While many college students were soaking up the free time and enjoying the the summer, Natasha O’Donoghue spent ten days working with orphans in Belarus and will now be going back to college with a life changing experience behind her.

Natasha, who is from Mitchelstown is studying to become a primary school teacher in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick and she went to Belarus with a group of her peers.

They went to Belarus as volunteers with the Belarussion Orphanage Project (BOP) who work with three institutions helping children and adults of varying ability.

“The people who work on the project were amazing and when I first arrived, I just thought ‘how am I going to help them’ but within minutes, I fell in love with the children and was learning to adapt to their needs,” Natasha said.

Once she arrived, the reality of life in Belarus hit home for her, as she was doing art with some children who couldn’t move at all and it hit her that her 15-year-old brother was at home playing GAA and playing with friends, while many of the children his age in Belarus had encountered few chances to really enjoy life.

She said that the visits of the BOP volunteers to the orphanages brought a light into the children’s eyes and gave them different and fun things to do, outside their normal routine.

“It was the most phenomenal experience, the work that BOP do out there is incredible. The minute the kids saw us arrive in our red T-shirts, they knew that it meant fun, and working with the adults we took them on trips to the park and other places,” Natasha explained.

Before she left, Natasha organised fundraisers locally to get the funds that she needed together and she told The Avondhu she wanted to let people know that the money they donated made a real difference to the lives of the orphans she worked with.

She thanked her family, neighbours and friends and everyone who supported her, particularly the Curraghagalla Community Group, Glocca Maura and Reidy’s SuperValu.

To find out more information about the BOP project, or if anyone is interested in fundraising for them or going to Belarus as a volunteer, please visit www.bop.ie.