Six Lower Sixth Formers and two members of staff took part in this year’s Moldova Project trip at the start of the summer break. The first half of the trip saw the Abingdon pupils working with a group of Moldovan volunteers their own age to organise summer day camps for over 100 Moldovan children in two schools in the town of Ialoveni, as well as visiting Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, and the monastery at Capriana. The group then travelled to the beautiful setting of Lacu Rosu in the Carpathian mountains of Romania with a group of 24 young Moldovans for a second summer camp where activities including English lessons, art and craft, and team challenges such as film making and Taskmaster-style competition. We are very grateful to Agape, our partner charity, for making the trip possible.
Some feedback from the pupils is below:
“When I arrived in Moldova I was apprehensive – the language barrier initially made it difficult to communicate with the children, and I was definitely pushed out of my comfort zone. However, as the trip continued, I made great connections with each of the kids and with this both their confidence and my own grew. I feel like I have genuinely made an impact on their lives, and I certainly have been impacted by my experience volunteering in Moldova and Romania.”
“After spending 10 days abroad in two countries which I have never been to or thought I’d travel to, I found it to be the best experience I have had this year. The trip has not only given me lasting memories but has also had a profound impact on the character I am. I am still amazed by the hospitality of the Moldovan host families and I am already thinking about coming back to see some of the kids and volunteers again later in the year.”
“I found the Moldova Project a uniquely life changing experience. Helping the children with their English was incredibly valuable and I feel that I have made a real difference to their lives. The most unforgettable memories, however, were the amazing people I was able to meet: from my host family in Moldova to the older volunteers and of course the children themselves. To already want to go back to a country that I had barely heard of six months ago is a credit to the amazing experiences and people I have met over the past ten days.”
