A place to play

Last Sunday I drove together with a friend from the International Women's Club of Moldova to visit the opening of a playground for which the women's club had given a grant. The interesting thing is that the playground was built in partnership with the organization with whom I work. Partnering also with the local church, one of our visiting summer teams had built this playground for the benefit of the children of the community. The church in this village also run a day centre for the poorest children of the village so I had been here before to visit the day centre and to encourage this tiny church in their care for the children here.
It was a beautiful sunny day, with a few clouds threatening from time to time but never opening up to dampen the event. Driving down a long dirt road through beautiful gently rolling hills of rural Moldova, we arrived to find the children and guests waiting and ready to begin. The pastor of the church had prepared a program, in which some of our workers participated. The woman I travelled with, Kyra, is head of the Grants Committee for the Women's Club and she made a short speech. The children who come to the day centre also contributed some songs and recitations. There were probably about 30 children there, and at the end of the program they all received treats and balloons and stickers which had been sent from a Sunday School class in Canada. (Thanks, Kate!!) Snejana brought a map to show the children where Canada is. :-)
Following the ceremonies it was a joy just to watch the children playing on this new playground equipment. Hopefully, this safe place to play will also be a reminder to them that there are people who care about them, and a God who loves them.