A mountain, a lake, and a lot of fun!– August 2024
What a joy it was for the children from Centrul Curcubeu to be together for a three day excursion in the beautiful surroundings of Durău, Ceahlău mountain and Lake Bicaz!
From the nice house we stayed in all together, we could see all the way to the top of the big mountain in front of us. Some of the children doubted that they would be able to make it to the peak by their own power. But, in a full-day hike, with lots of encouragement, songs, jokes, patience and perseverance, everyone arrived at the top!
The following day brought a new experience for everyone – the first time on a boat! The children were thrilled with the ride around Lake Bicaz, where we also had a picnic lunch, and more fun!
Smiles for the Children! – A day at Liceu N.V. Karpen – June 2024
Following their visit to Centrul Curcubeu, and building on the friendships that began on that day, a group of students and teachers from the high school N.V. Karpen in Bacău organized a special day for the Curcubeu children. This informal partnership was initially established by some of our volunteers, who are studying at Liceu Karpen, and now it involves many more students and teachers!
The high school kids had many fun activities for our children, including warm-up dancing, face painting, making bracelets and a relay race. Since Karpen offers a very good hair stylist program, these students gave nice haircuts to the village children!
An important aspect of the day was the personal contact and conversations. The high school students and the Curcubeu kids were very happy to reconnect with the friends they had made last month.
Being in this big, well-set-up high school, with friendly people and a lot of new information helped to give the children a bigger vision for what awaits them if they do well and continue in their studies!
Open Doors – So many visitors! – May 2024
Students from two high school classes in the city spent the day at Centrul Curcubeu.
Playing, reading and talking a lot together, the children were able to get to know many things about each other. Activities for all included Volleyball, Archery, Painting, Sling shot, Chess, Table tennis, Relays and Soccer.
Since the visitors were some years older than our children, they felt responsible to be good examples and listening ears for them. Before the day was over, many of the Curcubeu children had told us they were happy to have made new friends!
A Day at the Lake with Friends – May 2024
On a sunny Sunday morning, our caravan of vehicles set out from Marasti toward a place none of us had ever been before!
In Piatra Neamt, we met up with friends who led us deep into the woods, until we could drive no further. After walking for about an hour, we came upon a lovely little lake, Cuejdel.
Hiking around the lake, the children discovered interesting creatures and beautiful sites. The water was too cold for swimming, but some of us did wade into it and refreshed our feet 🙂
It was a day marked by friendship, fun, smiles and laughs!
Thanksgiving Celebration at Centrul Curcubeu- November 2023
Thanksgiving at Centrul Curcubeu!
A time for good food, good friends, good laughs and also some deep reflection.
We have so much to be thankful for!
Here are a few photos from our celebration.
Late Summer Excursion – September 2023
Children from Centrul Curcubeu enjoyed a fun, adventure-filled three-day excursion in Județul Neamț and Harghita! They entered into the story world of the Ion Creanga museum, dove deep into history at the never-conquered 14th century fort, Cetatea Neamțului, and overcame their fears and limits by all climbing to the top of Ceahlau mountain!
Christmas 2021 at Centrul Curcubeu
Pogany’s Birthday! – November 2021
What a wonderful day it was when Pogany and his “mother” Ilinca Istrate returned to share his birthday with the children at Centrul Curcubeu! Pogany brought lots of gifts with him, sweets, toys, fruits, shoes, clothes, hugs for everyone and lots of love!
The children also had a marvelous time creating their own fun sock puppets!
Thank you so much, Ilinca! Until next time, we’ll be waiting for you with open arms!
Aventura Park Bacău excursion
The younger children from Centrul Curcubeu were thrilled with an amazing excursion day! The morning was spent at an adventure park, with zip lines and routes through the trees.
After a fascinating visit to the natural history museum, we enjoyed bumper cars, harness jumping and ice cream in the city's central park!
Children’s Day - June 1, 2018
International Children's Day was full of great fun for children from three villages. Activities organized by our big team of volunteers included face painting, trampoline, parachute games, cotton candy, chocolate-covered fruit salad sticks, art projects and karaoke!
Figa Excursion
Thanks to a very special invitation, children from Centrul Curcubeu enjoyed an amazing time last week! An excursion across the country to the beautifully arranged recreational area in Baile Figa! This is a recently developed area, with many different swimming pools, water slides and other facilities.
The comfortable housing provided for us by our host included a cellar game room, perfect for fun evenings after full days at the pools and tennis courts! Along the way, we also got to enjoy beautiful scenery, pausing at Lacu Rosu and for a short hike up to an interesting cave in the woods.
Though many of the children were somewhat fearful of water before this trip, after a short time at the pools, everyone was comfortable and enjoying themselves enormously! For most of them, it was the first time swimming and the first time on water slides. We also tried our first games of tennis.
Superheroes & Superpowers
An amazing week of superheroes and superpowers at Centrul Curcubeu!
With lots of games and activities, videos and true-life stories, the children of Mărăști explored what makes a superhero and how we can develop the best qualities inside of each of us. Of course, the greatest superpower is Love!
Special thanks to our supervolunteers who helped make this week an unforgettable experience for the kids!
Table tennis tournament
Special friends visiting from Germany, Kai and Luci engineered many special moments for the
Curcubeu children, including a table tennis tournament, complete with elimination chart, medals and trophies!
Vacation Bible Fun School in Fruntesti - 2018
During the first week of August , FAVOR held a vacation school program in the village of
Fruntesti. This year’s theme was “Defeating the Giants!” Over 60 children from three villages
attended these days of lesson-filled fun!
Making waffles!
Most of the children enrolled in Centrul Curcubeu have no kitchen and no running water in their homes. Cooking is done on the same wood-burning oven that heats the house. Naturally, they are thrilled about opportunities they have at the Center to learn various cooking skills and create different types of food. On this day, some of the younger girls had a marvelous time making their own waffles from scratch and then eating them, topped with home-made jam!
Year-end Party - June 2019
Thanks to an inspired initiative from students in Bacau's Liceul Economic, the children of Mărăști celebrated their last day of school with a wonderful party at Centrul Curcubeu! Games, face-painting, costumes, snacks and gifts made it a very special time for all, as well as the perfect opportunity to wish a Happy Birthday to our faithful volunteer, Diana!
