Life in Romania
This is a continuation of a series of posts detailing a typical day in Romania at our Beauty from Ashes Center for Orphan Girls.
3:00 p.m. – It’s school time! This is not the girl’s favorite activity. School for them in the orphanages was a joke. There was no one to make sure that they had done their homework or help them if they didn’t understand something. Teachers would pass them off from one grade to the next. Cheating in Romania is rampant, accepted, and even encouraged by some teachers.
How can one survive in society without a basic education? The answer is: it’s not real easy. In fact, it’s almost impossible for the orphans to get along in their own society, partly because of a lack of education.
And so we home school the girls at the center. Now, mind you, this is just something we do here. It is not recognized by the Romanian government (God forbid!). We have identified their weak areas and created a program to help them get up to speed.
If you were to ask the girls what is the hardest part of our program they would say our home schooling. Andreea, whom I introduced you to in our last post, is in charge of this part of the program. In the first phase the girls learn (very) basic math (adding, subtracting, etc.), basic Romanian grammar (composing, reading, etc.), and Bible.
All but one of our girls are in the second phase and take Math, Romanian, English, Geography, and Science. They have one subject every day. They have homework, daily quizzes, monthly tests, and final exams. Their grades are kept and posted weekly.
Andreea has worked wonders with the girls in Math, Romanian and English. I take care of Bible, Geography and Science. It has been a pleasure to see the girls, even if it is hard, begin to take an interest in the subject matter and learn it well. A week ago they all got straight A’s on their Asian geography quiz and we all enjoyed seeing their excitement and satisfaction.
The girl’s “official” schooling will be the subject of a future post. By creating a base of basic knowledge we are giving the girls a chance to do things they never thought were possible! Many have gotten their G.E.D.’s and some have gone on to college!
To be continued…