sure that this opportunity will teach me a lot!

In these days I visited for the first time the school of Cozmesti and I found there a warm and positive atmosphere: children are really kind and patient with me, even if I don’t speak their language they keep explaining me everything about their school and lives. The presence of Romanian and foreign volunteers guarantees an exchange between volunteers and children: everyone has the opportunity to learn something new from the others, to build new strong relations of support and to meet people belonging to other cultures. Also the presence of Romanian volunteers from high school is an opportunity for volunteers to enrich themselves, and to face the daily life of children that come from difficult situations.

As psychologist I know how important is for children find a safe place where they can simply be free to be themselves while someone takes care of them.