HEALTH AID UK PROJECTS IN ROMANIA
Our current activities in Romania include:
So how much should I donate?
The seven family group homes
We currently have seven Family homes, Casa Garofita, Casa Lita, Casa Roxana, Casa Snagov, Casa Sandra, Casa Veronica and Casa Sapte. The smallest houses four children, while the largest can have up to nine.
The children living in these houses consider themselves to be brothers and sisters, and call the house parents 'mum and dad'.
Running and staffing the homes represents a major cost for Health Aid.
- Staff (7 x "parent" couples, cleaners, cooks, social workers, teachers).
- Operational costs (food, electricity, gas)
- Medical costs, as and when required.
- Transport costs
- Holidays
- Birthdays
- Repairs
- Refurbishment
and so on.
The mothers and childrens' hostel
Romania has more HIV+ children than the whole of Europe put together. This is one of the legacies of the Ceausescu era.
Many babies are abandoned because of social problems, such as:
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poverty
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lack of accommodation
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family breakdown
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family unacceptance of single mothers
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domestic violence
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unwanted pregnancy
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HIV positive baby
By providing shelter and support it has been possible to re-integrate some young mothers back into their family and for the family to accept the baby.
The Educational Centre
Health Aid developed the educational project (the Health Aid School) with the aim of providing an equal chance for education for the HIV children.
Very often access to education is denied if the HIV status of the children is unveiled. To alleviate this, HAR has established a school with two classrooms (third grade and fifth grade).
The school curriculum is set to meet the particular needs of the Health Aid Children, some of whom are as old as 11-12 years, but who have missed out on a formal education. They need to learn a trade and need to be educated. Equality of education will stimulate improved opportunities in life as adults, increasing their chances of an independent happy life.
The financial support for setup costs and the first two years' running costs came from the Mercury Phoenix Trust, which was set up in memory of the late Freddie Mercury. The Mercury Phoenix Trust also funded some of the costs of the School of Nursing, and a project in Uganda.
The Health Aid School
The Children's Ward at Colentina Hospital
During the first half of the 1990's, this was Health Aid UK's main activity in Romania, sending a small army of trained nurses from all over the world to work in the hospital.
Ten years later, the nurses have withdrawn, and Romanian medical staff look after the children on a day-to-day basis. The level of care is continuing to improve. In particular, the level of care at this hospital is better than in other Romanian state institutions, with:
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An Romanian Christian Orthodox priest visiting when requested
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A room for mothers to relax away from the children
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A garden for the children (which now needs upgrading)
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Extra food for the children.
Health Aid UK also developed an educational programme for the hospital which is now funded by the Department of Education.
A most encouraging sign is evidence of young Romanian and international volunteers dropping in to the hospital from time to socialise with and bring extra food and treats for the children. Volunteers range from private individuals, to companies, to religious groups.
By pooling the efforts of the various actors (the hospital; the Department of Education; Health Aid; institutional volunteers such as young Catholic sisters and theology students; and these individual volunteers), a wide range of new activities for the children has been possible, substantially improving the quality of life of the hospitalised children. These activities include:
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Holidays for long stay hospital children
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Visits to the park and circus
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Trips to McDonald's
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Parties in the hospital
So how much should I donate?
It's up to you, of course! We prefer small, regular donations to larger one-off donations, as this helps us with our planning and cash-flow... but we're not THAT fussy!
This section is to help you decide, by letting you know what your donations will represent to Health Aid.
A regular donation of:
10 pounds per month represents provides extra fruit and vegetables necessary when taking anti-viral drugs.
20 pounds per month represents extra food, educational supplies and recreational trips
30 pounds per month represents extra food, educational supplies, recreational trips and music lessons and art lessons for the children.
50 pounds per month represents full sponsorship for a child, including food, education, recreation and clothes, shoes, boots and ad-hoc costs.
As for one-off donations...
500 pounds represents a summer holiday for a group of children
1,000 pounds represents the complete running costs for a Family Group Home for one month.
10,000 pounds represents half a new minibus
50,000 pounds - well, for this kind of money, we can buy and equip another house and provide life-long care for another eight HIV positive children. We already have children in mind... who are currently at the Colentina hospital, but who will one day have to return to the orphanages, which are generally not equipped to meet the special needs of HIV+ children. If you are serious about donating this kind of money, please get in touch.
As you can imagine the purchasing and setting up of a house is a tremendous experience but setting up a eighth house is not something which Health Aid UK or Health Aid Romania will take on lightly. We have to know where the operating costs are coming from too.
Can anybody think of a more tragic situation than to bring a child of a hospital or institution - allow them to live in a 'family' type environment for a year - and then say, 'Sorry Razvan... but our funding has dried up so its back to the hospital for you and the others'.
No way man!
Whether you want to
3 pounds or 50,000 pounds,
your contribution will be most welcome!
