The Romanian Aid Foundation & Asociatia Neemia

The Romania authorities have announced the implementation of an EU directive which restricts the import of toys for children. Imported toys, including home-made items, now need to carry a ‘CE’ conformity label. As it is impractical for our teams to verify these labels we cannot now accept toys for donation. Most stationery is, however, still acceptable.

In Romania, the school summer holidays last for a period of around 90 days, from mid-June to the beginning of August. Traditionally this was to allow the children to help with the family harvest but, with much of the population now resident in urban areas, this is no longer common. Instead, students and pupils are invited back to school for supplementary classes or extra-curricular activities. For kindergartens and junior years these take the form of sports and crafts.

For a number of years, RoAF and AN have supplied some sports items, craft materials and educational equipment to some of the kindergartens in Dorohoi and in the surrounding villages. Without these donations the teachers would have to source the items locally, either at their own expense or asking parents to contribute. In that instance there is a risk that some children from poorer homes would not be able to participate.
View a special thanks on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lwtdKxg2RF0

During July AN sponsored the purchase of some chickens for a family in Vaculesti. Having these chickens will help the family to be able to prepare meals that are more nutritious. We were able to acquire a small quantity of frozen foods from another charity, for donation. Some of the maize from our land was milled into flour also for donation whilst the gardens at Casa Neemia produced a good crop of vegetables for the residents. A small pool allows the children there to cool off during the current heatwave.

Finally, a reminder that the packing team at Horley will be taking a break during August; the warehouse will also be closed during this month. Normal programmes for packing and the warehouse are planned to resume on the 8th and 9th September respectively.

This month’s featured photos

• Activities during July
• Summer distractions

Last month’s statistics

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

 
Previous month’s news, July, 2023

This Month’s Prayer Notes

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Link to this month’s Prayer Notes

Packing is proceeding quietly so far this year; consequently the team has decided to meet fortnightly until after the summer break. The remaining packing dates at Horley are 23rd June, 7th and 21st July. A member of the RoAF team will be at the church on the intervening Fridays, to receive donations as normal. The warehouse at Billingshurst will be open each Saturday as usual, until the end of July. The normal weekly activities are are due to restart on 2nd September.

A further load was dispatched to Romania on 3rd June; many thanks to those who helped to prepare the goods and to load the lorry.

The latest consignment of aid has arrived in Romania with no difficulties en-route other than those that might be expected during what was a holiday weekend in much of mainland Europe. The load then had to be inspected by consumer protection officials and assessed by customs officers before being released for unloading. We have come to expect that the rules will change on each occasion, and this time was no exception.

With a bit of back-and-forth with paperwork and good will on both sides the load was released and unloaded by a joint Romanian-Ukrainian team. Romania’s strict rules have been introduced as a fight-back against the dumping of substandard items from elsewhere in Europe. After the inspections were complete the officers commented that they were impressed by the quality of the items that had been sent.

A joint Romanian and Ukrainian team was on hand to unload the lorry. As we have no capability for handling loaded pallets each pallet has to be unwrapped and the separate boxes carried into the warehouse. This gives us a more detailed idea of what the load contains and is an opportunity for the boxes and other items to be sorted according to content into specific locations in the warehouse. We are, once again, very grateful for the amount of effort that goes into sending these loads.

Children’s Summer Camp The camp at Voronet was closed for a couple of years due to COVID restrictions but it is open again this year. We are hoping to take some 30-40 children, for the period 26th June to 1st July. We have been offered generous sponsorship for the camp this year but, as with almost everything in Romania, the costs have risen significantly and that may affect the number of children that can go. More details about the camp are on our website here.

This month’s featured photos

• What goes in …
• … must come out
• Mobility aids, paper for schools, household tool kits

Last month’s statistics

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

 
Previous month’s news, May, 2023

This Month’s Prayer Notes

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Link to this month’s Prayer Notes

Last month’s Prayer Notes were a bit negative in tone, concentrating on what we cannot do and without any pictures to liven the content. This month we are happy to report that no news – certainly no negative news – seems to be good news. There has been no further come-back from the recent examination of our activities in Romania and we are still making donations from our current stock in Dorohoi. Meanwhile, in the UK, our packing teams continue to work through the items currently in the warehouses ensuring that items being prepared for transport do comply with our understanding of the current requirements. They anticipate being ready to send more supplies in the next month or so. We continue to be grateful for the loyal support of our donors and packing teams.

In Romania, we have received sponsorship for the local purchase of fleece blankets, which we are giving to young mums and families with small children. Bicycles and some types of furniture are welcome too but we can only donate soft toys from the stocks that we already have.

In Dorohoi, our integrated community of Romanians and Ukrainians continues to demonstrate good co-operation between the residents and staff at Casa Neemia; this is the season for planting the vegetable gardens and also, it seems, for celebrating birthdays. For the past few months we have received some third-party sponsorship to help with the costs of providing accommodation for our Ukrainian guests. This arrangement is currently up for review.

This month’s featured photos

• The Donations Continue
• Preparing the Polytunnel
• Birthdays at Casa Neemia

This is also the season for planting the land at our warehouse. As dormant seeds lying below ground are not very photogenic, we have included some photos of last year’s crop of maize being brought into store. This will be milled into flour for donation to our beneficiaries during the coming months.

Last month’s statistics

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

 
Previous month’s news, April, 2023

This Month’s Prayer Notes

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Link to this month’s Prayer Notes

We in Horley continue to sort and pack dwindling donations of clothing. We continue with heavy hearts knowing that our efforts are not rewarding those our efforts are meant to help. The many who have supplied us with beautiful blankets from around the country, can be reassured that they will go somewhere else where they will be appreciated. We have the next lorry load in our warehouse ready to go. What we don’t have is a guarantee that the load will ever be accepted to unload. Every single box has been checked and complies with the current instructions from Romanian Customs. However in the past these rules can change even when the lorry is in transit. The future is in the balance. We have the potential to continue here in U.K. It is however in the hands of the Romanian authorities for how long.

In Swansea, we are in the process of revisiting boxes to check for conformity; back tracking is always a bit disappointing but we are not discouraged, trusting that in due course the things that we do send will be of benefit to their recipients. Sadly we have had to advise many of our supporters that much of what they have given previously is no longer acceptable.

It has been a difficult few weeks for the AN team in Dorohoi. Goods imported from the UK are now regarded as being sourced from outside of the EU and some stringent rules have been imposed. As with many EU directives, there is a degree of variation in how they are applied; in Romania, non-conformity with the local expectations can be very stressful and is usually expensive.

Prominent amongst the new rules are those which govern what types of goods we can distribute and what level of taxation they will now incur. One of the rulings is that we can no longer import hand-knitted items. These are considered to be new items and therefore need labels and documentation that we cannot obtain. We know that this will be a particular disappointment to the ladies and gentlemen of our knitting groups, and we take this opportunity to thank you for all your efforts up to now.

The ingredients of items such as toothpaste, soap and sanitizer, need to be labelled, in Romanian. This makes these items impractical for us.
More details are on our website, on the ‘Items for Romania’ page.

There are also stricter definitions of those who can benefit from our donations; individuals can be registered as beneficiaries but organisations such as churches, schools and other charities which have their own legal identity will be subject to extra scrutiny.

On a more positive note, we have received sponsorship for the purchase in Romania of fleece blankets; these are suitable for use during the Spring and we have started giving them to young mums and families with small children. In addition, we do still have a good stock of the heavier knitted blankets which are more suitable for older people.

 
Previous month’s news, March 2023

This Month’s Prayer Notes

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Link to this month’s Prayer Notes

It is that time of year when we need to finalise our records of activities in Romania during the past twelve months. This is not just a question of balancing the financial accounts but also to make sure that our records of donations of goods also match up with what we think we have left in the warehouse. The new rules that came into force during 2022 mean that this year the exercise needs to differentiate between stock which was received before the rules came into force and later acquisitions. A group of residents from Casa Neemia, both Romanians and Ukrainians, have been checking the contents of boxes and recounting them, and we are grateful for the effort that they are putting in.

For several years we have received stationery and educational materials which we have been able to share between several kindergartens locally. Teachers and children alike are grateful for these items.

Packing in Horley is proceeding quietly so far this year. Our loyal regulars still continue to donate items and help with the packing, and we still receive enquiries from casual donors, but there are many other areas of need globally and Romania no longer has the focus of the world’s attention. Nevertheless, and in co-operation with our colleagues in south Wales, we are steadily accumulating more items for dispatch, probably towards the end of April or in mid-May.

We have received a fresh supply of boxes and pallets, these are essential items for the efficient transport of our goods and we are grateful to those who put in the effort to get them.

This month’s featured photos

• Boxing day
• Learning is fun

Last month’s statistics

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

 
Previous month’s news, February 2023

This Month’s Prayer Notes

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Link to this month’s Prayer Notes

The Horley team had a typically quiet start to the new year which gave us an opportunity to prepare the warehouse but now we are having a busy time as the goods starts to arrive every Friday afternoon at Horley Baptist Church We are greatly encouraged by the amount of knitted items from several groups of knitters, and we would encourage the knitters to consider lighter-weight blankets which are suitable for spring and autumn use. Nevertheless, we appreciate the effort put into preparing those items which are more suitable for winter use.

We have been getting quite a few enquiries from new donors, who are first time contacts, which is encouraging.

In 2022 AN received goods with a local value of some £49,000 from the UK and acquired additional goods locally to the value of £1,500. Some locally-sourced goods were received as donations, others were funded by specific sponsorship; an example of the latter is the offer of funding to purchase additional blankets locally. Some 2,400 separate donations were made during the year, giving each donation a typical value of £21.

Official statistics issued at the end of January show that some 63% of the Romanian resident population is not active in the national workforce, either because they are too young or are too old. It is these two groups that receive most of the aid that we distribute. We cannot keep records of donations to minors (their parents are the registered beneficiaries) but we know that pensioners account for some 30% of our registered beneficiaries.

In addition to our usual activities we have continued to address the needs of our Ukrainian visitors, and we are grateful for the help that we receive specifically for this purpose.

This month’s featured photos

• The Warehouse is ready
• What’s in the box …

Last month’s statistics

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

 
Previous month’s news, January 2023

This Month’s Prayer Notes

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Link to this month’s Prayer Notes

The start of a new year is a good time to repeat our thanks to all those who supported our activities during the past year – may God bless you!

We were able to send our December lorry in time for Christmas, it arrived promptly with no significant problems en-route or at the customs inspections. The load comprised mainly clothing and bedding but it also included a number of boxes from people who support particular families. As with last year, sponsorship from the UK allowed the team in Dorohoi to prepare Christmas bags with some basic groceries and a few special items for needy families. This way of helping needy people is better targeted and more efficient than a general distribution of shoeboxes. The recipients’ thanks are passed on to those who contributed to the purchase of Christmas bags or sent boxes to the families that they support.

In more detail, the Christmas bags contained groceries including sugar, flour, pressed ham, cheese, tomato paste and sponge cake. Each bag also contained a selection of fruit, biscuits and sweets, plus, where appropriate, some items from our general stock, depending upon availability and the household make-up. The average value of bought items in each bag was ₤14; a like-for-like comparison of the price of the groceries mentioned against last year’s prices shows an increase of some 50% year on year.

There is a widespread pessimism in Romania about what the new year may bring. A recent survey revealed that only some 25% of respondents expected 2023 to be better than last year; this feeling is exasperated by a high rate of inflation and by the proximity of the war in Ukraine.

This month’s featured photos

• Preparing gift bags
• Christmas gifts
• Sponsored families

Last month’s statistics

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

 
Previous month’s news, December 2022

This Month’s Prayer Notes

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Link to this month’s Prayer Notes

Once again we are focusing on the preparations necessary prior to dispatching a consignment of aid items to our team in Romania. The area that we help is one of the coldest in Romania – it escaped the searing heat of the summer but is now one of the first areas to experience the winter chill. Once again we will be concentrating on clothing and bedding, including the knitwear that so many people send us.

A report from one of the groups that support our work:
“We are St. Mary’s Church Thornbury and Rotary, Inner Wheel Ladies Group Thornbury. We both meet once a month for ‘Knit and Natter’ and to hand in our efforts. we had a great morning – old friends meeting up – over 50 folks including 3 brave fellows. We met folks from the other knitting group for the first time. There was a display of our goods that are now packed and on their way this morning – hopefully to catch the next lorry – about 11 blankets. We raised money for transport of our boxes and to raise awareness – we did both! £470”

AN does not keep separate records of the donation of knitted items as they are donated together with other clothing and bedding. In November we made some 250 donations of clothing and bedding totalling 1.75 tons; this compares with a similar number of donations totalling 1.1 tons during November 2021. We trust that the distribution of these goods will honour the efforts of those who provided them as well as bringing comfort to the recipients.

Christmas break – Our teams will be taking their usual Christmas break after next weekend, the Horley packing team will be meeting as usual on Friday 16th and the Billingshurst warehouse will be open on the 17th, then both will be closed until the 6th and 7th January respectively. After a year with both complications and successes we express our gratitude to those who are willing to use their skills to help people that they will never get to meet.

This month’s featured photos

• Ways of staying warm
• Knit and Natter

Last month’s statistics

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

 
Previous month’s news, November 2022

This Month’s Prayer Notes

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Link to this month’s Prayer Notes

Our fifth lorry for this year has been dispatched. The load is a joint venture between our Horley and Swansea teams and comprises clothing, bedding and shoes, with some stationery and personal hygiene items. The clothing has been checked, packed and fumigated in accordance with our understanding of the current requirements and we trust that this load will be accepted by the Romanian authorities without further ado. We hope to send another lorry in mid-December, once again concentrating on clothing, footwear and bedding, perhaps with some seasonal items.

In Dorohoi the latest lorry from Billingshurst has arrived both quickly and safely. The official examination of the load went well with no problems on this occasion; the customs inspectors appreciated our teams’ efforts to comply with the revised procedures. The goods were unloaded and safely in our warehouse here on Tuesday afternoon after having been loaded on Saturday morning. This is close to the record for a prompt delivery.

The weather has remained warm and dry – ideal for bringing in the cereal harvest Whilst there are still those who continue to work their smallholdings with a horse and cart, there has been a major increase in commercial activity. This can be linked to the uncertainties surrounding the availability of grain from Ukraine which in turn has affected local supplies and prices. Most of the people coming to the office for clothing and other items also ask for food. The large stock of rice, together with other items from local sources means that we can still help them. There are many people with financial requests but we are very limited in how we can help them.

This month’s featured photos

• Preparing the donations
• Loading Day

Last month’s statistics

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

 
Previous month’s news, October 2022

This Month’s Prayer Notes

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Link to this month’s Prayer Notes

The packing sessions at Horley have restarted, albeit at a slightly slower pace as we adjust to the revised packing requirements. We anticipate sending our next lorry in mid-October. On this occasion the load will consist of clothing, bedding and footwear, with a small amount of stationery and personal hygiene items.

In our early years of taking items to Romania we received practical help from Royal Mail and ParcelForce, in the form of transport and storage facilities; since then we have had a contract which allowed some of our more distant supporters to send us items using the ParcelForce network, free of charge. This contract has now expired and can no longer be used. ParcelForce (and other couriers) can still deliver to us but it will be on a charge basis as part of their normal business. We will endeavour to put new arrangements in place for the receipt of aid items on a commercial basis. In the meantime, be aware that this termination of contract takes place with immediate effect. Please do not attempt to send items via the existing ParcelForce details.

As mentioned last month, the schools and kindergartens have started their new academic year. We have been able to supply stationery and other school materials to kindergartens, both in Dorohoi and in the surrounding area. Rural kindergartens in particular tend to have smaller classes which attract less funding and items such as paper, card, educational toys and appropriate furniture are all much appreciated. Parents are expected to contribute to the pupils’ necessities. Education is nominally free but an official estimate put the cost of preparing for the new term at 100 pounds per pupil. This will include appropriate clothing, sports kit, exercise books and writing materials, plus a knapsack to carry it all in. Many of the families that we support cannot afford all this, especially if there are several children in the family.

Our guests from Ukraine continue to adjust to life in Dorohoi. Several of them were from areas that have recently been annexed by Russia; for them there seems to be no practical prospect of them being able to return.

This month’s featured photos

• Transport from ParcelForce
• Kindergarten materials from AN
• Our Guests from Ukraine

Last month’s statistics

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

 
Previous month’s news, September 2022