Rotary Club of Londonderry

ROMANIA 2011

The Club’s overland trip to Romania in 2010 provided the inspiration for another mission in 2011. There were still some left-over funds available to purchase no less than 12 further trampolines (after 7 supplied previously), which had been transported by the North-West Romania Fund prior to our arrival.

A group of 5 Rotarians, John McMonagle, Alan Rodden, Nigel Sproule, Peter O’Connor and Werner Scheel, made their way to Bucharest in the company of 12 Scouts (9th Donegal Muff Venture Scouts) and 4 of their leaders on Tuesday, 26 April 2011. Having arrived at lunchtime on that day, we set off in three hired mini buses for Brasov. After a short stopover at McDonald’s, the Rotarians checked into their hotel in Brasov and then took the scouts to their B&B in Fagaras.

On Wednesday, 27 April, we had to collect four trampolines from storage at the orphanage in Codlea, a small town near Brasov, before picking up the scouts, who were looking forward to installing their first trampolines under Rotarian guidance. It took about an hour to set up the first one, but from there on the installation time was cut to 30 minutes, as plenty of helping hands made short work of an otherwise arduous process. As always, the new equipment was greeted with great joy by the youngsters in the recipient orphanages; they couldn’t wait to have a go as soon as the safety nets were up.

By Thursday a total of eight trampolines had been handed over. Although we had intended to do more, we ran out of time on this day, due to long travel distances between locations. We also had to return to Brasov in time for the Special Club Meeting at 6.00 pm at the Bistro de l’Arte, a beautiful restaurant owned by Past President Marian Tita. A delegation of 6 Rotarians and 4 Rotaractors greeted us upon arrival. We took our seats, had a drink, and enjoyed the starter of our meal, a gorgeous selection of mini quiches and cold meats. The main course was roast pork with potatoes and mixed vegetables, Romanian style – absolutely delicious. As if that wasn’t enough, we also had home-made Tiramisu with fresh strawberries as a dessert. The President of the Rotary Club of Brasov, Mircea Chiru, then rose to address us all in perfect English, especially with reference to the mutually agreed Twinning of our two Clubs. President Alan responded by expressing his hopes for a longstanding Rotary partnership. The pre-printed certificates were then signed by both Presidents, and a framed copy handed over to Mircea. Both Clubs promised to maintain a close relationship, to run projects together when and where possible, and to make frequent exchange visits, the first one perhaps as early as this summer.

The evening had begun in the most friendly atmosphere, and it carried on with lots of laughter and joviality until 1.00 am (7 hours !!).

Friday – 29 April, saw the installation of another 3 trampolines, before we retired to a café in the centre of Brasov for lunch, where we could also get a glimpse of the Royal Wedding on TV. A walk up to the market square for another cup of coffee, the Black Church, and through some shops for souvenirs concluded the day, as we had to drive the company of scouts back to Fagaras.

On Saturday morning the Rotarians went to the huge Cash & Carry centre to buy a load of essentials for two orphanages, i.e. soap, shampoo, toothpaste, nappies, detergents etc. The scouts made themselves useful in offloading and distributing the supplies by forming a human chain. It was gratifying to receive heartfelt thanks from the chosen recipients.

Shortly afterwards, it was time to load up all luggage onto the buses and depart via Brasov to the airport in Bucharest, where we arrived around 8.00 pm – exhausted, but happy and satisfied with our achievements. Whilst three Rotarians stayed overnight, the remaining party took off for Dublin at 11.10 pm local time, all getting home safely to a well deserved rest by around 5.00 am.

The whole week in Romania had been sunny and mild, enabling us to work outside in short sleeves, without getting wet, but acquiring a bit of a suntan instead. The still snow-covered peaks of the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania – most of them over 2,500 m high – provided an amazingly scenic backdrop wherever we went. Typical photos of the trip can be seen on Facebook/Werner Scheel.

This short report would be incomplete without a special mention of the troupe of scouts, made up of teenagers - boys and girls, who did an excellent job with the task on hand and who had a great relationship with the Rotarians and their own leaders. It was an absolute pleasure having these young people around! Much fun was enjoyed by all concerned throughout this quick-paced week.

Will we do a trip like that again? Without any doubt.

Werner Scheel

25th to 30th OCTOBER 2010

The latest trip was to deliver specialist equipment and furniture to the orphanages together with aid, medical supplies and trampolines for the children. Also donated were two football strips with boots.

Monday 25th October 2010 (Derry to Belfast & Stranraer to Newcastle)

04:15 - The two vans being driven by John McMonagle & Nigel Sproule set off to collect the remaining members of the teams.
05:00 – The vans meet up in Dungiven and a convoy is declared, which sets off for the Stena Line Ferry Terminal in Belfast.
07:30 – Ferry sets sail for Stranraer, arriving at 10:20. The vans then set off for Newcastle, via Carlisle.
17:00 – Ferry departs from Newcastle for Ijmuiden, Holland.

Tuesday 26th October 2010 (Ijmuiden, Amsterdam, Holland to Friedberg, Germany)

09:30 – Ferry arrives at Ijmuiden, where we disembark and refuel. The vans now being driven by Eamonn & Jeremy set off on the 300 mile trip to Friedberg, north of Frankfurt, in Germany.
15.45 – On arrival in Friedberg the team check into the Hotel Goldnes Fass, before travelling to neighbouring Bad Nauheim with Rotarian Harald Bagehorn for a guided tour of the spa.
19:30 – The Rotary Club of Bad Nauheim-Friedberg meeting commences. Club President Heinz-Joachim Wagner welcomed us in English and German, and Alan responded, exchanging club banners as well as presenting some Derry Crystal to Club President, District Governor and Harald, and a bottle of Jameson Whiskey each for President Heinz-Joachin Wagner & 1820 District Governor Michael von der Tann. Werner then gave the club a short presentation in German on our project, details of our club and his time in Rotary.

Wednesday 27th October 2010 (Friedberg, Germany to Budapest, Hungary)

09:00 – Depart hotel and set off for Budapest with the vans initially being driven by Werner & Alan. Each of the team drove around 200 miles on this 615 mile leg during which we refuelled twice.
22:00 – Arrived Budapest located our hotel (Eurostars Budapest Centre) and eventually got the vans parked up on street at 23:00. Late dinner at McDonald's.

Thursday 28th October 2010 (Budapest, Hungary to Brasov, Romania)

08:00 - Departed Budapest and set off for Brasov, with the vans initially being driven by Werner & Alan with the remainder of the team each taking a stint until we arrived at Brasov and booked into the Casa Cranta hotel. This 440 mile leg was time consuming on poor roads.

Friday 29th October 2010

10:00 – Met with the director of the child protection agency in Brasov to discuss our plans before driving to the orphanage/school in Codlea to unload the special equipment.
After unloading we were treated to fruit tea and were shown around some of the rooms housing disabled children.
President Alan met with the doctor to discuss which medical supplies they would make use of to treat the children in order that we could purchase the same to donate to the orphanage.
We then drove to the orphanage in Fagaras where we built one trampoline commencing at dusk and working into the darkness, using the lights of the vans to complete our task. Before leaving to return to Brasov we also erected a sign to advise that the project had been part funded by Rotary International.

Saturday 30th October 2010

10:30 – Set off to the Metro Superstore to buy supplies and load up the vans before driving to Codlea, where we built the second trampoline whilst Alan, the director of the orphanage/school and Lorenzo went to buy antibiotics and analgesics, medicated creams, ointments and washes to treat a variety of skin conditions, a nebuliser machine and a nasal aspirator from the Pharmacy which were then given to the director.
After lunch we drove to the child protection agency office in Brasov, where we unloaded the supplies bought earlier in the day using a human chain. We then went to Soferi where a third trampoline was erected in the back garden of a home where there were 10 foster children.
17:30 - We set off to Bucharest airport.
23:10 Flight departs to Dublin Airport.

Sunday 31st October 2010

01:00 - Arrived Dublin Airport (local time) after a 4 hour flight.
04:30 – Arrived back home safe and sound.

On 6 June 2008 five Rotarians undertook a trip to Brasov, Transylvania to meet up with the Brasov Rotary Club at their annual Gala Ball, to co-ordinate the handover of a project that has been ongoing for some time, which was to provide an orphanage/dining hall in the town of Fagaras. The five attended the ball and enjoyed excellent hospitality, fellowship and entertainment hosted by President Victor on the Friday night.

Our Club’s contribution to the project was $35,000 dollars. This was to fit out the kitchen and dining area, the total cost of the fit out for the whole project was €90,000. The rest of the money was contributed by the North west Romanian Relief Fund.

In April 2009 members of the 9th Donegal Muff Venture Scouts erected the children’s playground which our club helped to provide at the orphanage.

Since that date there have been several trips undertaken by groups of rotarians from our club to visit the project and see for themselves first hand how we have put Rotary in Motion in this area.