Aid for Romanian Children

Home

Introduction

Support

Past Work

Current Work

How To Help

Contact Us

1997

1998

1999
Easter 1999 Aid Trip
Educational Holiday
Christmas Visit

2000
Easter 2000 Aid Trip
ARC Apartment

Easter 2000 Aid Trip Report

All Aboard
Following many weeks of preparation, accepting gifts of aid, fundraising events, collecting and purchasing medical equipment and drugs, and finally packing a forty foot lorry until every square inch was full, we were ready to depart. The lorry left along with a second lorry and two Jeep-drawn trailers from Liverpool on Friday 14th of April for the five day cross-country trip to Romania.

On Sunday 16th April the combined team from Northern Ireland and Liverpool met at Heathrow Airport and traveled together on an 11 hour journey by plane and minibus, via Hungary arriving at Beius, Romania at 11pm at night. For people who are not familiar with our work Beius is a small market town approximately 150 kilometers from the Hungarian border, and it nestles at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania. The countryside is very beautiful and untouched by commercialism and progress. The central point of the town for us is the Casa De Copii Orphanage. Our days in Beius were packed to capacity, visiting the children, delivering aid, taking the children to the local restaurant for their treat, meetings with the local social services and orphanage Director etc. It was wonderful to see the excitement of the children as they welcomed us with open arms and joyous hearts.

The Family Concept
Over the past years it has been wonderful to see the improvement in the health, appearance and self-worth of the children. Sponsorship of the children has been instrumental in supplementing the daily diet by the introduction of better meat, fruit, and fresh vegetables and breakfast biscuits with vitamin supplements. This has helped the children in their resilience to illness and reduction of dental problems etc. Each child is allocated the equivalent to 39p per day by the government; this amount is intended to supply all the needs of each child. Therefore it is very important the charity can supplement this substantially. The current monthly contribution of the charity is £1200 and will shortly increase to £1400 as the number of sponsors increase.

In the report of 1999 you heard that the orphanage has now been transferred to the care of the Romanian Social services; this team has indeed made a great effort to improve the environmental decor of the prison-like buildings. Their new concept of family sized groups have been introduced and these (3 initially) have been allocated 3 newly refurbished areas, which consist of new fully refurbished bedrooms, with new bunk beds, lockers and wardrobes. It was quite clear that the children took great pride it this since it was well looked after and tidy. The dining areas were also smaller and more home-like, with new furniture, sink area and fridge. New washing areas and toilets were also part of this program. Study rooms were also beautifully refurbished, and it is our intention to help raise finances to help this progress continue.

The name of the orphanage has also changed and it is known as “Centrul De Plasament”. The number of children has also decreased from 300 to 200 through an effort by the government to support parents to keep their children in the family unit, and they have been given aid to achieve this goal. This also means that the remaining children are receiving better care and attention.

Fun For All
One of the highlights of our trip was an outing with 35 of the children to the mountains of “Stena De Vale”. It was indeed a wonderful day in the melting snow with snowballing, general great fun and an excellent meal afterwards. It was very difficult to imagine how children who only live 12 mile away from this this beautiful place had never been there before. It is our intention to make this an annual event with perhaps more children on the next trip.

Pizza night for everyone visitor and child alike remains a highlight. Every child enjoyed this event with gusto, nothing remained on the plates, if it hadn’t reached a stomach it was spirited back to the safety of the bedroom for a later top-up. Another special moment for every child is receiving their shoebox. This event is very important because it ensures that no child is left out regardless of whereabouts. Any child who is absent on that day still gets their present when they return. As a result each child feels special and that someone, somewhere took time and thought to put together this gift. It is so important that every human being knows that there is another person who cares for them, the shoebox is just such a means of caring.

For those children who have sponsors, their personal presents are a great joy and it is important to remember that teenagers have the same aspirations to current styles and trends as our young people.

In many ways our team members had every opportunity to display their talents. One such artistic event was a face-painting afternoon. Many colorful people emerged and the children really enjoyed themselves.

Now Its Off To Hospital
For the uninitiated, a visit to the local maternity and children’s hospital is a harrowing experience. The stately exterior with its well-attended front lawn belies reality within; for young children the prospect of admission is dismal. The interior was dreary with paint falling off walls, standards of hygiene were very poor, grubby torn bed linen, stale food left lying on lockers. In the midst of all a segregated area for gypsy children, where the lack of attention for these children was even more obvious. The maternity unit showed very obvious signs of the necessity for updated equipment and operating accessories. The most heartening aspect of this was the abandoned baby unit, which we funded a repaint and commissioned an artist to paint cartoon murals depicted on the walls at the end of our trip of 1999, the difference was spectacular. This is now a bright, stimulating area, which the children, who have been abandoned, can enjoy. They also benefit greatly from the clothes and toys, which you all send, and it has made a wonderful difference. This year it has been possible to supply this hospital with an updated anesthetic machine, a diathermy machine and an ecograph machine as well as other pieces of necessary equipment.

By comparison our visit to the children's hospital in Arad was very encouraging. The consultant Dr. Lucan and staff are enthusiastic and constantly making efforts to update their unit for the benefit of the children. The hospital there was bright and cheerful, and the children were well cared for. We had a happy afternoon and it was great to see everyone form a human chain to transfer aid from our lorry to the store on the first floor. It was very encouraging to see that previous visits over the years had helped so much, and that higher standards have been achieved.

Another encouraging aspect of health was our visit to Hodas, 60 miles from Beius, were Sue (an English Nurse) is establishing an updated treatment room, the nearest doctor lives many miles from the village. There we received a hearty welcome and much needed refreshments, Romanian cuisine (Home made) is quite delicious. Sue was delighted to get vital supplies of needles, antibiotics with a full range of creams and inhalers for asthmatics and the 80 chairs she requested for the new community hall. As it was Easter Sunday we attended the afternoon service in the local church which was conducted by Sue’s husband, Rev. George Viditz. Finally on this beautiful sunny Sunday evening, spiritually and physically revitalized, we returned to Beius tired and ready for bed.

Happy Families : L’Avenir Project
This is the realization of one man’s vision for the orphanages of Romania. His dream is that each child will have the opportunity to live in a family home, and that each child should have the security of family life, and a sense of belonging, thus promoting self-worth and self esteem.

The project started in 1992 with the purchase of a first home, and although the authorities treated the project very skeptically, soon a second house was bought. Today there are 20 homes, each is run by the equivalent of house parents, with 6 to 10 children of various ages each child has a responsibility, i.e. feeding the pigs or hens, or tending the vegetable garden. Girls help with cooking or cleaning as in a proper family. The aim is to be close to being self-sufficient. Another initiative was a bakery and a woodwork shop to initiate a training scheme for teenagers to be taught employment skills. The bread and furniture is sold to the local villagers, the whole process is very progressive and although initially financed by a Swiss charity, they are now endeavoring to be independent and self-sufficient. Such a project is very commendable and if it were possible would be ideal for

the orphanage in Beius, where the children leave at 18 years with no training and very few prospects for employment.

Lets hope the years ahead may achieve such an experience for children and perhaps eliminate the necessity for institutionalization.

Room With A View
In 1997 the charity purchased a one bedroom flat on the top floor of a six-floor tower block. The cost at the time was £1200, and its purpose was to give accommodation to teenagers leaving the orphanage. Although the flat was very basic, the occupants are very proud of their home and worked very hard the week before our arrival on a re-paint. During last winter the roof leaked badly, as it is a top floor flat, so we had this re-felted and the interior improved with new wall tiles. A new wooden floor was installed a few weeks after our departure and a cooker and fridge was installed at the same time.

Every member of the team worked hard to fulfill the dreams and expectations of the children and young adults, and we hope that they have benefited greatly and enjoyed our friendship and love. We established many valuable friendships there, and we feel that we are the lucky ones who experience a child’s smiling face (what could be better?), and it was with heavy hearts and tear-filled eyes that we parted for our journey home.

Acknowledgements
Our most sincere thanks must go to all those who so very generously support the ongoing work of the charity, for the loyal sponsorship of the children and to all those most valuable fund-raising events to purchase vital equipment and medicines.

Thanks To :

Baloo Fishery Lane
Barlow Trailers Ltd.
Bayliss Transport Ltd.
Belfast City Hospital (Accident and Emergency Depertment
Central Services Agency Belfast
Christ Church, Church of Ireland Lisburn
Duckworth Group Ltd.
Eglantine Parish Church
Elim Pentecostal Church Lisburn
Friends' School Lisburn
Harmony Hill Presbyterian Church Lisburn
Hillsborough Flower Club
ICL Ireland
Mr. Bill Erwin
Mr. Hugh Holmes