Xmas 2010 Shoebox Aid Drop

TEECH would like to save a huge festive thank you to all those that contributed to our shoe box appeal, we collected over 400 boxes which was truly amazing!

Rob Brown – Chairman & Emma Willy - Volunteer           

Saturday 18 December

Arrive at Thorndon – the storage facility for TEECH. We load the TEECH van with approximately 200 shoeboxes, food parcels, bags of warm clothing, bedding and equipment for the van (rock salt, snow chains and a shovel!) – several volunteers kindly give up their last Saturday before Christmas to help us load up.

Sunday 19 December

We collect a further 130 shoeboxes and other donations of clothing and sweets – and somehow manage to squeeze them into the van, along with our own personal belongings for the trip.

Monday 20 December

We leave Holland on Sea at 0600hrs – our ferry is the 1040hrs departure from Calais. It is bitterly cold – it has been snowing the last couple of days and the weather looks bleak for our trip. The van does not like the cold and struggles to warm up and by the time we reach the A12 our worst fears are realised when the engine starts to overheat! An emergency stop-off at Witham is required for some first aid for the van (and bacon butties for us) – we defrost the engine, top up the anti freeze and hey presto – the heater starts to work again.

We leave Witham 3 hours later and make it in time for the 1300hrs crossing.

Snow, freezing fog and black ice – not the best conditions to drive across Europe but somehow we make the long drive across France, Belgium, Germany, Austria.............. we stop at a petrol stop for a couple hours of sleep.

Tuesday 21 December

Austria - we set off early to make the final haul to the Romanian border – travelling across Hungary. We arrive in Bors, just across the border at 1800hrs – and check into our hotel for a much needed beer, some hot food and sleep.

Wednesday 22 December

We set off at 0900hrs and arrive in Targu Mures at 1400hrs. We meet our first contact – Zoltan – who is the head teacher from Maiad Elementary School. We are a little lost so he kindly leads us to his village where we stay for the next couple of days. Zoltan and his wife Ancy are wonderful hosts – feeding us traditional Hungarian food and providing a very comfortable bed for 2 nights.

Thursday 23 December

Zoltan has kindly arranged our first two shoebox drop offs – the first at Maiad Elementary School. This school is the heart of the local community, which is mostly Hungarian (Little Hungary as Zoltan calls it) and it is a wonderful place. Of the 37 children who are schooled here we get to meet 21 of them – aged between 4 and 13. They are a delight to meet and perform traditional Hungarian Christmas songs and then in pairs recite the nativity. They are excited to meet Santa and we give them their presents – their smiles and laughter are incredible and I wish the day could last longer....

Friday 24 December

Today Zoltan takes us to the second elementary school – located in another Hungarian gypsy village in Budiu Mic. There we meet 30 children, who are aged between 8 and 12. They are a rowdy bunch with big smiles and cheeky grins. And guess what - they are also very excited to meet Santa! There is even a mini Santa amongst them! We get a chorus of traditional songs and many broken English “Happy Christmas’s” and we have a lot of fun handing out the presents. The teachers are very kind and offer us coffee and traditional homemade cakes.

After we say our goodbyes we begin our journey towards Comanesti. Before we go Zoltan and his brother take us to one of the orphanages in the region – Casa Dove – a small home for 16 children who are aged between 8 and 18. What an amazing place this is: we are greeted by lots of bright-eyed children who very pleased to be meeting Santa on Christmas Eve! We are given a tour of home and we are heartened to see how well the children are looked after. Each room has no more than two children – the rooms are beautifully clean and very tidy, with plenty of toys and even computers in nearly every room.

We have a long drive ahead and say our farewells to the children and their carers, and also to Zoltan and his brother, and continue our way to Comanesti – an ex-mining town, with high unemployment, much higher than the country's average, and representative of this underdeveloped region of Romania. Many of its people have been unemployed since the mines closed. The closures brought great poverty to the area and the town was also badly hit by the floods in July 2005.

Our base in this town is the Robert Cole Centre – a private organisation founded in November 1996, day centre for children with disabilities, which provides child protection for local families in need. We meet our next contact, Adrian – a volunteer with various charitable organisations including Biggin Hill Romania Group, Cry in the Dark and Robert Cole Association, who is our guide for the next couple of days.

At the Robert Cole Centre we meet another old friend of TEECH. Geanna is one of Romania’s ‘lost children’ who has managed to find herself a home and a job within the Centre’s confines. I wish I could find the right words to describe this amazing young girl – I have never met anyone quite like her. Despite her life beginning in one of the faceless orphaned children institutions she has managed to build a life for herself. She is the kindest person I have ever met – which is incredible considering how life must have treated her. She will be our translator for the next couple of days, and the person who gives me shoulder to cry on when I feel powerless and sad at the situations we face.

We spend the evening with Adrian and his family, drafting an agenda for the next couple of days. Adrian is an incredible raconteur, with so many stories to tell about all the families he has worked with, and children he has met. Most of the stories have sad endings but he still has an empathy with the community that really is touching and we learn over the next couple of days how important he is to the families we meet....

Saturday 25 December

Happy Christmas! We have a very busy day today - Adrian wants to keep us busy!

Robert Cole Centre – The Robert Cole Centre has 3 floors. The ground floor is the day centre, the second floor is the ‘Foundations for Life’ centre which provides after school activities, along with a newly refurbed medical centre, for the local community.

However the top floor of the centre has been left undeveloped by the local authorities. It is without light, heating, in most instances no windows, holes in the roof, and no bathroom or kitchen facilities. However hidden away in the stark conditions 10 folks have managed to make this their home. They have nothing but a handful of threadbare belongings and very basic sleeping and cooking facilities. We have brought them bundles of winter clothes, bedding, food parcels and toiletries. Most don’t have families or receive benefits from the government so this will be all they get at Christmas.

Casa Lumina - Casa Lumina is a residential care home for 22 young people with special needs. The home provides care, education, stimulation, support and love to help re-build their lives and reach their full potential. It is also a home for life and the young people will stay here without worry of where their future lies. Adrian introduces us to the staff on duty who show us where we can leave the presents – however it is not long before we are surrounded by several inquisitive residents who quickly realise why we are there and are happy to become our new our best friends! We are given a thorough tour of the home, with no door or cupboard left unopened!! The time we spend here is too short – there are so many characters here that I want to get to know (and I seem to have lost half of my Santa’s outfit!). We spend about an hour here, talking to the staff and residents before long we have to say our goodbyes and leave for our next visit….

The Fire Family – Adrian takes us to visit several families that fall within his circle of care – one of which is the ‘Fire Family’. The families we visit that day are all sadly typical examples of families who are by their circumstances living in conditions that are unacceptable in most other EU countries.

The ‘Fire Family’ are so called because their original home – which comprised of only one room, possibly no bigger than 8ft by 8ft, was burnt down, assumedly by arson. This one room was home to a family of 4 adults and 8 children – impossible to believe when you see the photo.

We meet them in their new home – which has the luxury of 2 rooms and a very small allotment where they keep livestock (a few chickens, rabbits etc). Most homes like this do not have a bathroom, their toilet is a hole in the garden, and they collect water from a well.  This is a typical scenario and throughout our journey across Romania we see many, many homes like this one.

However despite this very simple home life we are welcomed into their home. The family know Adrian very well – he has helped them to make the house their home, and I suspect this has opened the door for us. They are overwhelmed by the presents we bring them, and somewhere we find a small Christmas tree which we have fun putting up with the children. Although they do not speak any English we somehow manage to interact with them and they are happy to share time with us.

Grandad – We briefly drop by to visit a lovely old man who is the main carer for his autistic granddaughter and her sister. The 3 live together alone in basic living conditions we have already witnessed – there is no one to help the old man care for his granddaughter (their father was in a terrible car accident and was, at the time of our visit, in the local hospital in a coma). The granddaughter has several complicated medical conditions that require frequent visits to the doctors but the granddad has no means of getting to the surgery, and everyday is an uphill struggle for survival.

The Shed Family – Adrian then takes us to visit the ‘Shed Family’ whose tiny home just beggars belief that anyone can live in such close-knit circumstances. The one room ‘house’ is possible 5ft by 7ft and is home to 2 grandparents, 5 children and 2 grandchildren. It contains 2 single beds, a small stove/wood burning heater and a cupboard. We only meet the grandparents and one of the grandchildren but with myself, Rob and Adrian it is already a tight squeeze. Again, outside is a small allotment – no bigger than the house, with a handful of chickens and a cat.

The little grandchild is gorgeous, but naturally wary of strangers and very shy. When we drop off the presents she doesn’t know how to react – it is heartbreaking as the reaction of children her age at home would be complete mayhem at the thought of so many gifts. Perhaps when we go she will be able to enjoy her new toys – we can only hope……..

3 state run apartments – Adrian takes us to visit 3 state run apartments for young people with special needs. These are small family homes; usually for about 18 residents aged between 16 – 18, with up to 3 live-in carers in each home. We do not know the history of these children but they are probably the legacy of the state-run institutions, children who were possibly abandoned at birth, or removed from their families because of a mental or physical disability.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we visited these apartments but I was relieved to find 3 well run, warm and friendly – if a little chaotic, homes filled with 18 or so boisterous individuals. They seemed incredibly well cared for and of course extremely pleased to see us and our shoeboxes! We were privileged to spend time with these children, each one wanting a cuddle or to interact with us – even if it was pelting us with bread rolls or stealing our hats! I fell in love with all these children.

Blind Sarah – We’re off again – this time to meet a special little girl called Sarah. Her home is like the others we have seen – but her family is a smaller number of 5. There is no father but her mother is warm, generous and kind, and we can see that her family means everything to her.

Her daughter Sarah, as her name describes, is blind. She is about 5 and is quiet and reserved but it is hard to tell she is blind as she navigates the furniture in the room with ease. She comes in holding the smallest rabbit I have ever seen and shyly hands him round to show everyone her prized possession. Of course she is oblivious to the mound of new boxes on her bed and we can’t wait to direct her to the presents.

Once she is introduced to her pile of boxes we cannot suppress our laughter as she is placed carefully amongst their midst and we watch her expressions change as she feels her way across the cardboard mountain – each box containing new and exciting shapes, textures and tastes! We leave the family in peace and wish them a Happy Christmas.

Sunday 26 December

Today Adrian has another list of places to visit and we set about organising what shoeboxes are left for distribution. Then we head off to our first stop….

Casa Buna Vestire – What an amazing place this is! It is a centre for young mothers and abandoned children – set up and run by the Catholic Church. The building is vast, modern, with beautiful grounds and high security – it is hard to believe that it is run by only 7 nuns! At the time of our visit there was only one young mum there (the other residents had gone home to spend Christmas with their families) but we left a large stockpile of boxes, colouring pads and crayons, baby clothes and blankets with the centre – as we know they would be appreciated by all the young girls and children in their care on their return.

Alexandra Centre – We were privileged today to be allowed to visit one of the countries smaller institutions, the Alexandra Centre. The Alexandra Centre was originally built in 1969 as an orphanage for infants and toddlers under the age of three. It is now a residential care home for 120 children aged 0 to 18 years. Many have mild to moderate disabilities and some have profound and multiple disabilities. The Centre also provides care for 145 disabled children aged 2 to 10 years, providing a range of therapies and first stage education.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to meet the children but we were happy to leave presents for all the children who live there on a permanent basis. We understand that the Centre provides its children with physiotherapy, multi-sensory therapy, speech therapy, psychological services, social services and foster care services. We can only hope that the shoeboxes we leave them also add a little happiness in their day.

Robert Cole Centre – We head back to the RCC to meet our final two families, who reside in the housing estate that surrounds the Centre. The first family we meet is Magdalene and her husband, and 1 of their 7 children. Their home is a small 2 bedroomed apartment in a bleak looking apartment block, typical of Communist housing that remains in Romania. The first thing you notice when you enter their home is the smell of fuel – some kind of oil heater but it is hard to breath and you can only imagine the worst case scenarios.

Magdalene and her husband are overwhelmed by our visit – although we have interrupted their day they are happy to spend some time with us and are grateful for the boxes we leave with them. It is such a shame that we cannot speak Romanian because we want to learn more about them and their family and how they survive day to day but it is always the children who provide some form of conversation…. perhaps things are less complicated through children’s eyes.

We head off to meet our last family – Ana and her 3 boys. Adrian leaves us to spend some time with his own family, and points us in the general direction of her home and we head forth – calling her name in the hope that someone appears. We trundle across some fields, avoiding a grumbly stray dog who is not pleased to see us, and eventually we come across what looks to be cluster of outhouses. A door opens and a friendly face appears. Once we explain that we are friends of Adrian’s her pleasure is unmistakable and she is frantic to welcome us into her home. We try to explain that we have presents for her and her children but she is convinced that we won’t return.

After lengthy assurances and promises that we will return in 10 minutes she lets us go and we quickly return to the van to collect the boxes. We return to her home and in what has only been minutes she has laid out a feast for us that we could never of imagined! Her three sons are there, along with her brother and we spend many hours talking, sharing photos, eating and drinking – what a special way to end our time in Comanesti.

We learnt that Ana was a teacher, hence why she could speak English fairly well. Her husband had died of a heart whilst at work – he was a builder and had been working in +40 degrees in the nearest town. Consequently she had had to give up work to look after her youngest son, also called Adrian, who has Downs Syndrome. I have never met anyone so incredible as Ana – her spirit and positivity blew me away and I will always treasure my memories of the time we spent getting to know her.

Monday 27 December

We say goodbye to Adrian and the Robert Cole Centre and head further south to our final aid destination – to the small village of Lungun which is located outside Târgu Frumos. Here we are kindly looked after by Marlena and her family – a young couple who run the local village shop and who have kindly helped us with our projects in the past. We spend the afternoon coordinating the distribution of presents – Rob delivers presents to the older members of the community and I stay behind with Marlena in her shop and hand out presents to the families with children. It is quite an experience and we meet many many children who are delighted to be visited by Santa again this year!

When the last present is gone we head back to Marlena’s for a much rest – it has been quite a Christmas!