2014 Newsletter It’s been a little while since you heard from me but I just wanted to say hello and hope that you are all keeping well. I also would like to “Thank you” for your unstinting and continuous support for our work in Romania. Some people have recently asked if I am still working in the office here in the UK and to clarify my position I would like to say, I have now retired from the work of the RCA here in the UK and no longer have any involvement with the day-to-day affairs of the office. However, at the moment I am still involved on the Romanian side with our sister Charity ONV and offering them support to become more established. It has always been my intention that our charitable work would eventually be taken over by the Romanians. To this end I would like to direct admiration for what they achieved in 2013. During the month of September they held their first ever sponsored walk and it was a great success. This is the first step taken in their efforts at trying to raise funds for themselves in Romania. In a country not used to sponsored events, be they walks or something else, the initial task was difficult, but to the charity’s credit and very hard work , I was pleased to see how successful the event turned out to be. Your continued support and tireless commitment over the years have made a great difference to the young people in the care of O Noua Viata (A New Life) in Siret. A number of them are living semi-independent lives and some are either in part time or full time employment. Others, however, continue to live in State homes and do require a lot of support. We need to increase staffing levels and try to provide better educational and medical care. Therefore, your contribution is still invaluable and if you can continue with your sponsorship of the program, it would be greatly appreciated by O Noua Viata. I would also like to take this opportunity of personally expressing my own thanks for the support you have given to me in forging the path for the Charity over the last twenty four years, your generosity has been incredible. I hope you enjoy reading the rest of this update and again, I thank you for everything you are doing to support our work in Romania. God Bless, Anneka Rice In April 2013 we were delighted to welcome Anneka back to Siret. She wrote an article in the EXPRESS Newspaper that her visit to Siret this time “was beyond joyful. There were children I recognized, now young adults, and they were clothed and healthy and living useful lives….. Most of all, they have acquired a sense of self-esteem. It was touching to see”. Viorel and Mariana are just two wonderful examples of what Anneka helped to achieve. On her Challenge to the orphanage, she first met Viorel as a young four year old boy. He found happiness when he married Mariana, a young girl also raised in the orphanage and they married in 2009. These are two of the more fortunate ones who have developed the skills of independent living and found work in one of the local factories. They now live in one of the apartments built by the Romanian Challenge Appeal and are integrating back into their own community . “ We’re happy in our work, we’re happy in our apartment and most of all happy to see each other”, says Viorel.
Transcript
2014 Newsletter
It’s been a little while since you heard from me but I just wanted to say hello and hope that you are all keeping well. I also would like to “Thank you” for your unstinting and continuous support for our work in Romania.
Some people have recently asked if I am still working in the office here in the UK and to clarify my position I would like to say, I have now retired
from the work of the RCA here in the UK and no longer have any involvement with the day-to-day affairs of the office. However, at the moment I am still involved on the Romanian side with our sister Charity ONV and offering them support to become more established. It has always been my intention that our charitable work would eventually be taken over by the Romanians. To this end I would like to direct admiration for what they achieved in 2013. During the month of September they held their first ever sponsored walk and it was a great success. This is the first step taken in their efforts at trying to raise funds for themselves in Romania. In a country not used to sponsored events, be they walks or something else, the initial task was difficult, but to the charity’s credit and very hard work , I was pleased to see how successful the event turned out to be.
Your continued support and tireless commitment over the years have made a great difference to the young people in the care of O Noua Viata (A New Life) in Siret. A number of them are living semi-independent lives and some are either in part time or full time employment. Others, however, continue to live in State homes and do require a lot of support. We need to increase staffing levels and try to provide better educational and medical care. Therefore, your contribution is still invaluable and if you can continue with your sponsorship of the program, it would be greatly appreciated by O Noua Viata.
I would also like to take this opportunity of personally expressing my own thanks for the support you have given to me in forging the path for the Charity over the last twenty four years, your generosity has been incredible.
I hope you enjoy reading the rest of this update and again, I thank you for everything you are doing to support our work in Romania.
God Bless,
Anneka RiceIn April 2013 we were delighted to welcome Anneka back to Siret. She wrote an article in the EXPRESS Newspaper that her visit to Siret this time “was beyond joyful. There were children I recognized, now young adults, and they were clothed and healthy and living useful lives….. Most of all, they have acquired a sense of self-esteem. It was touching to see”.
Viorel and Mariana are just two wonderful examples of what Anneka helped to achieve. On her Challenge to the orphanage, she first met Viorel as a young four year old boy. He found happiness when he married Mariana, a young girl also raised in the orphanage and they married in 2009.
These are two of the more fortunate ones who have developed the skills of independent living and found work in one of the local factories. They now live in one of the apartments built by the Romanian Challenge Appeal and are integrating back into their own community . “ We’re happy in our work, we’re happy in our apartment and most of all happy to see each other”, says Viorel.
Siret April to June 2013 Bruce VaughanOver the last number of years I have been going out to Siret in the Spring time to do a project to help enable the young adults to plant the gardens of the six homes, apartments and the farm with flowering plants and vegetables. I take out about 3000 plug plants.
Working with the young people we spend about a week potting out the plants, put them into the polytunnels, wait for approximately four weeks and then we set the plants out in all the gardens. Hopefully, the young people learn how to care for plants and will be able to do it for themselves in the future. One of the young people had actually provided some seeds which he had gathered from last year’s spent flowers!
What do I find when I arrive? A large group of diverse friendly young people who are unrecognisable as the damaged and hopeless children from 25 years ago.
They smile, enjoy their lives and consider each other their family; the strong among them push those in wheelchairs with enthusiasm; they interact with each other with care and patience, rarely found in modern society. They were greatly damaged as children and that hurt still shows in many different ways, but the positive way they approach everything is remarkable.
They have beautiful homes and it’s easy to think these young adults have all they need, but they have little security beyond State Care and their State Carers,: little social confidence beyond their circle of similarly placed friends; little chance of employment in the future.
RCA and ONV have succeeded in the last twenty odd years to transform these young people’s lives to something like normality; the problem is that RCA and ONV don’t look back and see success; they look forward and see problems to solve. Long may they do so. Isn’t that what life is about?
I would like to say a very heartfelt “Thank You” to Bruce who has been such a tremendous support and inspiration to me since our first visit to Siret in 1990. I also extend my gratitude to his wife Breda and sister-in-law Maire for their dedication, generosity and friendship since the Romanian Challenge began.
Sponsored WalkAs part of our continuing efforts to move fundraising to Romania, the first one of many (hopefully) annual sponsored walks was held in the beautiful countryside around Sucevita on the 21st September. This walk raised over 16,000 euros - about 80% from Romanian sources. This is an incredible result for such a poor area, and we have to thank the many corporate sponsors within Romania who helped us reach such a fantastic amount We would also like to thank our supporters and sponsors from outside Romania - your 20% is very welcome and will assist our work greatly in the next few months.
Some Fascinating Facts About Romania
Spring in SiretBy Adina O’Connor (General Manager – O Noua Viata)
• Romania has a temperate climate, with 4 distinct seasons and temperatures reaching a very hot 95 degrees F in summer and a very cold 5 degrees F in winter
• Universal literature found sources of inspiration in Romania’s castles – the most famous novels are probably ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker and ‘The Castle in the Carpathians’ by Jules Verne
• Romania joined the European Union in 2007, although it still retains its own currency (the Leu)
• Romania is the largest country in south eastern Europe
• Romanian is a Latin based language, which is a continuation of the Latin spoken in ancient times in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. It uses a 31-letter Latin alphabet
• A Romanian physiologist, Nicolai Paulescu, discovered insulin but only after two Canadians received a Noble prize, some 50 years later, for the same invention was he finally recognized and acknowledged as the true inventor of insulin
• The Romanian populationis 19,350,000 (2012)
• There has been a shift towards heavy industries since the 1970’s but agriculture is still economically important and employs about one-third of the workforce
Easter Celebrations!All the young people enjoyed a week’s holiday at Easter, during which they attended church for the Easter Mass, visited their friends in town, prepared traditional food for this celebration and entertained each other and friends from town.
Community ActivitiesA few of our young people, accompanied by staff, helped out with some community and drop-in programs that involved, amongst other things, providing food and sweets for the local underprivileged children.
Vocational CentreThe vocational training centre is now into its second decade of providing a wide range of practical workshops. Since the last newsletter we have been focusing on the following activities:
• Planting vegetables in fields
• Practical instruction in the use of poly tunnels
• Planting of new soft fruit trees
• First stage incubation of chicken eggs (we have over 100 chickens)
• Christmas ornament making in the glass workshop
• Friday sensorial and social events which, so far, have included a picnic, short trips, outdoor games, a disco and physical massage sessions
Siret Primary School VisitChildren from the local primary school in Siret came to visit us on an educational school trip and spent some time looking around the houses and the Vocational Centre. The outing was intended to let the children meet some young people with various disabilities and give them a little understanding as to what disability means. Also, to make the children aware that those with disabilities are all part of the same community. The visit proved to be a great success!
A New Face Joins UsA young man has come into our care at O Noua Viata. His name is Alexandru Trontinghel and he is from Gura Humorului. Alexandru appears to be settling in well and we all look forward to getting to know him!
Thank You L.A.S.!THANK YOU to Mr. Cooper of LAS, Birmingham who sponsored the T shirts for our Charity walk and who also supported us so generously with materials for our building projects and clothing for our young people.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
• SPONSOR A YOUNG PERSON
• ORGANISE A FUNDRAISING EVENT
• SEND A MONTHLY DONATION
• SEND A ONE-OFF DONATION
• LEAVE A LEGACY IN YOUR WILL
ADDRESS AND EMAIL CHECK
If we do not have your correct postal or email address please inform the office.
If you would like any further information on any of the subjects mentioned are interested in further details on how you can support us, please contact:
The Romanian Challenge Appeal, Avon House , 435Stratford Road, Shirley, Solihulll B90 4AA Tel: 01217463112 Email: [email protected] Web: www.romanian-challenge.org Registered Charity No. 1011397
VolunteersThese continue to be a very important resource for the Charity and one which the Charity could not do without. In recent years volunteer numbers have fluctuated and this is possibly due to demands for help elsewhere in the world. However, the Charity could really do with increasing the numbers of volunteers that travel to Romania. If you feel you can offer your services to the Charity they are looking for supporters to work with the
now ageing group still living in institutional care in the Casa de Copii and to help out with the young adults living in the homes belonging to the charity.
Volunteers offering support in: Art and Craft work /Woodwork/Horticulture/Music/Teaching/Gardening/engaging in social activities or even taking the disabled out into the community would be greatly appreciated.
Sponsored Walk ReminderAugust 23rd is the date for our sponsored walk this year. Why not take a break in Romania and join us in this great event! Suceavita is an absolutely fabulous area for walking and tourism, we can guarantee that you will enjoy your time there. If you cannot make it, maybe you might consider sponsoring our young people to do the walk. In due course there will be more details on the O Noua Viata website as well as the RCA website. LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE.
