Humanitarian Convoys

After the world had seen the horrific conditions the people, and especially the children of Romania were enduring, many ordinary people just had to responded. As a result many, like us, just had to do something, anything. We, like many, started by borrowing trucks and trailers, collecting goods from companies and members of the public, and then transporting them to Romania. This response was initially co-ordinated by the main charities such as the Red Cross etc. This was in order that the aid would be distributed as evenly as possible across the country.

This charity began as a group of like-minded Police officers and Police staff that just wanted to help in some way. In the first years we tended to be directed to the areas we should deliver the aid, but there was always the same common factor, the poverty, deprivation and sheer horrors. I first went to Romania in 1996, what I saw that year, six years after the first aid started arriving, I will never forget. My profession brings me into daily contact with death, suffering and many sights people should not have to witness. Nothing could prepare me for what I saw during those five days. I am not ashamed to say, I cried.

We would, each year, take a convoy of at least four articulated lorries laden with aid and deliver to as many orphanages, hospitals and soup kitchens as possible. After those first years of delivering to many regions, we started to concentrate our efforts in the Hunedoara region around the city of Deva. It was at this time that first we met Benny and Maria Medrea, and became involved in supporting the 'Casa Harului' or 'House of Grace' project. Over the years we have evolved, and after the initial ‘emergency’ relief phase we began to look at longer-term projects, and thus building for the future. The charity as also evolved as well, becoming a registered charity in 2001.

What we were seeking to achieve was just a mere drop in the ocean. Yet although we wanted to ease the suffering of all these children, the reality was that this was impractical. Therefore we had to make some hard decisions, and possibly one of the hardest was, ‘Do we continue the emergency relief effort on the same scale?’ The answer was no, and at that point we decided to become more involved with long-term projects, reducing the amount of physical aid sent to Romania and increasing our financial assistance. In doing this we have been able to inject money into the local economy and also provide local employment. Thus it is no longer hand to mouth, but helping to improve the area in a more sustainable way. This is also what the people of Romania were beginning to require at that time.

Casa Harului

Casa Harului, or ‘House of Grace’, is the vision of Benjamin and Maria Medrea. They are a Romanian couple that lived in East Ham, London, England for a number of years to avoid imprisonment under Ceausescu’s communist regime. The project conceived by Ben and Maria was to build a centre specifically for disabled and disadvantaged children. The project was commenced in 1997, and the camp began on a large plot of land donated by Maria’s mother from her farm. This is set in a beautiful valley, near the village of Varmega, in the Carpathian Mountains, in the south west of Romania (Transylvania).

Casa Harului provides a one-week holiday for disadvantaged children from the local towns and orphanages throughout the summer months. It also caters for disabled children and children with HIV.

In 1997 the camps started with the first children camping in tents donated by various charities. However as the construction work has progressed over the years they have been able to slowly move into the buildings. The centre although not completely finished was officially opened in October 2005. Work continues on the camp to improve the facilities and provide a greater ability to cater for more children, although at least now all the children are able to sleep within the buildings.

The camps are run through the 13 weeks of the summer months and approximately 600 children attend at no cost to themselves. These costs are funded by UK charities, including us. The camps are now being extended providing additional weeks throughout Spring and Autumn. These weeks tend to specifically cater for disabled children or children with HIV. Unfortunately there still remains very much a stigma about HIV in Romania and therefore those children tend to have the camp to themselves on specific weeks. This is an area that Benny and Maria are in the process of addressing in order that these children can have more social contact.

Many of the workers at the camp are volunteers from the UK. For example in July 2006 five young adults from St. George’s Church, Blackburn will be spending two weeks (at their own expense) working with the children in the camp.

In order to provide further camps, Ben has embarked on turning an old house into a small cheese factory. This has been supported by the charity and will assist the local farming community by buying milk from the local farms. The profits from the operation will be used to maintain and improve the camps.

The Bethlehem Centre

The Bethlehem Centre is situated in the town of Hunedoara in the Hunedoara region of Romania. Hunedoara was once a proud and great steel-producing town of the communist Romania. It is about the same size as Accrington but steel works cover approximately one third of the area of the town. Some 85% of these works now stand redundant and decaying, a shadow of there former glory. Although not the most efficient works, or any where near to European standards, at least they did once provide employment for the towns people. Now as a result of so much of it being redundant, unemployment and thus poverty within Hunedoara is particularly high and above the national average.

The Bethlehem Centre was set up in one of the poorest neighbourhoods within the town. Initially the centre was based within a room of an old community centre for the district, and at first its primary role was to assisting in providing aid to the poorest families of the area. These families suffered extreme poverty, not having enough money to provide heating in their homes or able to provide their children with a hot meal each day. The centre delivered small parcels of aid containing such basic items as flour, rice, tinned soup, soap and children's clothes. Unfortunately many of the families were in such extreme poverty that they would sell the clothes in order to get money to provide heating and further food to their families.

The centre and its supporting charities had a re-think on how they could better help these people. The entire community centre was purchased and the slow process of renovation began. The building was completed at the end of 2005.

The Bethlehem centre continues to support the people of Hunedoara but it is assisting them to break out of the grip of poverty. It provides a soup kitchen for local children of school age where it provides them with a hot meal at lunchtime. However to qualify the children must attend school. The centre stills provides aid to those who most need it in the form of aid parcels, but families are aware that this assistance will cease should they try to sell the goods provided. Support is also provided in the form of teachers and social workers that assist and train members of the community to gain employment. They teach subjects so as basic computing, woodworking, sewing and garment making. They also provide help with reading and writing, as illiteracy remains quite high within the adult population. To assist in this area the centre has also amassed a considerable library, much of it Christian based, as the country as a whole remains very religious.

The centre continues to be supported by charities from the UK in order to continue its work. For instance the cost of just one of the teachers is £700 per annum, and this is funded by charities such as us or by groups such as St. George's Church.

The Future

Although the above two projects will continue to require our assistance for many years to come, they require less support now that the appropriate structures are in place. The charity is now looking to its next major project, and thus continuing to expand on the help it provides to the children of Romania. The emphasis has always and will always be with the children.

The town of Carteju De Sus is a small mining town in the Carpathian Mountains approximately 20 miles from the city of Deva. The town was built to support the gold mine within the mountains. Following the days of the communist era, the mine has now been privatised and is owned by a Canadian company. As with most organisations when they are privatised the work force has been slashed. Considering that this was effectively the only employer in the town, there is now considerable unemployment.

The charity has forged links with the local mayor, a former officer in the Romanian Army. He is a dynamic individual who is attempting to rebuild the local community. He has already managed to get a former Northumbria Fire Service appliance donated to the town, and is currently in the process of refurbishing the town’s community hall.

We have already sought to provide assistance to the local school by providing a playground. We hope to expand on this in the future. We are also in the process of providing computers to the school.

Years ago the school would have been the only school serving a very large community. It would have served not only the town but also the smaller villages and peasant farms for many miles around. Thus children would come to the school and effectively board for the week, as it would have been impractical to travel home each day. There is now a building remaining within the school grounds that once served that purpose. However the building is in a very dilapidated state, although structurally sound.

The mayor of the town would like to transform this building in order to provide a centre for the community, based very much on the Bethlehem Centre. The centre’s aims will be just like those of the Bethlehem Centre.

Playgrounds

We are currently in the process of refurbishing two playgrounds, one at Casa Harului and one at the school in Caretu De Sus. I hope too soon bring you news and pictures abiut these projects.