Shropshire firefighters tackle Romanian poverty

The small child begged for food from the Shropshire firefighter.

Not in our county thankfully – for these are the streets of Romania – a country of "haves" and "have nots".

Wellington firefighter Chris Lockett went to a shop to buy bread for the hungry five-year-old girl while colleague John Pritchard unscrewed a new bottle of orange juice and passed it to her.

Outside a three star hotel, where the Shropshire contingent of a charity aid trip to the "have-nots" of Romania had been staying, stood a burly bouncer employed to keep the starving beggars at bay.

It was the final day of an extraordinary charity convoy which began with fundraising on the streets of Shropshire to contribute towards an 1,800-mile trip to deliver much needed fire engines, a Land Rover and uniforms to Romania's grossly underfunded rural fire brigade where house fires can destroy whole villages in remote areas.

Staff from Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, who gave up their holiday and paid £150 towards the cost, were on a return trip after realising help was desperately needed.

Last year they took four fire engines, firefighting equipment, and presents to orphanages and a home for handicapped OAPs. They were so shocked by the conditions at the old folks home that they raised more funds to buy TVs for every resident.

One elderly woman – who hasn't left her bed for a decade – gripped the helping hand of Assistant Chief Fire Officer Steve Worrall and beamed with joy at seeing him and his colleagues again.

This time they had come to paint and decorate the small bedrooms alongside their Romanian colleagues and deliver presents.

Shropshire fire crews also witnessed the residents' joy at being able to sit out on a terrace area which they paid to have complete after the money ran out.

One 80-year-old widow living in the home explained how the £1,000 to pay for the paving had meant sewage no longer flowed into her tiny one-bedroomed home when the rains came.

She and the other 47 residents, who have no family, were overjoyed to see their caring benefactors back again.

Despite the help there is still much more to do. A faulty drainpipe means rain drips onto the new terrace causing damage, and plumbers are needed to fix faulty central heating. But with no funds, the improvements are unlikely.

The home's director Ana Ioan said he "did not have enough words" to thank the people of Shropshire who had helped.

Shropshire firefighters have forged strong bonds with their Romanian colleagues and encouraged them to give up their spare time to help repair and improve the home in Sigishoara.

In a co-ordinated venture, they plastered and repaired the grubby walls of one-time cells now used to house handicapped residents in what was a former prison.

The Shropshire fire crew joined them to paint rooms together to help make a better life for the elderly and infirm residents.

Steve Worrall explained how the Shropshire charity aid to the elderly had triggered off a response from Romanian fire crews.

He said: "People who work in fire and rescue services in the UK have a long history and culture of helping those less fortunate than ourselves. The point of this trip was to pass on our culture of giving a helping hand to the underprivileged.

"I am pleased to say that the Romanian firefighters have joined in with a great will and desire to help." Fire officer Rares Petre explained that in Romania old people who had no family were not helped by the Government – if they have no friends or family to care for them, they are left to struggle on their own. Those living in the former prison, converted into a home for the handicapped, are the lucky ones.

For this is post Communist Romania, an Eastern European country that suffered 50 years of persecution and deprivation where people scratched out a living with rationing, and secret police knocked on the door in the middle of the night to take away those who may or may not have said a word against the brutal regime.

Now that they have freedom and democracy and have recently joined the EU, people want the Western lifestyle, but with a weak and disliked liberal Government unable to disperse funds fairly and adequately, the country is divided into "rich and poor".

Carolina Fernoland, a Roma, has fought to protect the impoverished 16th century Saxon villages where people live in a medieval "time warp" compared to some of the plush and modern towns and cities.

In her village of Viscri, where Prince Charles has a holiday home, she has battled to help desperately poor Roma villagers earn a living by starting the Mihai Eminescu Trust. Colin Richardson, a historic building manager with Shropshire Council, has helped by making more than 60 trips to the region with teams of craftsmen to educate the people in conservation skills.

A wave of newly-trained carpenters, tile and brick makers, have sprung up alongside a tourist boom which is seeing visitors come to see the reclaimed villages which have now been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO – equal to Ironbridge.

"In 1987 Ceausescu, our hated leader, planned to destroy every single Roma village. In 1989 we killed him and it was not soon enough," said Carolina, an accountant and economist still bitter at the treatment of her people.

She thanked Shropshire firefighters for bringing a pump to Viscri, now transported by horse and cart and for training local villagers in how to use it.

"Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service has given us so much.

"You have made us understand about volunteering. We are not used to it. All these years of Communism destroyed a lot of lives and we have to catch up. These are state run homes and they don't have any money to pay even the doctors or teachers.

"Our rush to join the EU and get a better life of capitalism has meant we had forgotten about them. Because of your help, we are now working to put that right."

To make a donation, sponsorship or to offer help to the old people's home in Sigishoara contact Carolina Fernoland, Director of the Mihai Eminescu Trust cfernolend@mihaeeminesctrust.org