A Hospital where you want to come back. To paint and do crafts
In August 2024, five ladies with a penchant for arts came together for a mission that came out of nowhere, but that they accepted wholeheartedly: to hold weekly painting or craft workshops for the children admitted to the Oncology department of the Hospital we built.
They hadn't known what to expect and, after the first six months, they admitted that they had been afraid. “The girls kept asking me: What are we going to do there? - I don't know! We're a team, we'll go there and we'll see!”, Daniela, the one who brought them all together, told us.
Daniela Pavel, Anca Leahu, Camelia Grad, Anca Dițu and Mariana Manolache have been coming to the hospital once a week for more than seven months, to work with the little patients and their mothers. No plans, just an open heart. “Coming here with a plan doesn't help. The first thing we learned was that you can't come with a plan. We adapt to their needs,” Anca Leahu explains.
Three of them have been doing watercolor painting with the children, while the others do other crafts. It's important that the hour they spend together have a clear purpose, which helps the children as well as the volunteers. The parents can join in the activity or take advantage of a well-deserved break, so they can all forge ahead towards another day.
What's incredible is that all the people who meet the little cancer patients are impressed by their depth and maturity. “I was impressed to see such small children bearing such big burdens,” Mariana said. ”These children are special", Daniela said, in awe. “They are angels. We have so much to learn from them.”
“They are clearheaded, well spoken and positive. If they have this amount of strength, what can I complain about…” — Camelia added. Every person that spends some time with them always says how much they have learned and understood after only one meeting.
Throughout our talk, each one of them mentioned at least one name that has changed their lives. For Daniela, it was Măriuca, the girl with the golden smile. For Anca Leahu it was Bia, the teenager with an extraordinary talent for drawing. For Anca Dițu, it was Mihnea or Daria, while for Camelia it was Matei.
"Meeting Bia helped me fix my own relationship with my daughter, who is of a similar age” — said Anca Leahu. That's probably part of the reason why their connection has really been a special one.
“We used to meet about once a week at first, then for an hour every two weeks. And every time I went to the hospital, I wished she wouldn't be there... I wanted her to be at home, at school or with her friends, anywhere but the hospital. We worked together on still life and portrait techniques; one time, she even drew me, imagining what the bottom half of my face looked like, since I was wearing a mask. We also played with some watercolors. I thought her work deserved to be seen, so I spoke to Carmen [Pavel] and suggested that we include her in the next exhibit of the Plastic Artists' Association. And she did it! In October 2024, she showed two pieces together with us, at the National Library. I wish she would go forward with this, if she feels like it, confidently and passionately, and that she never loses the emotion — the main driving force of art. This is Bia, my colleague!”
Anca Dițu is the only one who has volunteered before and she discovered her creative side by working with young people in the foster system. Another example of the push children with less-than-regular lives always give us. 
Here's what she had to say about the children in the Hospital: “When we first met, Daria – a beautiful, blue-eyed little girl of 6 years old – was a bit withdrawn, but then she started opening up. After our second meeting, she asked me if I would visit again the following week. On our third meeting she was having some nausea and wasn't feeling great. I found her in her ward (as opposed to the playroom), but when I asked if she wanted to play, she came along. She stayed less because she was under the weather, but we did some crafts together, then she went back to bed, with her IV drip and the two works of art she had done.”
“On our first meeting, Mihnea – 4 years old – sat in bed and did some crafts together with me and his mother. The second time, he was much more lively; he sat up and paid more attention to the activities. His mother was also much happier and told me proudly: See, this is much more like him!”
Daniela was glued to the hands and smile of Măriuca, who wanted to paint everything: “I had to stay with her and make sure she wouldn't paint the entire room. She kept laughing and giving me her hands to kiss!" She also spoke about the encouragement she got from her daughter when we suggested she hold these workshops with the children from the oncology department. “My daughter told me: you've been painting for 7 years. This seems like the best prize you could get, to paint with the children in the Hospital.” And it seems like she was right, as their warm energy can be felt with every visit.
When words falter and language isn't the main form of communication any more, miracles happen for all those involved. The five volunteers manage to help the children express their thoughts beyond words: through a painted flower maybe, or a Christmas tree they've decorated themselves. Things that are apparently simple manage to create extraordinary bonds, which give everyone the strength to carry on.
Art is freedom and therapy, and the echo of the change this brings won't stop with the hearts of those involved, ricocheting again and again until everything changes. Whoever said you can't change the world from a hospital bed didn't know what they were talking about!
“She hugged me and said she loved me. There is no better feedback!” - Camelia said.
This story is about the five of them, but mostly about the endless smiles they bring to the little patients. “To me, the smile of a sick child is priceless,” - Anca Dițu says. And we believe that, with every person and every smile, we can change the world. When children can do this from a Hospital, nothing is impossible, is it?
The biggest civic initiative in Romania, #WeBuildAHospital, didn't end once the lights were turned on or once the first children moved to the new building of the Hospital we built together, with the help of the more than 350,000 donors and more than 8,000 companies. Our mission goes on. Firstly, because we're working on giving the little patients a better experience in the Hospital, through (re)creative and therapeutic activities. Secondly, by offering the staff access to various types of training, to help them become better at everything they do.
This is probably why our volunteers always leave here thinking “I hope I get to come again.” We'd like to thank them for every afternoon in which they give up their own time and come spend an hour with children who can't leave the Hospital yet. We hope that some of these workshops will help them, so that, when they get better, they can save the world, however they want.
We will always need your help to take our projects further, to support fellowships and build a Pediatric Medical Campus where all the children in Romania can be treated with a smile on their faces, at the highest standards. Because we can do it here, as well!
Text: Irina Ivaneț
Photo credits: Silvia Bobariu, Ștefan Banu, the artists