(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners held a winter camp for children in Piatra Craiului National Park in the Southern Carpathian Mountains from January 2 to 6, 2025. The camp was hosted at a chalet in the park and attended by four families with children aged between two and 15. There were 14 campers in total.

This is the first time Romanian practitioners have held a camp for children. Each day the children read Zhuan Falun, did the Falun Dafa exercises, and participated in age-appropriate enrichment activities. Their parents volunteered as teachers and chaperones and helped to prepare activities for the children and address their needs throughout the program. 



Campers do the Falun Dafa exercises at the first Minghui Camp in Romania.

Families read the Falun Dafa teachings together.

Photography Course

One parent taught the children the basics of using cameras and cell phone lenses. They learned how to use automatic and manual focus for images, how to control light, and so on. Many older children and the adult participants were eager to continue this course in the future, commenting that the information was clearly presented and very helpful.

A photo from the photography course

Calligraphy Class

The children learned how to write the Chinese characters for Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Another activity was learning how use a brush pen and ink to write the Chinese characters Zhen, Shan, and Ren—Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Role-Playing Skits

The campers were asked to create and act out skits that highlighted acts of kindness in everyday life that could inspire positive changes in others.

The children performed three skits: “At School,” “Fainting in the Street,” and “Climbing a Mountain.” Some of the roles were negative, like being careless or mocking others. Other characters were positive and helped people.

In each story, a benevolent deed caused the negative characters to change their behavior. Those who played negative roles wore dark brown capes and the children who played positive roles wore gold capes. At the end of each skit, everyone was wearing a gold cape to show how kindness is contagious. 

Before the skits, the children made yellow crowns to remind them to be kind.

The children make golden crowns that they wore during their skits

Aside from scheduled activities, the campers also enjoyed free time. They played outdoor games in the snow or enjoyed indoor games such as cards, hide and seek, and unraveling cables.

The parent volunteers maintained a harmonious atmosphere during the camp. If the children had conflicts, they helped resolve them through respectful and quiet discussions. The children only used their smartphones when necessary.

The parents thought the camp was a success: The children made new friends, participated in a variety of fun activities, and were able to study Falun Dafa’s teachings and do the exercises together. They decided to hold another camp during the summer break.



Georgiana, one of the parent volunteers, said that, although it was challenging to host a camp like this for the first time, the parents who organized it handled each challenge with calmness and optimism. Just like Falun Dafa’s teachings suggest, whenever there were problems they looked inward to see where they could do better.

“We considered the fact that this camp would be a first step for future camps. We thought about which activities would be enriching for the children and could encourage them to be kind and understanding,” she said. “The main idea is for each of us to improve by looking within ourselves and dealing with any issues calmly—in this way we are role models for the children.”



A campfire

Participants of the first Minghui Camp

The campers said they enjoyed their first Minghui Camp and were excited about going to more camps like this in the future. Dragoș is in first grade, and his mother talked about her son’s change for the better after the event.

 She said, “Minghui Camp helped me to start cultivating more seriously again, as I did in the past, both in reading the teachings and doing the exercises. Dragoș likes to read the Fa and now we continue at home every evening. I used to only read ‘On Dafa’ to him, but I realized that he is ready to read, listen, and understand Dafa, and I realized that this is very important to him. He was very excited to make new friends, play in the snow, and study. After we came home, the first thing he said was, ‘Mommy, I feel grown up,’ My understanding is that he feels more confident in himself and is more aware of his actions.”


David, who is in second grade, also enjoyed the camp. He said he wanted to attend the next one. 

“I was able to be more patient. I realized that it’s not good to be attached to food and it’s not good to make fun of others. I understood that it is not good to fight with others if they offend me. If someone hits me, I should ask them why. I enjoyed the time at the chalet, I want to see [everyone] again in the summer.”



David’s mother noticed the beneficial effects of the event on her son in terms of his attention span and patience: “David really enjoyed the activities. I’ve noticed that he can concentrate better on his lessons and takes less time to do tasks. He is less fussy and has more patience to talk about what is going on and what is bothering him.”



David’s father said, “After attending the camp, David is able to focus better when he reads the teachings. He used to get impatient after three or four pages, but he can now read more. He is also more attentive and asks questions about words he doesn’t understand and is able to talk about what he understands. He’s begun sending righteous thoughts with me, which I haven’t reminded him to do for a long time.”



Clara, 15, said, “What I most enjoyed was doing the Falun Dafa exercises and reading the teachings with others. My favorite activities were drama and calligraphy. I look forward to the next camp!”

Learning how to do calligraphy

Marius said he’d never seen his little girl so happy. Evelina is 4, and Marius said,

 “It didn’t seem like the usual joy that children display when they play, it was something much deeper, as if something was shining out from within her. I felt then that it was her conscious side that was showing through, the real happiness. The camp was a very successful and welcome event for the children. We look forward to participating in the next one.”

Even Georgiana’s 14-year-old grandson Darius, who is not a practitioner, enjoyed the photography class and playing in the snow.


The children played games

Learning how to use a camera


The parents said that when they return home, they will be more consistent about studying the Fa and encouraging their children to do the exercises with them.