Casa Harului
Casa Haralui is a very special Christian camp close to Deva in Romania. The only one of its kind which is accessible to wheelchair users and geared to people with disabilities. Beni and Maria Medrea manage the camp. Alongside the week camps they run for disadvantaged families, physically disabled children and children with learning disabilities, this year they felt God was leading them to hold a camp for families with children with autism. After an initial contact with Prospects Julia and I agreed to go and train some volunteers for the camp last September. After an overnight journey on a very crowded train, we were met with such joy and enthusiasm by the volunteers, who spent the week learning about supporting children with autism using examples from my own experience working in Prospects.
The last week in July saw me once again heading for Deva – 7 hours from Budapest airport where I had landed. The fortnight was filled with such blessing. We had 11 families with children with autism. The volunteers patiently got to know the children as they ran round familiarising themselves with the environment which boasts a sensory room, football pitch and adventure playground. I spent some time helping the parents understand the concept of autism and how best to help their child. We were very fortunate to have two families who were making huge sacrifices to pay for their children to do Applied Behavioural Analysis with some encouraging results. From tired desperate families and nervous volunteers the camp progressed to a supportive loving caring fellowship with Christ in its centre.
I was truly blessed by my fortnight at Casa Haralui, if you would like more information about volunteering on any of the camps please contact Pamela Marsden pam@prospectsdc.fsnet.co.uk
