The volunteers strike back
One would think there’s a limit to the amount of time one can spend working on walls. Apparently not. The third week of wall work has been the most exhausting one yet. If you enter our centre at any time during the day, it’s inevitable to catch someone or everybody diligently working on the walls. But if last week was a time to despair, this week has seen the victory of the volunteers over those damn walls. Tools in hands, dancing, singing or talking, the volunteers have little by little given a complete make over to the inside of the abandoned thermal central.
However, this victory was not without its costs. It’s has been a killing, draining, gruelling week and we are proud to say we survived it. This Friday night was spent on our centre, at midnight there were still some of us finishing up this or that. With lanterns and the lights from the FITT van we worked into the night, always with some “is this painted yet?” or “that’s already painted, move on” flying around. It was with a great relief that we saw the ten pizza boxes arriving at centre at ten in the night curtesy of our (now- after the pizza-very appreciated and very beloved) FITT organisers.
Also, we have been battling on two fronts: against the floor and against the clock. Initially we were supposed to finish our work on Saturday but as one of our team’s member so eloquently said when asked if we were going to finish on time “nah”. As predicted by everyone on the team, we didn’t finish on time and in a demonstration of our team’s calibre and quality we are going to work on the only free day we have this week. Wish us luck. We’re going to need it.
And although this week has been very demanding, it was with great joy that we saw our floor being built. The days of parkour and jumping around trying to get in and out of the centre and the bathroom are officially over. We couldn’t be happier because in addition to the floor we received new furniture to fill out and decorate our centre. Also, we have been feeling very loved since this week we received some guests from other teams who helped us out for a few hours. We are super grateful for these people who spent weeks saying that our centre “couldn’t be that bad” have now swallowed their words.
It has become usual to see the members of the red team arriving at the dorms covered in paint, cement, mud, wood, etc. The night we stayed late we were welcomed by the other teams with a round of applause which was very good for our self-esteem as a group. It’s true that we complain a whole lot, complain about the walls, about being tired, about the muscle’s pain, about the noise, about the hours we have to work, about the heat, about the cold but keep this in mind: every single member of this team knows that it’s worth it and we are damn proud of what we are building.
While we work on this mission impossible: the youth centre, the volunteers must now start preparing the opening ceremony. It might sound a bit odd that, even if the walls are not all painted yet, we are already wanting to open the space. But
understand that this is being done only to receive the people who are going to be the true spirit of this place. They’re the heart and soul, while, we the volunteers, red team, fortatinerilor, call us whatever you like, are just the bones. That’s why, while some will be assembling furniture, making colourful paintings on the walls, decorating the outside, others, a brave part of the team, will be going out on the streets, battling on social media to organize and promote the wonderful evening we believe this neighbourhood and our beloved centre deserve.
After all, the walls may be curved, the edges might not be straight, the floor might be painted where it’s not supposed to be but we put our hearts and souls into this project, we gave our blood an sweat, we have worked endlessly and we gave everything we got and the end result however crocked and imperfect and tainted will be ours and ours alone. And we will spend the rest of our lives reminiscing about that one summer that made us hate walls.
