About Me

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HfR has been working in Romania since the revolution in 1989. We aim to bring HOPE, through offering support to the marginalised, the lonely & the poor, HELP through education, employment & support programs & HEART by giving of ourselves to long term friendships.

Sunday, 30 September 2012

Romania Youth Camps - 2012

Read here http://www.liquidconnection.co.uk/blog/romania-youth-camps-2012.html and here http://www.regenerateuk.co.uk/romania-summer-camps/to hear all about a group from Liquid Youth in Leatherhead and Regenerate in Roehampton running summer camps for some gypsy kids with support from Heart for Romania...

Monday, 9 July 2012

Amazing progress in Csekefalva

The last post described the conditions in which some of our friends among the Gypsy community are living in Csekefalva, Romania. We committed to working to make some basic but much needed improvements and there has been some great progress...

Our first priority was to make the bridge (the only access point to the community) safe, especially for the many children. The results are below:


Secondly, we wanted to give access to clean water to the village for the first time. With the support of the local Mayor this work is also progressing. Clean water has now been piped across the river, up the hill and up to each house. We are now starting to add taps and meters:

                          
 
We continue to visit Csekefalva regularly and once the taps are all in place we plan to begin to address the sanitation issues that remain.

None of this work is on the basis of a hand-out, the community are playing their part. We do not believe in something for nothing but we do believe that everyone deserves to be safe, warm and clean in their own home. Most of the residents of Csekefalva still do not enjoy those basic rights and we will continue to make every effort, in partnership, to try and make sure they do.

For more information or to support us on these and other projects please go to www.heartforromania.co.uk   

Wednesday, 28 March 2012

"the worst place I have ever visited..."

...was the shocked opinion of a well seasoned traveller, who had spent time in Africa, India and across the world when they visited visited Csekefalva - a gypsy village near Cristuru-Secuiesc, Romania.

With no running water or sanitation, ramshackle single-room huts accommodating large families and temperatures that drop to minus 30 in the winter it is not hard to see why. In the heart of the European Community these people are long forgotten.

HfR has decided to work with the local council to make some basic improvements to the village and to work with the villagers themselves to try and improve their lives.

The priorities, which the villagers themselves set are (i) running water, (ii) sanitation and (iii) access - to reach the village at the moment you have to cross this bridge...

The council have already committed to supplying Csekefalva with mains water - and we have agreed to fund the piping of that water into each home or plot of land.

Following community consultation we also plan to work with the villagers to build a basic toilet for each family. We are also asking a local builder to draw up plans to re-do the bridge and we have ambitions to begin work on developing the houses as well.

Not only are we working with the basic infrastructure, we are offering training in basket making and other craft - and with our links to our links with Craft Romania we have a ready made export market for their goods once they are up to standard. We are also looking into supporting  the local school, working with the women to take more control over their family planning and are helping with a number of specific health issues among the children. 

If you would like to support our work in Csekefalva, or any of our other projects please visit our website where you can make a one of donation or set up a standing order.