By Lauren Fishbach | U.S.Board President
Buna diminieata Friends,
It's been less than a month since I returned from Barlad, along with our CEO, Laura Larkin. As always, I was in a hurry to arrive at Delia's Center and had difficulty leaving when the time came to return to the U.S.
The start of fall is usually bittersweet for me as this time of year children all over the world are back to school. It's a time of great anticipation; we can feel the promise of the future. Yet I know that many of our special kids don't yet have the opportunity to receive a proper education here in northeastern, Romania in the most impoverished region of the country. It might seem the promise of the future isn't for them. But that wouldn't be correct.. the school system may fail them but I am enormously proud of our team's dedication to giving each child the foundation from which they can launch into a better future. I am also enormously grateful for your kindness and generosity. Without you, our kids with autism would not be receiving individualized instruction. They would not have the opportuntiy to learn and participate in activities in art, music and games alongside their peers.
We launched a wonderful project, "Through Their Eyes," while visiting this September. We were inspired by a 15-year old girl with autism, Simina, who is non-verbal. Without words, Simina has no way to communicate her point of view and we had no idea that she was capable of expressing it artistically and emotionally. BUT, Simina borrowed Laura's iphone, showing us that she wanted to take photos. When we saw her photos and videos later, all of our team at Delia's Center for Special Needs Kids were just amazed. Simina had taken self-portraits that gave us insight into how she sees herself - and she showed her sense of humor! Her closeup portrait of another girl captured the essence of that child focusing right into her eyes. This led us to want to launch a project to purchase a few polaroid cameras and put them into the hands of our kids with autism, those ranging in age from 8 - 15. What an amazing concept this turn out to be and very soon most of the kids were clamouring for a turn with the camera, not just those with autism. Creativity and self-expression shined through.
We made a video to share and if you would like to view it, please email me at lauren@deliafoundation.org (GlobalGiving's platform allows for photos but not videos).
Multumesc fromos again for giving our special kids a welcoming environment to learn and grow.
All Best,
Lauren plus Co-Founders David Conway and Laura Larkin
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