1997 Visit Report

A total of 18 members travelled to work in Romania. A total of £10,142.35 was raised during the year.

Spring Survey Trip

6 Team members set of in a 17 seater mini bus. After a good journey, arrived in Mina-1-Mai. No breakdowns, no scenic routes, no speeding fines – things were going well.....It then started to snow – heavily!

The team met the hospital director, the financial director and the hospital lawyer on Tuesday. Not very inspiring as they proceeded to tell us of new regulations in place for charities.  We met again on the Friday, and had a much more positive meeting.

During this trip, the extractor fans in the kitchen were removed and serviced. The hospital wiring left a lot to be desired.

Plastic corner pieces were fitted in the main hospital to try and prevent the corners from crumbling.

Work with the patients was carried out in the form of chiropody and feet washing. A need was identified for good footwear for the patients.

Contact was made with Dr Popa with view to setting up a dental surgery in the hospital.

In the village kindergarten, the team filled and painted the upper part of the walls with emulsion paint. Various pieces of furniture was cleaned, repaired and painted.

It was recognised that no amount of decorating would improve the school as long as the terrible floors remained in the current state.

Various forms of interaction with the village children were made to great success.

While this was deemed a successful trip, it was disappointing that the team could not progress the work on the hospital boiler. Let’s hope the summer teams have more success.

Summer Trip

Arrived safely from Otopeni airport and quickly discovered that our food boxes had disappeared.  These were recovered from the hospital food store.

We were gratified to see the improvements made to the hospital OT unit. It was redesigned along with the addition of a carpentry shop.

Having had a good discussion with Dr Grigoriou, work started on splitting and cleaning the boiler sections transported out last year, and with the aid of patients and staff, got them ready for assembly. This was assembled during our second week.

The original boiler panel was in such a poor condition; we could not use it.  We did our best to get the boiler ready, but had to leave the staff working on the installation of the pipe work.

As usual, we used any spare time with patient games and interaction, but the second week was hampered by heavy rain.

A sports day was held for the village children along with many sessions of book recitals and story telling.

Our van arrived during our second week’s work, and this greatly enhanced the team activities.

The highlight of the trip was a trip on local transport with five others plus 2 babies, on a Romanian cart pulled by 2 horses, along the length of the Mina high street.

Unforgettable

Footnote:

1997 ends on a sad note. George Stephens has announced his retirement from the charity. George along with members of the North Nibley Congregational church founded the charity in 1990.

Thank you George, may the Lord continue to bless you as you continue your work in his service.