Poland
Region 1
Fun excursions for Powiatowe’s children
Aspen Poland’s team from Region 1 supported the Powiatowe Centrum Pomocy Rodzinie in Polkowice for Mandela Day. The Powiatowe Centre cares for approximately 30 children who have been removed from dysfunctional families.
Due to a lack of resources, teachers at the Centre are not able to take the children out of the facility on excursions. Aspen’s volunteers saw this as an ideal opportunity to provide an interesting, fun day for the young residents and they arranged a trip for them to Wroclaw. The first activity for the day was a visit to a trampoline park where the children exhausted themselves jumping away to their heart’s content. After enjoying a delicious lunch together, they went to the Hydropolis Centre to learn more about water. This Centre was opened in 2015 and uses multimedia technologies to teach visitors about the evolution of life in water, water animals camouflage techniques, deep sea creatures, the bathyscaphe, the states of water and water engineering.
Being out of the confines of the centre for the day was an exceptional treat for the children who thoroughly enjoyed the experience, as did their hosts from Aspen.
Region 2 - Łódź
Having fun with Milowe Ludki’s children
A team from Aspen Poland’s Region 2 supported about 40 children with mobility and mental disabilities at the Milowe Ludki Kindergarten which is based at the Rehabilitation Foundation Siemiradzkiego in Łódź, a city in central Poland.
They spent the day re-arranging the play area, setting up a slide and gates following which they made sure that the children had fun on the playground and enjoyed a waterpark when they weren’t playing with donated toys.
Region 3
Fun and games – what every child needs!
Some 100 children from impoverished families are taken care of at the Stowarzyszenie Centrum Młodzieźy Arka in Radom.
There is a great need among these children to simply have fun and enjoy life. As such, the team from Aspen Poland’s Region 3 ensured that outdoor games and painting activities were enjoyed by these youngsters on Mandela Day.
The children had an absolutely fabulous time and the management at the Centrum expressed their appreciation to Aspen’s volunteers for the care and kindness shown to them. They were also most grateful for the guidance that had been given to the children about the important topic of human rights.
Region 4
Healthy fun with Rainbow House’s children
Aspen Poland’s employees from Region 4 spent the day taking care of children from the Rainbow House Regional Care and Therapy Institution.
Located in Rzeszów, Rainbow House is an institution that provides professional care to children who need support specialists and foster care due to difficult family situations.
The team focused specifically on the importance of a healthy lifestyle and donated a range of sporting items including scooters, skates, helmets and protective gear, balls, ping-pong equipment, a football goal and a volleyball set.
The fun began when the children started playing games in teams and were taught how to safely ride the scooters and use the skates. It was interesting to witness their commitment and transparency, but what we found most humbling was their desperate need for personal contact which may be a consequence of the unjust family circumstances that many are subjected to. The spontaneous joy with which they participated in events during the day and their sincere appreciation for the pizza meal that they received was heartwarming.
Mandela Day was an amazing experience for the Aspen volunteers, and it had particular significance as we came to realise how much impact our efforts had on these children who truly deserve to be reminded how special they are.
