She left

We took donjana to the station this morning. She looked sooo tiny with her two bags! subhanaAllah i'm sure the bags weight as much as her . She is only 17kg.. I can't believe that I won't see her for a whole week now! The house will feel so empty!

We met the group at the railway station. First it looked like only one or two families subhanaAllah. After all, I guess there was kids from 4 or 5 different families, so maybe all the other kids had siblings there too, the ages were from 7 to 14.. There was one girl from donjana's arabic group so she knows at least someone already. I saw a few girls about her age, so there will be friends for her inshaAllah.

MashaAllah there was an older girl, who is also a leader on the camp (she's maybe 18 y/o or something, and she's been there before. I could tell her about Donjana's needs lol.. Well.. not much.. A little.. Eeeeekkk.. I sound so silly.. like some Mother Goose.. lol..

It was kinda funny there.. All the other kids were 100% arabs, I guess because half Finns usually have Finnish as their official mother language so they won't be able to go on these camps. A mother of one girl asked why a Finnish girl is coming lol.. I heard her.. She spoke in Arabic and maybe thought I didn't understand. The teacher said Donjana is an Arab from father's side.. I added, also in Arabic, that her father is Palestinian... Lol.. The mother was mute after that.. She realized I understood what she said.. She didn't say anything offensive or bad though, but I guess it was just because she didn't want to look too curious.. And she was smiling at me all the time..

After the teacher got their tickets he told them all to listen and get together. Then he said he will give each one their tickets in the train. He spoke arabic but I understood each word (he has Palestinian accent mashaAllah , but he spoke 'official' arabic) ). One of the smallest girls asked in Finnish: What did you say?' loooool I guess that girl's parents speak also Finnish at home or either their (iraqi or irani?) accent is too different. The teacher said in Arabic kinda to himself with low voice that this is a camp for arab speakers lol..

There she is, behind the window


Soon after this Donjana went to the train with the group. Poor her, she couldn't manage to carry her bags.. Alhamdulilah one of the teachers took her bags so she didn't have to carry them. Her Arabic teacher sat next to her in the train (dh called him last night . I guess he told him to watch donjana good ). She left with a smile on her face mashaAllah. I was in tears but I'm sure this is all good. I've kept her like a small child kinda.. Maybe now she will learn to be more independent in a good way, taking better care of her things, clothes etc..

I called donjana once when she was on the way.. They had changed to the other train already, and she sounded exited and happy mashaAllah. I even forgot to ask her if she ate the sandwiches and apple that I put to her bag.. And I promised to myself to leave her in peace and call her only once when she arrives..

So I called her again in the evening. She sounded even more exited and told me that she has many new friends now! She had been playing mini golf and when I called they were playing football! There's a cool playground and a football field on the back yard and indoor playroom also. Sounds like a hotel to me lol mashaAllah!

Well.. it should: it's a huge, old mansion run by foundation for friends and families of kids with cancer. Lol so no old cottage, but a huuuge building with all the services. Oh , what a camp! They make conferences for business ppl, parties like wedding etc, camps for cancer kids, sports holidays etc there.. So i guess no rotten, old showers there . Actually they have even a really beautiful, new sauna.. I don't think donjana will get the touch of real camp life . To me it means either tent or bunk beds, sleeping bags etc.. This is her first camp, so it's easier for her like this..

When I called her the second time I remembered to ask about her snack: yes, she had been eating her sandwiches and the apple in the train, but still had some juice and pringles left alhamdulilah.


She shares a room with that older girl whom I met at the station and who is a leader there mashaAllah. Yeah, some of the rooms are for two.. What did I say.. Hotel holiday, not a camp, ***** 5 stars. Now I know Donjana is taken care of well! I wish she can sleep well and won't miss us too much. . I'm sure she will have a good time inshaAllah!

Donjana called me a bit after their bed time. I thought she will tell me she misses me or home or something.. But no. She wanted to tell me that she had a pyjama party with four of the smallest girls and they got to visit each others rooms. She was not tired so it was a bit difficult for her to sleep I guess. We said good night and it felt so weird.. She is 200 km away from me.. InshaAllah she slept soon after we spoke.

May Allah subhanahuwata'ala give her a fun holiday and a safe trip back home! Ameen.

here's a pic of the house mashaAllah

here's a link.. in finnish only, but there is some other piccies too..
http://www.kuortinkartano.fi/