2014/15 newsletter (1.3mb, pdf)

Romanian Challenge Appeal Avon House, 435 Stratford Road, Shirley,

Solihull,West Midlands B90 4AA www.romanian-challenge.org [email protected]

Newsletter January 2015

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Dear Friends, Our newsletter this year was written entirely in Romania by our sister charity, "A New Life Foundation" (Funda!i" O Nou" Via!"), usually just abbreviated to "ONV". This charity was set up in the late 1990s, and was one of the first registered charities in Romania, with Monica McDaid becoming president in 2002. Today, Monica is still on ONV's managing committee, together with Nigel Squibb, who is also one of RCA's UK trustees. Since 2002, all of the money donated to RCA in the UK has been passed to ONV, who have managed the delivery of care in Siret and Suceava, a system which has worked well, and provides a transparent and easily audited organisation for the Romanian authorities.

It is no secret that raising funds for Romania within the UK is difficult at the moment, so RCA took steps over the past two years to minimise expenditure, replacing its office with a small serviced unit and reducing staff to one part time person for a few hours a week. Increasingly, we are now relying on our colleagues in ONV to keep our donors informed of their activities and that is why this newsletter was written by them, not us. The only RCA input was to translate it into English and add a little bit of explanatory text where necessary. We hope you will find it interesting and informative.

It is our long term intention to transfer all UK donor support to Siret, to give you better access to information about our work and the people we care for.

We would like to wish all our supporters a happy, peaceful and successful 2015.

The Romanian Challenge Appeal Trustees

Sally, Bill & Nigel

Volunteers!

We are always looking for volunteers who might be interested in helping with our work. In particular, if you have a craft or medical /care skill which you would like to pass on to the people in our care, then do get in touch. Similarly, we have a continuing requirement to maintain our buildings - in theory the State should be paying for maintenance, in practice, due to a complete shortage of money, it doesn't. If you are good at painting, carpentry, building, plumbing - anything like that, and fancy a week or two using your expertise for the benefit of others - we'd love to hear from you.

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Romanian Challenge Appeal Avon House, 435 Stratford Road

Shirley, Solihull,West Midlands B90 4AA www.romanian-challenge.org

e-mail: [email protected]

The Romanian Challenge Newsletter 2014

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The Romanian Challenge Appeal Newsletter The 2nd annual sponsored walk organised by our foundation took place on the 23rd of August. The walk is designed to both raise money and awareness of our activities as well as give some healthy exercise to people in our care! The event was supported by the local Chamber of Industry and Commerce as well as the Suceava County Council, and for them it was an opportunity to promote management concepts new to this part of Romania. Participants from business and government have the opportunity to take part in away day team building and informal networking. More than 150 people from all walks of life - representatives of companies, local government officials, students, as well as some of the people in our care - took part trekking through the forest of Voievodeasea, near the famous painted monastery of Sucevita, an area only 15 miles or so from our base in Siret. We have been delighted with the way this event promotes the integration of people with disabilities into the community, as well as the contribution it makes to our fundraising efforts, and we are already planning for the walk in 2015!

!


Sponsored Walk

for O Nou! Via"!

3 December - International Day of Disabled Persons

This is the third time we have organised a march through Siret to publicise International Disabled People's day.

Accompanying us were representatives of local schools, the Mayor's office and the psychiatric hospital, together with members of the Orthodox church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Catholic Church*, as well as other local humanitarian organisations.

* Although not well known in the UK, the Greek Catholic Church and other Eastern Catholic Churches use completely different liturgies to Roman Catholics, but respect the authority of the Pope. Siret has both Roman and Greek Catholic churches, although the majority of the population attend the Orthodox Church.


Our day centre promotes social and work related reintegration into the community for young people with disabilities. Drawn from people in our own care, the psychiatric hospital of Siret and other local charitable organisations up to 100 disabled people per day participate in the activities we provide. These activities are carefully tailored to provide a real but secure environment in which tasks such as the taking of everyday decisions, communications skills and personal relationships can be explored and practiced. It also provides a range of work related activities. Amongst the things we do are:

• Explanation and resolution of emotional problems • Assertiveness training • Cooking and housekeeping • Personal hygiene • Stained glass manufacture • Information technology • Digital photography • Development of craft skills

Vocational and Social Centre

VOLUNTEERS

Firemen from Great Britain November saw 10 firemen from Great Britain come to us for a week to work on the renovation of Kincasslagh House - Thanks to all of you! Bruce Vaughn Bruce came over with his family from England for a month to support the development of the horticultural and gardening program. The young people are learning new techniques of growing flowers and vegetables. Thanks Bruce!

Severn Trent Water As they have done so often in the past, our good friends at Severn Trent, particularly Bill and Eddie, came over to maintain the sanitation systems in our houses. Once again, thanks to you all!


!Back in the year 2000 we started our drop-in centre in Siret. Working together with the Mayor's office, 20 local families with severe social and economic problems were identified, and every two weeks a group of young people in our care brings food, clothes and household necessities to these families, and helps them with simple housekeeping tasks.

It is a privilege to see young people that we have helped, helping others.

In addition, via the drop-in centre, we offer medical and social assistance and advice.

Just as for people directly in our care, we provide services to the wider community:

• Assisting everyone to live independently

• Assistance with changing socially unacceptable behavior, such as aggressiveness or excessive alcohol consumption.

• Work and workplace related counseling.

• Vocational training

• Assisting with access to medical services, and providing basic sex education

• Social activities, birthday parties, youth club and parties at Christmas and Easter

Social Assistance

Results

We know that from a distance Romania appears to be a country which no longer needs social help. We also know that the reality is very different. Many, many families are living below the poverty line, many children drop out of school, the numbers abandoned in institutions are not dropping and those who manage to leave the institutions are not prepared for life and desperately need support. It is this need that keeps us going.


Between the 1st of July and the 15th of August the foundation organised a weekly event for children between the ages of 5 and 14 from vulnerable families in the Siret area.

The main aim of these events was to develop a sense of integration within the community by enhancing their social abilities and capacity to work cooperatively. Ultimately, this is to try to reduce the numbers of children who are simply abandoning their education, a big problem amongst the Romanian poor these days.

The "Summer Caravan" program includes the organisation of workshops, interactive activities, educational games and sporting challenges, as well as interesting visits to the Police, the Mayor's office and Town Council, the Museum and the local cultural centre.

Summer "CARAVAN"

The most vulnerable children in Romania grow up in villages, work when they should be playing, hardly go to school, go hungry to bed and are maginalised. This was a finding of a study "The state of children in rural areas" by World Vision Romania


Small Changes Big Differences

!In 2014, the Foundation participated in a Save The Children project entitled "Small Changes, Big Differences", a project part funded by the Swiss government via the European Union.

The goal of the project is to increase the professionalism of NGOs working in the field of child development, and to develop the implementation of life skill programs for children and adolescents, mainly in the form of consolidating collaborative relationships.

A program entitled "Assertive communication - my journey to others" was implemented at the Petru Mu#at School in Siret (Petru Mu#at was a ruler of the area in the 14th Century) for the children of class IIIa (between 9 and 10 years old).

Amongst other things, the project develops

• A positive attitude to communication

• The adoption of a healthy lifestyle with respect to oneself, others and the environment

• The constructive use of relationships

• The appreciation of the abilities of others, the ability to make time for themselves, creativity, and just a 'drop' of courage!

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Student's name and surname……

Class………………...........................

Date ………………………….......

1. Tick three words which describe the lesson about assertive communication

Confusing Simple Tiring Boring Sad Distracting Interesting Disillusioning Stimulating Useful Relaxing New Provocative 2. Write three words which define assertive communication a) ............................................................................ b) ............................................................................ c) ............................................................................ 3. When you communicate assertively, you a) State your position or opinion at any cost b) Seek together to find a solution that will be welcomed by all c) Will not be superior to anyone else, accepting their solution 4. Mark with X the steps used in assertive communications: a) Saying what you want and why. b) Saying what you believe that others want and why c) Proposing solutions d) Trying to convince other that my solution is the best e) Deciding for a solution over that proposed by other parties f) Verifying if the solution is welcomed by all g) If we cannot come to an agreement, just go ahead anyhow h) If we cannot come to an agreement, try together to find another solution.

Results

The children became a more united class, they worked in teams and they learned to appreciate each other much more. And yes, the assertiveness did give them that "drop" of courage.


We thank our

partners, sponsors, donors, volunteers and everyone connected

with

“Funda#ia O Nou! Via#!”

in 2014 !

2014/15 newsletter (1.3mb, pdf)

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