4th day

Teamwork makes the dreamwork!

The day started with a picnic the house Elea. All of the volunteers brought some food, we had traditional food from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, France; it was all way too good. Also, the vibe was really good. We laughed, shared stories and danced on music. But of course, after the lunch work was waiting for us. I decided on helping with painting a container, arts & crafts for adults and help with the decor for the Winter Wonderland party on Wednesday.

First I helped with painting a container. This container is located in the safe zone of the camp, which means its a zone where a lot of minors live without their parents. They might have lost their parents during the war, or they send their children to a safe place. As we were painting the container (in blue and purple) a lot of the children came to watch. I asked them if they liked the new color and seeing their faces and reactions I think they did! But not just the container turned blue...so did I. So with some white spiritus we tried to get it off, but that didn't really work... so I guess I'm staying blue for a little while. 

Around 17:00u I changed from activity. I was going to help with arts & crafts for adults. There were three stations at which the adults could choose to do something. There was painting a jar and putting sand in it and a candle, there was making a body scrub out of coconut oil and orange slices and there were sowing handbags. At first, not a lot of people showed up and we were a little worried the activity would not succeed. But then a few guys from Syria came in and soon a lot of others would follow. They all made very nice creations.

After the arts & crafts, it was time to turn house Elea in a winter wonderland. Every one of the team helped. Someone painted on the mirrors and changed it into a forest, there were branches hunged up on the roof and we put on a wall right in the center...cause behind it we hide a lot of presents for all of the children. It was a lot of work, but because everyone helped it went fast. 

The thing that made me most think was the state in which the gifts for the children were. They were old, some of them were broken and dirty. Of course, we cleaned them and we are not giving broken toys, but to me, it felt a bit hard. These children already live under some hard circumstances, they don't have a lot in the camp and then the toys are not perfect either. But of course, this can also make the children very happy, that they at least get a new toy. We will see how it goes!

Temperature: 16ºC