After two weeks volunteering at Happy House Giuliana Pezzana is back at work organising events at a congress centre.
Our children has such a profound impact on Giuliana she was feeling homesick for Happy House before she left as she tells us in her blog:
During my
time at Happy House I have enjoyed playing and working with the youngest children,
aged one to five years old and helping some of them to start writing first
letters of the alphabet or drawing signs to practice with the pen.
I
appreciated the very good organisation inside the Happy House and the school.
One of the best things I could see is all the attention the children receive
and in the way they are taught to be self-sufficient and help the children
receive when they are learning to read.
I could see how teachers care about showing children the rules.
Everyone, from the youngest to the eldest, has some duties like washing their
hands before eating and clearing their dish as soon as they have finished; they
know to keep order in the classroom or before going for snacks.
Children help in the house and it is very much
a family in which everyone offers their support and help.
All the rooms are
very clean and there is a laundry where you will also find the washing machines.
The house also has a vegetable garden
which offers produce direct to the kitchens.
Happy House is a very nice place
where children surely feel at home among aunties and uncles who take care of
them. A lovely place which gives you the warmth of a family is how I felt in my
two weeks there.
Even before I left for home I was already feeling blue and
homesick for my new “family”
. I thank Mama Sue and Papa Dave for giving me the
opportunity to volunteer, and all the teachers and others who work there for
receiving me as one of them.
I would like to thank all the children. Above all
I remember Ann and Baraka who were the first to welcome me and who never wanted
to leave my side. Fabio who joked with me while I was trying to help him to
eat; Earnest who was always looking for my attention; Thomas who, the funniest of all, was always joking;
Pili who is shy but not so much that she wouldn’t quarrel with others to stay
beside me; Joy who is the sweetest of all as her name reflects; Ashura who is
sweet and a very good girl; Christiano who is funny and loving; Leslie and Ludwin
who are an example to every mother; Mariam and Farida who
are the youngest; Abdul who is always
smiling and active; Esther who is shy
but always smiling; Alpha who is smiling and lovely. I couldn’t write of every
child, so I have written of those who I
spent more time with and who entered my heart so deeply.
