The Nightingales Team

Romania:

Director: David Savage MBE -

Came to Cernavoda in 1992 for 3 months and 19 years later he is still here, having set-up Nightingales Children's Project in 1995. He is currently living and working in Cernavoda with his wife Elena and two young girls.

In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II awarded David Savage the MBE, for his work with disadvantaged children in Romania. This was a great personal accolade but also a recognition for all the hard work by all the staff, volunteers and supporters of the charity to help improve the lives of the under privileged youth in Cernavoda.

Assistant Director: Ben Wells

Working full-time for Nightingales since 2002. In 2006 Ben was awarded the Beacon Fellowship prize of Young Philanthropist of the year, another recognition for all the hard work that people put in running Nightingales.

Romanian Staff:

Gheorghe Stela - Administrator - Longest serving Romanian employee working since 1997.

Cazacu Elena, Tcaci Vera, Tufa Roxana and Vulpe Viorica - Housemothers at the Home of Happiness, looking after the daily needs of the young people who live there.

Uzun Rely - Administrator 'Tereza' Community Centre - managing the centre and the activities that go on there daily.

Lazau Beniamin - Adminstrator - Independent Living Project - managing the centre at Tuzla and the life skills courses run in the  state-run institutions in Constanta.

UK Team:

Graham Cumming - Director of Trustees - Retired - Has experience in the business sector which he uses to help streamline Nightingales.

Gayner Smith - Treasurer - She is a director at Bird Luckin Chartered Accountants - volunteered at Nightingales in 2000.

Frank Phillips - Teacher - Frank was director of the International School in Cernavoda, where he formed a strong partnership between the his school and Nightingales. He continues to be heavily involved now he is based in the UK.

Sarah Valadini - Life Skills teacher - Life Skills teacher at West Herts College, Watford, Sarah advises the charity on the life skills project.

HOW IT ALL STARTED:

Nightingales Children's Project started when David Savage MBE came to Romania in October 1992. He spent 3 months working for a charity in Cernavoda orphanage. The 200 children living there were suffering from a lack of appropriate care they were being left unmotivated, uneducated and unloved.

After 3 months David felt there was more that could be done; he left the charity he was working with and returned to work with these children and help better their situation. For the next year he worked alongside the Romanian staff, showing them how the children could benefit from love, care and attention.  With sponsorship from the UK, he also organised the installation of washing and toilet facilities in the orphanage.

Gradually people in England began to hear about his efforts and volunteered their help, in this way Nightingales Children's Project was born. Nightingales has been working officially now since it became registered as a charity in 1995, to help the under privileged children of Cernavoda. Promising that every penny of every pound will go directly to the care of the children.

Casa Fericirii - Home of Happiness:

In time David established and equipped a building - Casa Fericirii-Home of Happiness - close to the Cernavoda orphanage and in 1998, he moved twenty-three HIV positive children from the orphanage into this, their new home and life.  These children had spent the majority of their lives in an institution, without the care of a loving family.  Here, with the support of house mothers, cooks, volunteers, etc  they have had the opportunity to grow and develop in a loving and happy environment.

When they first moved into Casa Fericirii, due to their HIV condition, they were not expected to live passed their teenage years.  Due to the support and care they have received, most of those moved into Casa Fericirii have developed into well rounded individuals who are gradually becoming self-supporting and who, as a result, have moved on to our Independent Living project.  Sadly however, there are a few who, possibly as a result of lack of stimulation in their formative years or, due to illness, will always need our continued care and support.

Nightingales School:

While the children from the Home of Happiness were still living in the orphanage, they would have schooling with Nightingales, a young girl who regularly begged at David's door, was asked by David to come too because she had explained to him that she couldn't attend state school. Within a week there were 10 other children who were coming and thus the Nightingales School was born.

'Tereza' Community Centre:

In 2001 David managed to acquire for a very good price the metal frame for a sports hall, so he bought it, and planned then to raise the money to build it. In 2002 a volunteer, Miki Jablkowska founder of the charity '2 Wheel Appeal',  came out and heard about the idea to create a centre for the youth of Cernavoda, and funded the building of the centre. The centre was named after an aunt of Miki's and was opened in 2004.

Fighting the causes of Trafficking and Prostitution:

In Cernavoda there are a large number of young girls who get involved in prostitution, from our first 10 female graduates from the Nightingales School only one has not gone into prostitution. In 2006 Anthony Steen MP came to see an example of a town where young girls are trafficked from, he was so appalled by the conditions he saw some of these girls living in, he decided he wanted to help. Since then we have been working with him on various projects to help prevent young girls being trafficked and going into prostitution.

Independent Living for Institutionalised Young People:

Ben Wells, the assistant director, set this project up after seeing that a great number of young people from state-run institutions ended up on the streets, in crime and in prostitution after leaving state care. It all stemmed from a question he first asked himself when working in the orphanage , 'What happens to these young people when they are 18, where do they go?' That question remained with him and is the basis of this project.