After spending three weeks at Wells of Hope Ministries, it was finally time for me to meet the children for the first time, which was February 11th. I really enjoyed the car ride to school, it was so nice to get away from the city and see some nature. When arriving at Junior School and stepping out of the car, I was almost overwhelmed by how peaceful and scenic the place was with its big green fields and beautiful views. The children were at their classes, so at first we got a tour around the school area. After the tour, we sat in the shadow resting for a bit when I suddenly heard some children’s voices. All the children were on their way out of their classroom heading towards us and I got so excited. Some of them approached us immediately, while others were a bit shy. I and my friend and colleague Maja were very welcomed by the children and the staff. Some of the children asked us a few questions, especially questions about Sweden as it is our homeland. I am very much looking forward meeting them soon again!

After Junior School, we headed for High School to have our first counselling session. Honestly, I was a bit more nervous to meet the older students than the young ones. But it turned out I had no reason to be nervous, they were also so welcoming. The theme for counselling was Bonding, which felt like a suitable topic for our first meeting with the students and also for being the first counselling of the term.

The students were very active and engaged during the counselling, I hope all of them had a really good time. I sure did!

We also did some activities that turned out well, we shared many good laughs together.

I feel very grateful to be treated this well by both colleagues and students. With a start as good as this, I am more than happy that I got the opportunity to do my internship as a Social Work student at Wells of Hope.

Compiled by Frida Kindblom, Social Work student at Gothenburg University-Sweden