During the past 10 days, nearly 200 students have helped build 6 homes in three communities in Bihor county.
200 pupils from several schools in Bihor, as well as from Austria, mobilized to help the charity Habitat pentru Umanitate Beius to continue the work on 6 homes in Oradea, Hidisel and Beius. Austrian volunteers were able to choose from several opportunities in Austria or in exotic locations made available by their school, but they decided to return to Romania for the 5th year to help those without a decent roof over their heads.
“I think this is a very useful and beautiful trip for us, having many good things to do here for people who do not have a house, a warm shelter or maybe even enough food. There are people we care about, who lead a hard life and whom we want to help as much as each of us is able.” said Hellen, a student at the American International School in Salzburg.
Not only those outside the country are helping the less fortunate, but in recent years, more and more schools involve students and teachers in volunteering alongside Habitat in internal school projects or through the projects run by the Ministry of Education known as by “A Different Type of School”. This year, volunteers came from schools in Oradea and Beiuş, some of whom have participated for the fourth consecutive year in this activity. The participating schools are: “Partenie Cosma” Economic College Oradea under the guidance of the teachers Ramona Beiuşeanu and Ileana Popa; The Pentecostal Theological School “Betel”, students being taught by Cornelia Tirla and Ligia Centea, as well as volunteers from the “Nicolae Bolcaş” Pedagogical Highschool, Beiuş mobilized by their teacher Veronica Popa. The atmosphere, as always, was a relaxed, warm and friendly one, with students and teachers having the satisfaction of their work at the end of the day.
“It is an activity in which, on the one hand, we develop new knowledge and skills, and on the other hand we are glad to help needy people. We have fun building and socializing in a useful and enjoyable way,” says Anca, a student at a high school in Oradea.
Within the annual partnership that Habitat has with the “Nicolae Bolcaş” Pedagogical Highschool, Beiuş, through the project “The joy of giving”, the students from the philology profile, coordinated by their teacher Veronica Popa, were involved in the first our of ten volunteer activities that will take place throughout the school year. The volunteers helped to transport bricks to the site where the next Habitat House will be built. Their hard work and effort proved to be of real use as in just a few hours they moved almost 1,000 bricks!
“Through volunteer activities, we want our students to achieve both personal satisfaction that they have helped others and the novel experience of working on a worksite. On the other hand, they had the opportunity to spend time with friends outside school and to gain useful experience in choosing a career in the future,“says Veronica Popa, a teacher at the “Nicolae Bolcaş” Pedagogical Vocational High School in Beius.
More photos can be found by accessing the links below:
- Pedagogical Vocational High School “Nicolae Bolcaş”
- Penticostal Theological Highschool Betel
- Technical College “Partenie Cosma”
- Penticostal Theological Highschool Betel
- American International School Salzburg
