Projects in Romania
Wishing Well has been working in Romania since the early 1990's. Here, we work under the name of our sister organisation Fundatia William Tyrrell. Our work is based in the South West part of Romania in the Olt county. This area is less developed and more in need compared to many other counties in Romania.
In Slatina we run the International Volunteer & Community Resource Centre. From here, we run a wide range of projects for the benefit of the local community including; Equal Start, Positive Futures, Volunteer & Community Development as well as hosting National Volunteer Week each year and our annual Children's Christmas & Halloween party.
We work to support children from the poorest communities in Romania as well as work with children and adults still living in the remaining care institutions situated across the Olt county.
In Slatina we run the International Volunteer & Community Resource Centre. From here, we run a wide range of projects for the benefit of the local community including; Equal Start, Positive Futures, Volunteer & Community Development as well as hosting National Volunteer Week each year and our annual Children's Christmas & Halloween party.
We work to support children from the poorest communities in Romania as well as work with children and adults still living in the remaining care institutions situated across the Olt county.
Volunteer & Community Development
Volunteering and community development is at the heart of all of our activities. We are part of the National network of volunteer centres in Romania. We co-ordinate the annual National Volunteering Week activities for the Olt area. We support our own team of local Romanian volunteers as well as host many teams of international volunteers who come to work with us in Slatina.
Our volunteer & community development activities has enabled us to form strong partnerships with many of the school's and other key stakeholders in the local community. We have supported them in developing their own projects and provided training courses on project management, leadership and working with young people.
Volunteering and community development is at the heart of all of our activities. We are part of the National network of volunteer centres in Romania. We co-ordinate the annual National Volunteering Week activities for the Olt area. We support our own team of local Romanian volunteers as well as host many teams of international volunteers who come to work with us in Slatina.
Our volunteer & community development activities has enabled us to form strong partnerships with many of the school's and other key stakeholders in the local community. We have supported them in developing their own projects and provided training courses on project management, leadership and working with young people.
Children's Halloween & Christmas Party
Each year we host our annual Halloween and Christmas party
for the children and volunteers that we work with all though the year. The Christmas party is normally attended by our special guest, Father Christmas. And, he normally hands out special gifts to all of the children attending. As all of the children we work with come from the poorest families in the town the Christmas party is rather well received. We also help the children to celebrate their birthday's throughout the year with a mini party in our centre and a small gift.
Our 2011 Christmas party is expected to cater for over 40 children, 20 volunteers as well as another group of about 18 children and young people that live in one of the care institutions in the town.
Each year we host our annual Halloween and Christmas party
for the children and volunteers that we work with all though the year. The Christmas party is normally attended by our special guest, Father Christmas. And, he normally hands out special gifts to all of the children attending. As all of the children we work with come from the poorest families in the town the Christmas party is rather well received. We also help the children to celebrate their birthday's throughout the year with a mini party in our centre and a small gift.
Our 2011 Christmas party is expected to cater for over 40 children, 20 volunteers as well as another group of about 18 children and young people that live in one of the care institutions in the town.
Equal Start & Summer School
We set up Equal Start in June 2005, initially as a 3 month summer school project to help get some of the Roma children in the local community into school. The Roma children are some of the poorest and most deprived children in Europe. There are 3000 Roma in Slatina and we were aware that many of the Roma children had for some reason been missing out on school.
Our 3 month summer school project was so popular that at the end of the summer we just could not close it down. Our initial 14 children had developed into a group of 19 and we were asked by the Roma community to establish another group. We accepted and then started to offer year round support to both our initial and the new group of children. Now in 2011, we are still running weekly educational and social support sessions for 3 groups of Roma children as well as providing free English lessons for the older, now more advanced groups. Each summer we still run our, now much larger summer school's and these are supported by teams of local Romanian and some international short term volunteers.
Positive Futures
Positive Futures is working with institutionalised children and adults that live in the Olt County. This project is working on improving the living environments for the adults and young people by providing staff training and support, using our teams of volunteers to undertake small scale refurbishment tasks and providing direct care and support activities for the children and adults that live in these centres.
In Slatina there are 9 small Family Type Homes, each home to 5-8 children that we are working with. 1 hour drive outside the town we are working with 2 large adult institutions, each of these are home to approximately 50 adults with learning disabilities/mental health problems. We are also planning to start working with another large institution, home to approximately 50 teenagers, many with learning disabilities/emotional support issues.
Positive Futures is working with institutionalised children and adults that live in the Olt County. This project is working on improving the living environments for the adults and young people by providing staff training and support, using our teams of volunteers to undertake small scale refurbishment tasks and providing direct care and support activities for the children and adults that live in these centres.
In Slatina there are 9 small Family Type Homes, each home to 5-8 children that we are working with. 1 hour drive outside the town we are working with 2 large adult institutions, each of these are home to approximately 50 adults with learning disabilities/mental health problems. We are also planning to start working with another large institution, home to approximately 50 teenagers, many with learning disabilities/emotional support issues.
