Archery in Romanian Schools

So...
I've been working on planning Forest Knights expeditions to the Transylvanian mountains to look at the wildlife and go to the remote mountain areas for a year now and been visiting Romania a fair bit for this and for som IT work. Some of the cultural stuff around the area of Hateg is amazing. There's a massive Roman/Dacian settlement at Sarmizegetusa that is like nothing I've seen before. There will be another blog post on this very soon.

Anyway...
In September word got out that I taught bowmaking and archery and last year I was asked to do a bit of archery have-a-go for some 7 year-olds in a school about 20km outside Bucharest in a little town called Corbeanca about 25km north of Bucharest.

It's took a little time and work to make it come about. There was a bit if scepticism about wheher ir would generate any interest. And I didn't really think there was a will to do it but just before I left to go to Sibiu it was confirmed. I had a class of 2nd year children when I came back.

I had to accelerate my Romanian learning to include the terms I need to teach but at the beginning of April I set of with my translator to teach a class of 15 children who are in overflow courses at another school in nearby Tamasi.

I have to own up to being a little nervous and got little sleep the night before working on the flash cards I'd set up in the in the archery section.

Then...
We got to the school on a windy and damp morning, said hello to the teachers and children and set up
a little range with two targets and and tape marking a the boundaries. The only thing we could find to stop things blowing away were 5 and 10 litre water bottles, of which there are plenty because the tap water can't really be trusted for drinking so most peole

Some of the older kids were lending a hand and with a lot of gesturing and pointing I got them to understand what we were trying to do. They were incredibly willing and helpful and had to be dragged away by the teacher into class.

When we were ready 15 very excited children turned up not really knowing what to expect from the slightly odd old Englishman but my eccentric pronunciation of Romanian, especially pecioarele (feet), put them at their ease a little. I did a little demonstration, mainly hitting the target the target and did a little safety talk and off we went.


We'd prepared...
Some little surprises in the form of balloons with a few sweets in them and these were pinned on the target and we did our best to make sure plenty of them were popped.

We finished the 15 children I'd agreed to do and surprise surprise the teachers who were less than enthusiastic to begin with were queuing to get their classes into the act.

So we did a lot more than expected. Luckily I'd prepared an excess of balloons.

We'd also prepared...
Some Certificates of Participation and I had to stand in front of the class and present them. I admit to being a little choked by the reception I got in the classroom. It made all the preparation worthwhile. I did not expect the appreciation of all involved in making a really fantastic (but exhausting) couple of days. Heartwarming is not overstating it

A couple of the teachers got certificates too...one of them even managed to pop a balloon.


As we were clearing up...

Another teacher asked if we could do some older classes and also run a couple of hours at the school in Corbeanca. Of course I said yes...tomorrow.

Which gave me time to shop for more balloons and sweets.

The final tally was...

About 150 very happy children.

The ones that burst the balloons and got 3 or 4 sweets were more than happy.

50 balloons popped.

Over 600 arrows shot.

Another school in Voluntari who heard about it on the grapevine wants me to do a day there.

The plan...

Now is to go back in in May or June to do some more. It would be great to grow this and we are trying to get the word around. If you can help with this, talk to teachers in schools in and a round Bucharest great. First contact me through the blog and I can send out the proposal document so we can take it further.

It's never going to make a living but I'm trying to work out a way to cover expenses. The real reward is the pleasure it brings to the children. I'm not charging for my time for the kids classes. I will if any of them want to get serious and need some more serious coaching.

If...
you feel like helping out you can send the price of a cup of coffee here