Newsletter 1994 to 2024- 30 years in Romania

Greetings to all supporters of SHARE

SHARE – The Beginning
Following the execution of Nicolae Ceausescu, President of Romania, and his wife Elena, on Christmas day 1989, Romania opened up to the world. It had been one of the most closed of the Eastern European Countries, and what was discovered was a country and its people in crisis. I was a member of one of the first teams of medical staff who visited in January 1990 as the “revolution” was coming to an end.

As a result of what I saw and experienced, which was devastating, my husband Steve and I started a fund to send medical and other aid to Romabus to help where we could. This quickly turned into a massive commu- nity project involving many churches,
schools and primary care workers from across the UK.

In 1991 Steve and I and our new baby daughter (our son came a year later) moved to Romania, following a call from God to see what we could do to help by living in the country. We found ourselves living in the Transylvanian town of Sibiu. The first two years we spent learning the language and making contacts. Building relationships and working in healthcare and with Churches of all denominations through the government interference in their reproductive lives. and it was made very easy for them to abandon their babies into State care.

Most people will remember the “Orphanages” and the terrible conditions. Our aims alongside the Romanians across all disciplines was to help families stay together and prevent the abandonment of children.
Steve and I encouraged and invited professionals from across the UK to work with us, along- side Romanians to bring up to date information and had many discussions with Churches of all denominations who were keen to lead on social care for society.

Personally, as a family there were tough times, queues for food, petrol, lack of good medical care, no streetlights, unpredictable electricity & gas supplies, and very few telephones. You had to pro-
gramme a call at the neighbours with the exchange a UK call could take a week to be connected. There was still political unrest, we were
watched by the Secret Police the Securitate, and everyone was suspicious of everyone!

We were privileged to spend 10 years, working and living alongside Romanians from all ethnic backgrounds. Romanian Saxons, Hungarians, Roma and other Traveller groups. Country Folk with their own culture, Romanians from the East who lived in Bucharest, again with their own culture, and Moldovans from former Soviet Moldova. Working with Romanian Orthodox, Lutheran, Hungarian Reform, Greek and Roman Catholics, Baptist, Pentecostal and Steve setting up the first 3 faith Forum in Eastern Europe, between Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Romania has moved on, however there are still issues especially in Social and Health Care. We hope and pray this will continue to improve.

Mandy Hughes MBE Founder & Trustee SHARE. September 2024.

 

 

This is a photo of Trustee Jane Williams taken by the Kenilworth Weekly News after her first trip to Romania in June 1994—the summer the Romanian Charity was established.

In 1993 Jane was reading her health visiting journal when she came across a letter from Mandy asking for volunteers to work in Romania with a pro- ject that aimed to empower women. She had been so shocked like many people after the revolution in 1989 that opened the eyes of the world to what had been going on in Romania under the communist govern- ment led by President Ceausescu. We heard of the 100 thousand plus so called orphans living in terrible conditions, abandoned by the parents because of poverty or disability. Jane wanted like many others to do something. As a health visitor she wanted to find out what had caused this situation. So this letter struck a cord with her and she contacted Mandy and Steve Hughes who were running a workshop in Bir- mingham that summer to see whether there were volunteers able to join them in their project. And that is where the story began—a year later Jane and Martin, also a Trustee headed for the start of an adventure and passion for Romania that would last for ever!

The work developed over the years. In the beginning health education courses were set up and run in the hospital for the nurses there and for the nurses who worked in the community. We ran post natal sessions in the maternity unit and tried to influence changes there. We visit- ed “at risk” families in the surrounding villages reassuring them about their parenting skills and giving advice. In 1996 the first ever ante natal classes in Romania were set up and were run for many years in the hospital, in the ASCENSIUM office and in the doctors surgeries in the villages.

Later on we started working in the schools trying to support some of the children who were struggling. Many of the Roma families could not see a purpose in sending their children to school. What was the point? There were no jobs for them. Ascensium was a thriving charity funded by UK supporters and other external funders. At its height it was one of the top NGOs in Romania. We had Romanian doctors, nurses, teachers and others all striving to “help Roma- nians help themselves”. What we had set out to do back in 1994.
In 2007 Romania went into the EU. With that and the financial crash at the same time— funding for SHARE disappeared almost overnight. Ascensium had to close down.
With strong support from the SHARE Trustees we looked for other work being done by other charities plus two we set up ourselves—

 

1. DACIA
In 2009 SHARE began to support work in a Saxon village called Dacia. Once they were free to travel many of the people in the village had moved away to find work in other places leaving behind the elderly to manage their ancient crumbling houses. There is no mains sewerage in the village and no mains drinking water even today. Initially SHARE funded the midday meal for children who attended a mixed- age class in the village it does not have a school of its own. Families that remain in the village are too poor to pay for transport to the nearest schools.
In the past few years the school has moved into the Parish Rooms. A new roof was needed and SHARE has given a donation towards this. The project is run by a charity based in Dresden that is led by Frank Roth (PHOTO ABOVE). The projects are linked through the Cross of Nails at Coventry

The children in Dacia met the volunteers from the Bianca Project.

 

2. THE BIANCA PROJECT
In the summer of 1994 Jane met a woman in the maternity hospital with her baby. The baby, Bianca had had a difficult birth and was brain damaged. What would normally happen in these circumstances was that the baby was left in the hospital and would have ended up in an orphanage. The staff at Ascensium supported her to go home and provided support to the family for many years. It was not until she was fourteen
when her parents found it too
difficult to care for her anymore and she was moved to a children’s home SPERANTA.

It was finding Bianca in Speranta that in discussion with the Director back in 2009 we started the Bianca Project (photo above: Jane with Bianca) In 2010 seven newly qualified occupational therapists from Coventry University went to Sibiu to volunteer in Speranta. This was the first of many and since then nearly 200 hundred volunteers have spent time in the summer at Speranta.

We head off this year with nine volunteers, speech and language
therapists and occupational therapists. We have struggled in the years since lockdown to find student volunteers. It could be the cost of living and the fact that many of these students have student loans to pay off. However we have two weeks planned in October and everybody in Spe- ranta is looking forward to seeing us again.
Little Bianca was moved to an adult institution when she was 18 years old and passed away 3 months later. The Bianca Project is her legacy.

3. FATHER SIMEON
In a neglected suburb of Sibiu the Parish Priest, Father Simeon built his church. Alongside it he slowly raised funds to build a social work centre serving his poor parishioners. Meals were pro-
vided for the elderly and each afternoon when nor- mal school finished a meal was provided and a teacher gave additional lessons . The final stage has been reached which was to build residential accom- modation for 16 elderly residents. Fr Simeon who is now in his late 70s has retired. The school element of the project has had to stop but there are now sev- eral older people living in the accommodation. Jean (one of our other Trustees) and Jane went to the dedication in May 2016. Over the years SHARE has made substantial donations to this work.

The Dedication May 2016

3. JIM’S HOUSE
In 2017 the Rev Canon Jim Tysoe passed away. A chaplain at Coventry Cathedral, he had always taken a huge interest in SHARE. Over the years he had donated money generously but after his death he bequeathed a substantial amount of money to SHARE in his will. At the same time three young people who were living in Speranta and who we had known since the Bianca Project began, had reached the age of 18 when they were to be transferred from Speranta to an adult institution. We could not bear the thought of it but were not sure what we could do about it.

In 2018 on a visit to another project run by UK Charity called Love Light Romania, Jo (the Director and Jane came up with the idea of restoring a house in the village where one of their projects was based. This house was to become Jim’s House. In October 2019 Alex, Ionut and Bianca moved in to their new home and the rest is history!

Today they are a happy family, involved in so many things in the village where they live. Only last week we were sent photographs of the three of them participating in a first aid course. Our greatest concern is that we have to find £2800 a month for their care. Such a lot to find when we are competing with so many other worthy causes.

THE JOURNEY OF THE CROSS OF NAILS
The Cross of Nails has made several journeys since 1996 when it was given to SHARE and placed in the little Chapel in Cisnadioara. It moved into an office in Sibiu itself in the care of Gill and Geoff Kimber who were funded to work with SHARE by the Church Missionary Society. From there it went to the Ecumenical Centre in Sibiu and today it has pride of place on the altar in the Church of St John in Sibiu.

In 2019 there was an Eastern European Conference of the Community of the Cross of Nails in Sibiu attended by many of our supporters including one of SHARE’s Patrons- Rev Canon Sarah Hills.

The Litany of Reconciliation at St John’s Church in 2013

1994—2024 Thirty years on and such a lot has been achieved .
As we look back to the start of the Romanian Charity in 1994, the work of SHARE has touched the lives of thousands of people. So many other projects not mentioned here— workshops, holiday clubs, links with Sibiu University regarding nursing and teaching. The list goes on but has only been possible with the support of friends, family and others who know how much this work can do to change the world. Thanks to each and every one of you.

Our Annual Meeting will be held on Microsoft Teams on Saturday 16th November starting at 11am.

There will be an update about our working visit in October
and also highlights of the October visit by Coventry Cathedral Choir. If you would like to attend please email me at [email protected]
In the next few months, we are having A virtual DUCK RACE DOWN THE DANUBE!

You are invited to sponsor and name a duck — minimum donation £3. If you do not have access to the internet but would like to join the race contact Jane on 07880500411.

The link to the DUCK RACE is in the accompanying email.
Donations to SHARE of any amount can be made through:
www.give.net/20023496

If you prefer to send a cheque it should be payable to “SHARE” and can be sent to 63 Daventry Road, Coventry CV3 5DH
A big thankyou to those of you who have already made a donation. Please let us know who you are so that we can thank you and keep you up to date with the news from Jim’s House.

If you would like to sponsor Alex, Ionut or Bianca and pay an amount to- wards the care each month that would be wonderful. You can do this by log- ging on to the give.net website as above.