History
Six years after the end of Ceausescu’s dictatorship in Romania, French volunteers became aware of the difficult conditions of Romania’s abandoned children. They came to Romania to investigate how their help and assistance could be used in the most positive manner to improve the situation of the abandoned children.
From the outset they focused on the most urgent situations aiming to give the most appropriate assistance. Aims, structures and actions were agreed which would provide the most effective response to the needs identified.
Initially, children already in existing orphanage were identified as being in most urgent situation. The Marie Curie Hospital in Bucharest, Corabia’s Hospital, Sisters of Mother Theresa in Bacau were all the recipients of assistance such as :
VALENTINA, with the assistance of Saint Vincent de Paul International was set up in Romania in March 1999. The name of ‘’Valentina’’ came about in memory of an abandoned baby girl, 10 months old called ‘’Valentina’’, in a Bucharest orphanage who died of a heart disease.
As ‘’Valentina’’ developed and expanded its programme of assistance they concentrated on working in cooperation with the organisations and structures already in place in Romania:
- Day centre for 17 children in Slatina;
- A children’s centre in Bucharest (16 children);
- A religious institute in Bacau : Casa Sfanta Maria (70 children);
- Caminul Filip - an association helping only Rroma families;
- An orphanage for small children: Centrul Cotroceni (24 copii)
- Centre nr. 11, an orphanage for young children in Bucharest (200 children);
- A project in collaboration with the French Foreign Ministry : “Collective Childhood Project Romania”;
- In collaboration with Dr Dan Catana of Marie Curie Hospital providing financial support for Romanian Children requiring surgery in France;
It became essential to have a local structure in Romania operated under Romanian law therefore in February 2002 VALENTINA Romania was established and affiliated to the Romanian Federation of NGOs for the Protection of Children (F.O.N.P.C.).
In order to help families under extreme pressure to stay together as a unit and try to improve their economic and social situation VALENTINA Romania in collaboration with existing social and public services developed a programme called ‘’One child, One solution’’.
‘’One child, One solution’’ is a number of connected projects focused on assisting families to help themselves to improve their economic situation. These projects include a programme to pay pre-school fees for selected families thus enabling the parents to participate in a programme to try to secure work or training, a programme to improve personal and general hygiene through providing washing facilities including washing machines and showers, and an after school programme where children can do their homework in an environment developed for such a propose. There is also a programme to assist selected families through times of extreme financial or medical emergency.
In Bucharest, VALENTINA Romania provides most of its assistance in the Ferentari district. In September 2006, VALENTINA secured a house in Ferentari called ‘’Casa Valentina’’. This house now hosts and facilitates the projects and administrative support for VALENTINA Romania, including the After School Homework and Activities Programme for the children, and the Hygiene Programme.
In the future and with your help, VALENTINA Romania will be able to extend its support to more families.
We need everybody’s assistance, volunteers, financial and material aid.
VALENTINA Romania would not have been able to do such a good work without your support!
Thank you!
