Link Romania: Changing the lives of the poor
Link Romania is a Christian organisation founded in 1991 to help the poorest and most marginalised of Romania’s people. Link Romania is dedicated to poverty alleviation and humanitarian aid and working with groups that are rejected by society in Eastern Europe.
Life in Eastern Europe is very hard. The countries that have succeeded in entry to the EU many people, especially the young, have the opportunities that their parents could only dream of. For those of low or no literacy existing in poor housing they still struggle with poverty, illness, lack of money, unemployment etc. Tragically their children are born and raised to live in the same way and continue to exist in a circle of poverty they can never escape from.
Link Romania’s aim is to combat poverty and give humanitarian aid and has special concern for the most disadvantaged.
The poorest – especially people struggling to survive in the poor villages that lack basic amenities.
Most vulnerable – especially children and the most marginalised.
Most exploited – the families and individuals who are at the mercy of authorities and circumstances that they have no control over
Education.
We work with children and after school groups. We also work with homeless young adult men teaching them social skills and the Bible. Also working with vunerable young adult both girls and boys, in villages where there is much poverty and little hope.
Community development and social work
We work with families and their children some of whom live in the shanty towns. We go and meet with them regularly to extend help and advice to those that others would ignore. The team also helps with medical and dental bills, official paperwork, repairing of homes, helping with fuel in the winter etc.
In 2010 Link Romania will support the following projects in Romania & Moldova and needs your help.
PROJECT 1 : LITTLE RAINBOWS KINDERGARTEN – NE ROMANIA
Link Romania runs a kindergarten for the children of Dallas Shanty Town Attendance at our Kindergarten can mean a 70% reduction in school drop outs when the children join with others at mainstream school. They have learnt to play, be part of a team, share and live with others and this means they are not the natural outcasts when they join state school and stand a much better chance of gaining a good education.
NEED: To maintain the kindergarten and keep it open so that more children can benefit from this facility. Target: £20,000
PROJECT 2: FARM OF HOPE – NE ROMANIA
When children become 18 they have to leave the orphanage where they have grown up. Without families and social skills they end up homeless and sleeping rough. We support the Farm of Hope which takes in these boys and gives them a safe, warm place to stay with 3 meals a day, training in arable and animal farming, preparation to move on and become independent. It also offers a supportive framework for them to go out and work in other trades whilst still retaining the support of the Farm
NEED: To finish the new building to take another 16 boys off the street and house them Target: £5,000
PROJECT 3 : SOUP KITCHEN – COSNITA, MOLDOVA
Cosnita has a pop of 5,699 people and was the frontline in the 1991 civil war that took place between those loyal to the Moldovan state and those loyal to Russia. The war left a zone called Transnitra which has declared independence and Cosnita has found itself at the edge of this conflict zone. We are building a soup kitchen to feed 50 – 100 per day, the poorest residents in the town. People who are fed range from mothers with children to the elderly.
NEED: To finish the Soup Kitchen so that people can come and be fed again – TARGET £5,000.
PROJECT 4: THE INN OF LOVE – DANCU, MOLDOVA
In Dancu village there is widespread poverty with many people live below the poverty line. In some rural areas, unemployment is over 80%, and young people leave in search of work. This has left many old people without someone to care for them, and the state can do little to help. Many pensioners lost their life savings when Moldova left the Soviet Union in 1991 and the currency collapsed. We are supporting a programme of providing nutritious meals twice a week: we bring 20 people to the church for a meal, and visit 20 others who are housebound. Some of the people we visit haven’t eaten in the previous 2 or 3 days; others won’t have seen anyone since the last time we visited and are desperately lonely. The first time we visited, many people were in tears at this expression of God’s love for them.
NEED: We are looking for support that would help guarantee the viability of this project and continue providing free meals.
PROJECT 5: EMMAUS CLUB – DANCU, MOLDOVA
There are no special arrangements for children with learning difficulties, with the result that many children fall behind and some drop out of school altogether. In response to this Clubul Emaus (Emmaus Club - On the Path of Discovery) was launched providing extra classes for 30 children, twice a week. Each Tuesday/ Wednesday the children have 90 minutes special tuition at school and each Saturday another 90 minutes at the church. We run this programme together with 3 local teachers and 3 teaching assistants.
NEED: To continue this project for another year - TARGET - £1,500
WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED IN THE PAST?
Many things have been achieved. A Life Skills Centre, 4 community centres - all running, houses have been bought for families in the ShantyTown, and some moved out from that area. We have built houses for families, many wells and about 10 animal barns, We have renovated 2 floors including wards of the local main children's hospital, worked with orphans, sick or very poor children on a daily base every year since we were established. Employed over 50 homeless over the years and helped them into jobs and accommodation and many others projects over the years.
We have funded a number of Aid for Trade projects based in Albania to help people to start their own businesses and soup kitchens and kindergartens in Moldova that are supported.
We aim to help the poor and disadvantaged in Eastern Europe. As our name suggests the majority of our work takes place in Romania but we also help projects in the Republic of Moldova and Albania.
