VERITAS is a non-governmental organization that operates in
a town of approximately 30,000 people called,
Sighisoara (pronounced see-ghe-shwa-ra). Located in the region
of Romania known as Transylvania, it probably comes closest to what
most visitors think an old Transylvanian
town should look like. The city is still
surrounded by medieval
ramparts and the
winding streets are lined with
old buildings. Unfortunately
poverty abounds, especially among the
Gypsy parents and their
children who wander town in hopes of a job, or to beg for food.
A large portion of our energy and time as a program and as
individual volunteers is spent ministering to the
Gypsy population in Sighisoara. These people have
tremendous need as they daily face
extreme poverty as well as intense racial prejudice and
discrimination. Most of the
orphans and
abandoned children that our volunteers work with are
Gypsy children. Relief work through VERITAS in
Sighisoara has grown up over the last four years around a
program of Eastern Nazarene College (Boston, MA).
Students come from the United States to study and serve in
Romania for four months at a time. Also, an integral part of the
relief work has been the work of longer-term
volunteers from America and Europe. They serve alongside the
students, helping to build an ever growing team of Romanian
staff. The relief work and educational programs offer a wide
variety of opportunities not otherwise possible to the Romanians who
still struggle with the residual effects of 45 years of communism.
Most of the VERITAS relief work functions from the newly opened
Family Support Center, whose programs include the following.
KIDS'
CLUB -- Provides a
hot lunch, crafts, music, games, skill building, Bible stories,
socialization, and drama for about 250
children from the poorest families. The majority of this work
benefits children who spend most of their day on the streets.
KINDERGARTEN
-- Four mornings a week about 35 children from poor families
are given breakfast (often their only hot meal of the day) and
participate in an educational class.
MATERIAL
SUPPORT -- About 200 families receive financial,
social, and spiritual support. Clothing, food, and household
supplies are generally donated in small amounts from various
sources. But recently, truckloads of clothes and hygiene supplies
have come through the overwhelming generosity of caring people in
Ireland and England.
HANDICAPPED
CHILDREN -- This is a relatively new program that
reaches out to families that have a physically handicapped child. As
if poverty weren't enough, the stories of these social cast-a-ways
living in sub-human conditions are heart-wrenching. Very few
services or educational opportunities are available for children
with disabilities. Many spend all of their life with a parent at
home, rarely venturing outdoors. Social, emotional, medical, and
spiritual support for the children and their families is equally as
important as the future creation of an educational program for a few
of these children.
ELDERLY
-- Outreach to the isolated or incapacitated elderly is a deep
concern. We have recently begun to visit and assess the needs of
people living on
small pensions and starved of human contact. Usually it is the
social and spiritual needs that weigh heaviest, though there is
often a need for food and medicine.
SICK AND
ABANDONED CHILDREN -- Care for
abandoned and sick
infants and
toddlers at Distrofici (State-run ward) and Spital (Hospital) is
an ever constant need. While conditions have improved in these
institutions in recent years, it is still difficult to see the high
level of
neglect as well as the lack of medical training or supplies. We
provide affection, tactical stimulation, and help with their
developmental needs. We also assist in feeding, changing, and
bathing the children.
COMMUNITY
CONTRIBUTIONS
Education Center -- Two years ago a
donation of used "486-computers" allowed us to open our
Education Center. This is a place where clients have access to
word-processing, the Internet, and computer services. We also offer
Computer and English courses.
Theater
Classes -- These classes have been very popular this
year. Significant relationships have been forged with young
Romanians who have had their first opportunity to be creative in the
arts. They staged a production of an Easter play (written by the
budding actors themselves) and performed some Shakespeare at the
annual Medieval Festival.
Ecology
Club -- This is another creative program that has
drawn young people into community awareness.
Dr. Roberta Bustin left a prominent
teaching profession in the U.S. and shares with club members her
knowledge about environmental issues. In Romania, children and young
people play, swim, and fish in polluted streams and rivers daily
with little, if any, awareness of the dangers they face. Many
villages have shallow wells that are polluted with bacteria,
nitrate, and other pollutants. Some even obtain their drinking water
from the polluted rivers. The
Ecology Club has worked on a year-long project to analyze and
monitor the water in the local river which provides drinking water
for the town.
Small
Business Development -- All of the above programs have, thus far, been
supported through the ENC program budget and outside personal
donations. As programs have expanded it has been important to look
for ways to generate income that will help support our relief
efforts. Sighisoara has a high rate of unemployment. Interesting and
creative jobs are almost non-existent. We desperately need someone
with business expertise who could oversee the development of a
center in a
building we recently acquired in the main part of the
Old Town. The goal is to employ Romanians at an Internet café,
a coffee shop, a book store and gift shop, a youth-oriented café,
and perhaps also develop a tour guide service, desktop publishing,
and translation services. Since many of the children we work with
come from families where neither parents works, and prejudice makes
it difficult for the gypsy population to get jobs, we dream about
being able to create job opportunities for some of these parents who
really want to improve their situation. A volunteer with knowledge
of economic development could help us here. Writing grant proposals
is another area in which we need help. We know there are sources of
funding out there, but do not have the staff to make application for
it.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Social Work
Administrator
Teachers - Kindergarten, Elementary,
Special Needs, Adult Literacy
ESL Teacher
Computer
Tech
Business Projects Manager
Business
Administrator
For more information
contact:
Dorothy
Tarrant, Program Director
Centrul de Ajutor
Familial
Str. H. Oberth nr. 25
Sighisoara, Cod 3050
Jud.
Mures ROMANIA
Mobile phone:
65-777-865
Romania phone: 94-300-905
(If calling from the
U.S., dial 011-40 before the phone number.)
Email:
