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Nightingales Newsletter – June 2011:
1. A word from Nightingales Romania:
Nightingales Romania would like to thank you all for your constant support of the charity, without you we are unable to continue to offer the young people and children we work with the opportunities and the care they deserve. We are sorry that it has been too long since our last newsletter, but from now on it will be a little different. There will be a newsletter every two months with an update on the various projects that Nightingales is running. This month you will see all the work that has been going on at Casa Fericirii – Home of Happiness.
2. CASA FERICIRII – HOME OF HAPPINESS –UPDATE JUNE 2011:
Nightingales continues to offer a high standard of care to all the young people at Casa Fericirii and those who are living in the independent units in the town. We have seven young people living in Casa Fericirii, now the name of the project as they have moved into a smaller building in March 2010. The building which used to be the Nightingales school has been sitting empty for a couple of years and is much cheaper to run than the Casa Fericirii building. It has a more central position in the town and also the more homely feel the building has.
Turkian, continues to be an active member of the house. She helps the housemother on duty with the daily chores, especially if she knows that it means she will be going into town in the afternoon with either a Romanian volunteer, Luiza, or one of the girls from the independent living units. Baba, now no longer the only male in Casa Fericirii, since the arrival of Alex in November 2009, continues to enjoy being a man’s man. He loves the fact that the new house is adjoined to David’s workshop, so he spends much of his day watching the workmen and offering his help and advice, especially when they are backing the van into the drive. He also takes seriously his role as the man of the house, taking out the bins daily. Vali, has struggled over the last five months with her temper. As she is getting older her handicap is becoming more prominent, but through a great working relationship with the psychologist from Constanta she is now far calmer, which makes life easier for all the young people at Casa Fericirii. Elena, continues to be the person in control of the TV remote, her tastes have changed, but not dramatically, she is still a music channel lover, but whereas MTV was always her favourite, it’s now definitely the aptly named ‘music channel’. Though there have been some recent unforeseen developments, she has also become a fan of Indian soaps, Mihaela is addicted to them and Elena enjoys watching them also.
The girls from the apartment and Chris:
The most active member of Nightingales in all our projects is Adriana, who from the moment she wakes up she is cleaning, sweeping, cleaning windows, sorting out the washing. She is amazing and in the afternoons is employed by David to clean the workshop. This is the highlight of her day, with the workmen buying her drinks and ice-cream; but Adriana is always correct as on payday she also goes and buys drinks for them too. Mihaela, who has written a small piece for the newsletter which is the next article, and Alex are the final 2 members of the house. The youngest, Mihaela turns 17 in June, is mother to Alex, who will be 3 in August. Mihaela has been with us for two years and Alex almost the same amount of time. Mihaela is a difficult character with the very complicated past. She comes from a very poor family where she suffered many different types of abuse. She is now a very broken person who often runs from problems and especially authority. She has a serious drink problem which rears its head every now and again. She is only just beginning to settle down, to stop causing problems for the other members of Casa Fericirii, and starting to be a mum. Alex is the potential that Mihaela could have been. He is bright, funny, talkative, active and so very cute. He has stolen the hearts of all the staff and all volunteers that come to Nightingales. When he first came to us he was a perfect example of what leaving a child in an orphanage can do. He was a year old, cried when he saw people, slept with his hand over his eyes, couldn’t eat anything other than milk, and couldn’t sit up. Now it is a different story he is talkative, active and quite the boss of the house, calling the other young people to the table when its meal times. He loves cars and is often seen having a tantrum if he can’t go for a ride in a car. He has progressed so well, Mihaela is just starting to take a real interest in him. It is hard for her as she struggles to look after herself.
Those in the independent units are slowly becoming more and more independent, for some this is a pleasure both for them and for us as we see them grow from strength to strength, for others the process is a little harder. Marian and Gioarsa live in the same house but are very different. Gioarsa is very hard working and at the moment is working in the UK, a dream of his finally come true. He is a very respectful person and makes friends wherever he goes. He is wise with his money and is thinking positively about his future. Marian wants so much to be independent but also wants all the benefits of being with the charity, and spends most of his energies on fighting himself and going round in circles. The boys’ flat also has some very different characters in it. Vasile lives in a luxury room; he has spent his money furnishing his room. He is looking for a place for himself in the future. He works for David’s company and is often called out in the evening and weekends to help people do DIY ay their homes. This has taken a backseat at the moment due to his new relationship with Mihaela which is taking up the majority of his time. Paul is also in fulltime employment, working as a security guard for the charity. He does a good job, but he does have a mouth that could sink a battle ship! He also doesn’t have the ability to save his money like Vasile, so often will run out of his beloved cigarettes and cola before the end of the month. Dasca and Florin are two very similar characters; both would like to be company directors with a life of luxury and relaxing in front of them. This means they struggle to work because they feel they aren’t paid enough and are regularly changing jobs and talking about the next big dream. At the moment they are just dreams.
The girls’ flat has a couple of new members. Claudia, who lived at Nightingales before getting married in 2006 to Liviu, and her son Chris. Unfortunately Claudia and Liviu’s relationship broke down, so Claudia was in need of a place to stay for a month or two. She moved in with Ramona, Mariuca and Daniela in October 2010 and is still there. It adds a good dimension to the flat, with Claudia acting more as a mother figure, helping the others out, but also a great friend to Mariuca. Ramona and Daniela are bother working for the charity helping out with the cleaning and also entertaining the young people from Casa Fericirii. Daniela likes nothing better than combining the two; getting the young people to help her with her cleaning jobs!!! Mariuca is still at school, next year she finishes and will have to make a decision about University or not. We are hoping that she will be carrying on with her studies. We are just letting her make that decision as pushing her into anything means that she won’t do it.
3. Settling into Casa Fericirii – Mihaela Brumaru:
I came to Nightingales in March 2009, I didn’t like being here at the beginning, I wanted to be at my home with my family. It was hard being away from them and from my baby Alex.
I ran away a few times and caused lots of problems for the people who work here, but they took me back. In November Alex came and lived at Nightingales too. It was hard at the begining and it still is. Alex didn’t know how to do anything, but know he loves to go for walks and espcially to ride in the car.
Although I didn’t like living at Nightingales at the begining now I like living here, and am trying hard not to cause anymore problems. Alex is going to be 3 in August and start playgroup in September.
4. My Marriage to Nightingales – Luiza Nicola: Marrying Ben Wells on June 25th.
I started working as a volunteer every Sunday in a village next to Cernavoda. There I met Ben and the young people from the charity. From the start it was great fun spending time with them. I really like their naturalness, passion and happiness which cannot fail to envelop you. After a few months I decided to spend a week as a volunteer at the charity, to get to know the young people better in their home environment. It was really interesting. It was a completely unique and brilliant experience. From then on the real adventure started. My time spent at Nightingales began to increase, I started to get to know the young people better, each one separately, each with their specific interests and problems. I can even say that one of my best friends is Mariuca, one of the girls from Nightingales, a really special girl.
Understandably I also began to get to know Ben better, to appreciate him for all he does and especially for who he is. I realised from the start that a relationship with Ben also meant a relationship with Nightingales, which now means getting married to Ben, means getting married to Nightingales. To be really honest I was a little worried about this. But my worry has been washed away by the love and happiness, I can say now with a smile on my face that Nightingales is no longer a place where I go as a volunteer, but Nightingales has a special place in my heart, like a family.
5. My excursion: (7-8 May 2011): Karla Mihai:
Karla Mihai is one of the six girls involved in a project, sponsored by the Human Trafficking Foundation UK, supporting girls in Cernavoda to not go into prostitution. She is the oldest of six children living in very basic conditions in a flat in Cernavoda with no electricity.
Friday night, I was so excited that the next day I was leaving to go on my excursion. Saturday morning I woke up at 6:00 so that I could get dressed. I had finished getting dressed, put my shoes on, went to get my classmate Cristina and went to school. It didn’t take long before the bus came, Mercedes-Benz, with 48 seats. The 32 pupils and 3 teachers got on the bus.
During the trip we visited 3 monasteries, 2 famous houses, 3 museums and a salt mine. We stayed at a cabin and slept 5-6 people in a room. The food was great, chicken, snitel, mashed potatoes, salad. On the last night there was a firework display.
In the mine we went in and went down 210 metres underground. The air was very tight and it was harder to breath. From the bus we could see the mountains, at the top you could see the snow and the trees were all green lower down.
The trip cost 170 lei (£40) and I also had 8 lei spending money (£1.80), and I got a lot of postcards and a quartz ball from the mine.
It was a brilliant trip and I hope that I will have the chance to go on other trips like this.
6. A year at Nightingales, Romania – Rosie Parry:
Summarising a year in Cernavoda will be tough, so here's a few highlights - a picture of life at Nightingales through 2010.
Early January I moved in to the girls apartment, joined 2 days later by everyone still at Casa Fericirii – home of happiness, when the heating there gave out. For 10 weeks, 9 young people, a baby, a housemother, Ben and myself lived in the 3 bedroom flat - a challenge in terms of cabin fever, but an amazing opportunity in getting to know everyone well. Winter memories are of endless snow and sledging, walks en masse to the mini-max (my 2nd home) and the market for shopping, watching the music channel and playing cards. As the snow melted, we spent lots of time sorting out sudden indoor floods, paddling in chilly water, catching leaks, but definitely providing much needed, if cold, entertainment.
Spring's big event was those still at the charity moving to the converted Bank School. Strange as it was to leave Casa Fericirii for good, they settled quickly and it’s an ideal space for them- smaller and more homely, easier for one housemother to keep an eye on and with a kitchen that everyone have access to. At the girls apartment, we spring cleaned, ate pizza and wondered why the apartment felt so big! That night was strange sleeping without the sound of someone rocking nearby.
Rosie with some of the young people from the bank:
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Spring and Summer brought many trips, camps and holidays. Ben and I took Mari, Ramy, Dani and Adi to Brasov for three days while Mihaela and Alex visited family nearby. The older boys took breaks from work to join us on BBQ’s and days out. A beautiful, but slightly wet and tantrum-filled week in the mountains, beach trips, days out in Constanta and trips to the park. Another highlight was Baba, Vali and Turkian having an amazing time on an outdoor activity camp. A steady flow of volunteers, running activities, staying in and using the bank, the apartment and the charity. It was also great to see so many local children involved in events during the warmer weather, and many also coming on the activity camps.
In Autum the guys at the Bank began life skills with Luiza each week and also had a slot of time each week when they'd pick something to do on their own with me. Ranging from tidying the cemetery to visiting retired housemothers. It was great to build relationships and something we all looked forward to. Christmas was manic, but exciting. Ben gave me his least favourite job; shopping, and we organised a Secret Santa, so instead of making our own lists, we chose for each other – a novel concept, but made the shopping easier. Despite blowing all the fuses with excessive fairy lights, Christmas and New Year were great – games, parties, dancing and plenty of food. All in all a great distraction for us all from my nearing departure.
Every week included some disaster – a tantrum, fit, another argument, someone running away or the heating exploding, but somehow it’s all the good days and fun times which stay with me and remind me why I went in the first place J
7. VOLUNTEERING IN MY HOME TOWN – ANDRA RUSU
I started volunteering at Nightingales almost 2 years ago. At the beginning it was a challenge to see if I can do it, if I can do something for others. My first day as a volunteer at Nightingales made me realise it was something I always wanted to do. Everyone received me so well, there was an environment that made me want come back. It was not easy to work with the children because I had no experience with them, but with help of Ben and the support of a team of volunteers I started to learn how to handle a group of children. I also started to learn what kind of games they want to play, what they prefer to play and soon I was able to make my own program. Also at the beginning I had to learn how to treat young adults with disabilities. It wasn’t easy to act like they were normal because I never worked with them, but time passed and I learned to treat them like I treated any of my friends. Actually some of them are my friends now and I speak to them daily!
I think working with children and young people is the most difficult thing ever, but also the most amazing job someone can have. Nothing compares with the smiles and the love they show to us. They are so thankful for spending our spare time playing and doing all kinds of fun activities with them.
I also improved my English and I was able to practice it with the English volunteers, I helped, every summer, the groups of volunteers by translating to the children the rules of the games they wanted to play.
Volunteering at Nightingales changed my life. I made lots of friends from UK , learned lots of things from them, changed my point of view about life, it has made me be confident, I have learned that I have to love my family because I am lucky to have one. I am very thankful to everyone there for everything I’ve learned from them and also for being so supportive and receiving me in their family, because I can say that they are a lovely big family!
8. Running a fundraiser for Nightingales
By Oliva ‘Bob’Rhodes
Livi gives us all a few basic ideas on running a fundraiser for Nightingales, showing us a small idea can have a great impact on the lives of the young people at Nightingales. The photo to the right shows Lucy and Livi in Romania.
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So it all started with my mum’s brainwave of doing a dinner to raise a bit of money for Nightingales. Lucy and I hadn’t done anything like this before so weren’t sure what to expect but it turned out to be such a hit we did it twice. I can highly recommend this one, so I will take you through the motions so that you can do it too! First of all we started off by finding a venue (a village hall worked wonderfully because pretty much all the facilities are already there for you)then we found some people to invite (we targeted our parents’ friends-richer than our student friends!) and thought of a cost effective tasty meal that we could cook in bulk. The organising of each dinner was done over about three months, so the work was spread out. It also helps if you practice your asking a favour voice and get people to help you! It was lovely to see how helpful people were in the organisation and there were contributions to puddings, cooking, entertainment, raffle prizes etc.
So each dinner was a similar lay out; we welcomed guests into the hall and collected their money (about £10 or £15 each) and their raffle contribution and badgered them to buy raffle tickets. Once people were settled we served up dinner and wine (which brought in further donations) followed by some entertainment performed by friends in the form of magic and songs! Before pudding Lucy and I did a presentation about Nightingales which got a fantastic response from everyone and a few people extended their generosity and donated more money, marvellous! We then had the raffle with the highest winning rate the world has ever seen, there were the same number of prizes as guests! All in all, the best evening ever! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it felt incredible to spread the word about Nightingales…
GIVE IT A GO! All it takes is a bit of organisation enthusiasm and some people to give you money! Dedicate a night to everyone at Nightingales and open people’s eyes to all the amazing work that goes on there. I promise you, no matter how much you raise it will be worthwhile, and doing a dinner like this brings everyone together in one fun-filled, money-giving, terrific evening.
There are many ideas that you can use to raise money here are just a few:
Sponsored event, Dinner party which people pay £20 a head, Car boot sale, Coffee morning, Auction of promises, Musical concerts, Car wash, Raffle, Beetle Drive, Quiz night, BBQ, Disco, Sale on E-Bay, £1 coins in smarties tubes, Dress down day for work/school, Donate an hour of your salary,
9. Future Fundraising Events:
Lauren Taylor Half Marathon:I visited Nightingales a year ago and the inspiring place has been on my mind ever since. I wanted to do something to contribute and aid the great work being done for the residents of the orphanage and the people of Cernavoda. I have therefore decided to do the Robin Hood Nottingham Half Marathon on the 11th September. I ran the Great North Run in 2010 and so running another half marathon would be a personal achievement as well. Any donations to this amazing cause would be greatly received, and so worth it. Have a look at my justgiving page on: www.justgiving.com/laurennightingales
PUB QUIZ:
Joanna Wells and Ricky Roycroft have written a pub quiz for people to use to raise money for Nightingales, it is a great quiz which really tests your general knowledge, including a fantastic photo round. If anyone would like to organise an event then please email Ben Wells at nightingalescp@clicknet.ro
Ride for Romania: 20th August 2011:
Caryl Jocye is organising a day where people can run, cycle, hop, skip and jump 10km. It should be a fun day. If you would like more information about this and how you can be involved then please contact Caryl on caryl.j@tiscali.co.uk
Bucharest Internation Marathon: 9th October 2011:
Nightingales is looking for people to sign up for the Bucharest International Marathon in October. It costs only 40 euro. There is a half marathon and a full marathon. We are hoping to put a team together, with a support crowd of the Nightingales beneficiaries. If you are interested please contact Ben Wells on nightingalescp@clicknet.ro for more information please see http://bucharest-marathon.com/
Raise £300 for Nightingales:
Nightingales is still looking for people to complete its fundraising calendar, we are attempting to find 30 willing volunteers to raise £300 in a one off fundraising event, for inspiration please read what Livi Rhodes wrote. If you are interested in doing this then please email Ben Wells at nightingalescp@clicknet.ro
10. THANK YOU!!!!!
Dauntsey’s School – £13,566.89
Michael Bishop Foundation –£10,000
Estate of Winifred Stevens – £8,000
2 Wheel Appeal – £5,000
Helen Plummer/Brown – £1000
Kate Wells Winter Appeal – £3,137.22
Jersey Boy’s Collection – £2,785.98
Dragon Christmas Charity Sale – £2,448
Val Hennessy’s father’s estate – £1000
S.P.May – £804
Tatty and Billy’s wedding – £1,272.16
Hollick Family Trust – £1000
Ricky Roycroft – £823.97
Abingdon School – £687.54
Frank Phillips Fundraiser – £664.69
If you would like to make a one-off donation or start a regular standing order to Nightingales then please contact Gayner Smith, Nightingales Accountant at gaynersmith@bird-luckin.co.uk
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