Moldova Ludoteca:'Game Libraries' open in Transnistria

Project : Moldova 7 Dec 2011 | protection systems psychosocial

Ternovca, Transnistria. November, 2011: One of the twenty “ludotecas” or toy libraries was officially opened in the Transnistrian village of Ternovca, after two trainings were held over the months of September and October for the ‘game librarians’. This project, made possible due to the support of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in collaboration with “Prietenii Copiilor” and the technical help of “Childhood Care and Attention” Foundation from Tiraspol helped twenty underprivileged local communities to *offer community-building and developmental games to their children. The ludoteca of Ternovca was blessed by the priest of the local church, who plays an important role in the educational system in Transnistria.

The toy librarians have received a basic training in new games and activities for developing the child’s creative and social skills.“At the first training we were taught how a Game Library should be arranged, what areas there should be arranged. After this we went back home and tried to do this as we learned. We did it the best we knew how. Then the specialists came over to the school to check on us, and we had some mistakes to straighten out, because, of course, not everything could be perfect in the beginning. The games that we’ve learned at the trainings are games that get children together, making them a team, and especially in my school, where we have children from different villages and of different nationalities, different ages and social backgrounds, and they tend to make small groups based on this. And these games erase all these borders. We want to help them become a part of a larger group and integrate them. There are children that don’t really have the opportunity to play at home, after school. So this is one way for them to get involved in something interesting. We also encourage the children to teach the games that they’ve learned to other children, this way they become more compelled to be responsible and they forget about wanting to break something as they do whilst playing in the streets. All the children feel more emotionally arisen and in a better mood.” tells one of the animators, Daria Cernega from Ternovca village.

The schools in the small communities in Transnistria are constantly struggling to create a good and healthy ambiance and conditions for their pupils, which is a difficult task to complete – “It’s no secret that schools in Transnistria, especially the ones form the provincial part of the region, are neglected and there are no financial resources for the repairs that are needed. All this is being done with the support of the parents. But we found it unusual that there is somebody from Moldova that would come to our schools and help us with the repairs in order to make a good environment for the children. And we could see that it was done from the heart, not only to check a point from a list.”, Maia Verbetcaia, one of the trainees, shares her thoughts on these issues.

The help in coordinating the process of training and opening of the Game Libraries was offered by Terre des hommes, providing training for 40 teachers so that they can organize activities with children, activities that come to develop their abilities and aptitudes. (MS)