Charity helps Romanian orphans

An Oxfordshire woman has set up a charity to help provide shelter for orphaned teenagers in Romania.

Karen Fairfax-Cholmeley began the Romanian Foyer Trust to support orphans once they reach 18 years old. The scheme has opened in the north-west of the country and houses 18 people. At the moment, it is the only organisation helping orphans in this way. Karen said: “We offer accommodation, training for work and carefully planned support on a personal basis. Poverty-stricken “So far as we are aware, there is no other organisation in Romania offering this model of support to children emerging from institutions.” Karen, who works for Oxfordshire County Council, became involved with the poverty-stricken country after she visited there in the early 1990s. Moved by the plight of the children and the lack of facilities, she volunteered to sponsor a four-year-old girl, Nicoleta.

The following year she went with husband, Martin, and their three children – then aged 10, 13 and 15 – to visit Nicoleta in a state-run institution near Satu Mare. In 1994, the Fairfax-Cholmeleys took on the sponsorship of another child – eight-year-old Romi. To help such youngsters once they left the homes, she and her family founded the trust, a registered charity, in July 2000. Karen is now planning a sponsored walk in Romania in the summer to raise much-needed funds to support the trust.

Growing Care

Growing Care is a charitable organisation run by the founders, Lewis and Jacquie Aubry. The current project started in 2002 with the purchase of a field of sunflowers in Siminoc, Romania.

The land is gradually being turned into a smallholding, which will be used to teach animal husbandry and cultivation skills to Romanian youngsters in the hope it will enable them to break out of the poverty cycle.

A truck loaded with aid was recently sent to Growing care in Romania by the Isle of Wight Rotary Clubs. Warm clothing, blankets and even knitted teddy bears were in the consignment.
The store room at Siminoc was almost completely full of plastic sacks and one of the new animal houses had to be used for all the cartons that arrived.

Relief fund for Romania

We are a British charity, based in the UK, that raises funds and spends them in Romania.

By UK standards we are relatively modestly sized. However in Romania we are a significant funder and one of the leading UK Romanian aid groups.

We are generally seen as “punching way above our weight” – in terms of what we manage to achieve with the resources available to us.

We have 3 full time charity staff and about 30 charity shop staff.

Our annual budget is usually around £250,000.

All our trustees are Romanian.

What we do

We either fund Romanian charities – with whom we work closely on various long-term community based projects – see our partners or we deliver services directly with our own projects.

Our charity also funds national campaigns and training programmes particularly focusing on human rights in institutions and community care of the elderly.

See our projects

Back on track!

I just found my own blog after one year… it is weird to read your thoughts and ideas from the past. It is like a diary that takes you back into another life you used to have. Well anyways the blog is pretty much active and running and I will try to keep it going.

Membrii Clubul European al Studenţilor ASEM s-au întîlnit cu Paolo Berizzi

Clubul European al Studenţilor ASEM rămîne fidel angajamentului luat faţă de membrii săi de a invita specialişti şi experţi străini, precum şi reprezentanţi ai organizaţiilor internaţionale la mesele rotunde ale clubului. Scopul acestor întrevederi este de a oferi participanţilor posibilitatea de a discuta şi de a a afla opinia unor actori implicaţi direct în procesul de integrarea a RM în UE şi de asemenea de a adresa întrebări legate de subiectele ce preocupă mai ales generaţia tînără:  îmbunătăţirea educaţiei, oportunităţi de studii şi burse peste hotare, schimburi inter-culturale dar şi analiza situaţiei economice şi politice a ţării.