Home Page     History on Website Founders     Project Details     Photographs     How You Can Help     Resource Lists    On Site Diary      BHRG Newsletter     Contact Us
History on the Website Founders

Sandra DolanSandra Dolan

Two Years On….

Two years ago the Foundations for Life Centre opened its doors to the first young people to graduate from The Robert Cole Centre. They were in fact the first twelve students to attend the RCC also, when it opened in 1997. Everyone was mightily impressed by the new premises; as well as brightly coloured warm classrooms, there was also a lounge and kitchen for leisure time, sparkling showers and toilets, bedrooms for visitors from England. The accommodation was both cheerful and comfortable. The refurbishment cost £27 000 in the end.

So we had excellent accommodation, but it was virtually empty. We had been led to believe that we would receive a grant of $40 000 for resources and equipment. Unfortunately that offer was withdrawn. Barclays Poole came to the rescue, providing a truck load of furniture, from chairs to notice boards. During the first year the youngsters had to spend a large proportion of their time having lessons in the local Special School. Gradually, again thanks to support from many quarters, particularly the very dedicated and generous team in Poole, we have been gathering equipment and materials. Classes in Woodwork, Art, Crafts, Textiles and ICT have been established. The students have sessions with the Nurse on Health and Hygiene. Social assistants teach Cookery and Home Management. The Education Authority provides continuing lessons in Romanian, Maths and Science in the Special School.

I am delighted to see the young people involved in such a variety of activities. The dream of preparing them for jobs, for looking after themselves and taking their place in the community is being realised. There is still work to be done; getting Ceramics up and running is Lyn’s current mission and I am sure she will succeed. We would like to set up a programme of work experience placements with local businesses. Some of our first class students have already found jobs, which is great. We will soon be starting work on a garage/workshop, where the youngsters can learn about basic car maintenance. Our friends in Weston Underwood are supporting that project enthusiastically.

Beyond that, we would still like to convert the other end of the first floor into a Health Centre for the local community. We have not managed to reach our target of £25 000 for the renovation. We would also like to install a lift to take children in wheelchairs to the first floor. Finally the old minibus is looking the worse for much wear and will need replacing soon. So our work and fundraising is not yet complete.

Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who raised money to make the Foundations for Life Centre possible, especially Clare and Phil and our friends in Poole; to the BHRG committee members who have given unstintingly of their time and talents, some of them for nineteen years now; to our wonderful Romanian staff in both Centres, under the leadership of Delia and Cristina and to all our sponsors who play a major role in funding these two Centres. A huge thanks to you all.

 Phil and Clare  Clare & Phil Williams

The website was set up with the help of Penny Hann and is hosted by Will Hann in association with FreePint and is managed by Clare and Phil Williams, in close liaison with Sandra Dolan (Chairwoman, Biggin Hill Romania Group) and Adrian Woodroffe (Vice Chairman, Biggin Hill Romania Group).

Clare twice visited Comanesti and Darmanesti in the North Eastern region of Romania in the early nineties carrying out relief work at Darmanesti Hospital (orphanage). The Hospital was closed by the authorities shortly after her second trip and the 60 or so children dispersed to various other institutions including Dofteana state orphange.

14 years later Clare received an invitation to the Biggin Hill Romania Groups 15th Anniversary reunion celebrations, held in July 2005. She attended these with her husband Phil and realised that the then named 'Biggin Hill Romanian Relief Fund' had followed and kept records and photographs of many of the surviving children that she had cared for all that time ago. With interest Clare asked Sandra what she and Phil could do to help the charity and they were invited to distribute shoeboxes out there the following Christmas.

On the week long visit Clare, Phil and 3 others distributed around 1,000 shoebox Christmas presents to orphanages, schools, families and apartments in the same district Clare had visited previously. A further 1,000 or so boxes were delivered a week later. A highlight of the trip was visiting 'Casa Lumina' home to 26 children rescued from Dofteana orphange in 2000. It was great to see many of the original children from Darmanesti hospital there, thriving and obviously well looked after.

They also visited a (rather dismal) AIDS hospital unit in Bacau and an adult institute in Ungureni, an hours drive up the mountain from Bacau. 'Ungureni Adult Institute for Irrecuperables' now houses around 100 adults rather than the 150 there just a few years ago. 50 of the most disabled residents have recently been moved to smaller institutions as part of the EU entrance agreements. All patients at Ungureni have been diagnosed with disabilities, but these range dramatically in severity. Although the conditions at Ungureni were hugely shocking until recently, there has been a definate effort to improve training, facilities and activities and this is encouraging.

During her time in Romania, Clare met around half a dozen other children she had cared for 15 years previous, and both Clare and Phil gained an enormous amount of pleasure bringing aid, care and charity to them and many other individuals and families with so little to call their own.

Phil was amazed to see just how much help and aid is really needed in this day and age and what a difference a week long visit can make. They decided to return at the end of May 2006 for another week long trip, this time the focus being the delivery of family boxes to local appartments, flood victim families and to visit Ramona at Ungureni Institution(one of the children from Darmanesti back in the early nineties now in her mid twenties). Since then Clare has returned three times with the main aim of supporting Ramona. In August/September 2009 Phil took part in the Hard Hat Challenge through Cry in the Dark and Clare and Joel joined him in Comanesti for the following week.

Clare and Phil, together with the Biggin Hill Romania Group, call upon YOU to help give everyone the right to the health care and opportunities that we so often take for granted. Many assume that things must have improved hugely since the early nineties but the truth is that although there are now noticable efforts being made to improve conditions for the thousands of children that were abandoned back then, conditions are still extremely appalling for very many people. Babies are still being abandoned and there are many hundreds who cannot afford medication or who are homeless. If you would like to make a donation or volunteer please see the contact page and GET IN TOUCH!! Thank you.
Foundations for Life