The NICOLETA’s Appeal 2007

The NICOLETA’s Appeal

My name is Gabriela Jones and I would like to tell you about one of the saddest experiences I have ever had in my life; because I want to do something about it I am asking you to read it and decide whether you can give me your support and actually help this little girl and many other children like her in the area where we work.

I was delivering some parcels in a small hamlet belonging to a village called Perieni that we help quite extensively . I was there with the charity’s van, Rod and Stephen Baker, and one of the lads that help us in Romania , called Adi, from a village next to ours in Bivolari. All this happened only one month ago, right after Christmas January 2007. We were walking up a very steep hill to deliver gifts for 2 families sponsored by Godparents in England. We visited one of the families, who lived right on the very top of the hill and we were coming back down trying to get to the van where Rod was waiting , because this track was just mud and some stones thrown here and there. The only way was to walk, no car or even cart could have made it. As we were coming down it was freezing cold . It was at this time I noticed a little blue house with plastic pinned to the window frames instead of glass and a shadow of smoke coming out of the chimney. The door was useless because it could not close properly. I asked a child playing not far from the house who” was living in that little shack that I called a house“. I was told there was an old woman and a handicapped child in the house.

It puzzled me that an old woman could actually live with a handicapped child on such a steep and hard to climb and inaccessible place and I was just wondering how can she manage; I was quite inquisitive about the very small amount of smoke coming out of the chimney on such a cold day. So, I decided to ask the lads to wait because I wanted to go inside. I called the house and a woman came out , I asked her if I could go inside and see her daughter and asked her if she ever received any help from anyone. She said it never happened to her and nobody bothered to come inside and ask about her situation. We went inside.I had a video camera with us at the time but because of the terrible cold it refused to record but did the next day when we came back with the camera well wrapped in a wool scarf and I made a half hour video which you may like to see on the DVD we provide for your attention.

We entered a small room about 3 metres by 4 metres , very dark with only a oil lamp on the wall, I could see a shivering shadow on the bed and the old lady was standing by the stove that took about one quarter of that room. We were shocked to see that the shadow was a little girl called Nicoleta and we thought she was 6-7 years old at first. We were all speechless when she said that Nicoleta is 18 and the mother was 56 years old. Even the Romanian lad that was with us and used to the poverty we see, was shocked and upset. We were all so upset and practically speechless.

Nicoleta is so dystrophic and malnourished that it surprised me she was alive. She suffers from a mental disability which makes her quite self destructive, she was so nervous when we came that she started to scratch her face until blood was all over her face and if the mother would not have stopped her she would have continued. The next thing that upset us very much was that the mother was making her behave by either threatening her with a stick or even hitting her. She hit her once in our presence to which I protested as much as I could then she only decided to threaten to hit her in order to calm her down. The house she lives in has no water , no electricity and mud floors. The house is made of mud, most of the glass was broken and replaced with plastic film

We found out that Nicoleta is incontinent, she never left the bed which has a wooden base with a straw and grass mattress with a blanket over it with a piece of plastic underneath the space where she sat to protect the rag that the mother called a good blanket, the only one she had in fact. Then we noticed that Nicoleta was shivering continuously and the mother told us that she always does this. No wonder she was shivering , in the passage way we found only a few thin branches from a tree to burn and the fire was almost dead in the stove. She had a dirty baby blanket over her legs. I lifted the baby blanket and observed she had no trousers and I do not even know if she had underware.My heart cried so loud that I was almost in tears , tears of disgust for a society that ignores the needs this disabled girl, anger at the local authorities for leaving an uneducated mother that had no idea how to care for her daughter on her own for 18 years, tears and anger.I am sure she is a good mother because her other option would have been to abandone the child to an orphanage in which case the child may not have survived. I was wondering what was wrong with this world to let people live sometimes in worse conditions than some animals and all those people feeling so helpless and having no one to turn to. I could have screamed but what was the point? I looked around and I sat down besides this little girl looking at her legs, that I could incircle with my finger and thumb and she was constantly shivering. I covered her back , took two photos and went with the strong decision that I will come back the next day. Before we left the little girl kept saying”carne, carne” which means meat, meat. She sounded like a little child that wanted sweets, she wanted food. I had to leave, I could bear it no longer. I felt so useless because I had nothing with me, no food, no money nothing. And it was too late to find something. I decided that the next morning I had to come back.no ifs no buts, the situation demanded to return.

She was in my mind until the following morning and I together with Rod, me, Stephen and Adi returned with sacks of clothing, crockery, a big plate of meat, cooked food in another pan and baby milk, Tena pads and plenty of blankets and as well as this we took a very special wheelchair who’s height and width could be adjusted. This made me feel a little better but when I left I just was not happy. I did not know what else I could do to make me feel as if I was doing my best to help this family. I decided that we will bring food on a regular basis, nappies and so on, whatever material needs this little girl has. We decided that as soon as the weather will improve we will paint the house and do necessary repairs, replace glass, fix doors replace the beds and even an extension if it is feasible. We have already delivered a mattress and bedding, this was very good because it was a plastic covered mattress that the youth hostel association gave us and we donated knitted blankets and scarves and gloves that knitting groups around our area gave us for this purpose .I still felt as if I had not done enough but we eventually had to leave. I went away thinking about it and praying for an answer, I was just asking for advice on what I could do.

The next day we went to the local hospital to donate a portable ECG machine that we purchased on behalf of the Sparkes family from Bristol especially for the village doctor because he needed one for when he was doing home visits to people that were confined to bed and could not move.As we were chatting away I asked him if he needs anything else to improve the medical care given in the village. He gave me a small list of four items he needed and we could probably get for him and he mentioned that if we ever had the funds there is a little girl in the village of Bivolari who is disabled and needs some place where she could exercise and try to walk so that she would not be stuck in the bed for the rest of her life. Then it struck me it was the image of Nicoleta sitting in her own urine, rocking and shivering in a smelly little room. And this was it. This is what I can do for her and this is why I am asking for your help.

I ve a small piece of land with an old house on it, which you may remember we repaired for a young couple to live in with their child with the help of Maxine Edwards funds. At the back of this property there is very large piece of attached land and we can get permission for the mayor’s office to build a therapy centre for children like Nicoleta.To do this properly we would need proper phisio equipment, to build a proper bathroom where these children could be bathed and a small area in a form of a very small eating area where children and parents can have something to eat and drink . We would need a small bus to go and collect these children from these poor villages because they are so far away . We are thinking that this project could cost no more than £20.000 to build and furnish . This cost would be if we had to pay for everything. This cost could be greatly reduced if we could get people to donate building materials, furniture, sinks, baths, toilets, double glazed windows, doors, any kind of building materials such as cement, building blocks, bricks. You see, the trucks we are sending to Romania are huge and can carry up to 32 tonnes, so a few tonnes of building materials each trip would be cost effective if donated ,as building materials are very expensive in Romania now. We are launching an appeal in England for qualified volunteers to train Romanian nurses to care for these children. We are actively appealing for physiotherapists at any level and any age , nurses with psychiatric training, bricklayers, dieticians ,builders with a reasonable knowledge of woodwork, plumming, simple electrics, etc. age is nnot important, we have many young romanian lads who can do the hard digging, lifting and carrying . Profesional tradesman we do not have. Unfortunately , as has been our custom , volunteers must raise their own funds for both travelling and staying, food etc. accomodation is provided freee.

But the hardest part will be to raise the funds to build it and here is where I am asking for your help. Maybe the images on the video will affect you the way they affected me and you wish to help or wish to organise an event to help us with this funds. We have a special account for this project called baby unit and if you think you can help and wish to send a donation please make any cheque payable to convoy aid romania baby unit. I would like to start working on this project as soon as April 2007 and maybe finish it by July 2007 but I can not do anything without your help. It is possible that children may wish to get involved in helping this child by asking the head teachers if they could organise a non uniform day or something of this nature at their schools. Please watch the DVD, think about it and if you can help please do not hesitate . I am using all my energy to make this happened, I know it will succeed and I would like it to be sooner rather than later. I wish to give Nicoleta freedom to walk so that she does not depend on her mother for all her needs, that she can get out of that depressing house and smell the nature around her on a sunny day, I wish to give her the freedom of being human again. I know somebody out there wants me to do it and I hope and pray there will be people out .there that wish to support me with this appeal. You do not need to trust me, you can actually come out and help me, see how the money is spent, even get your hands dirty if you want.

Please remember that every penny as well as ever y pound counts, so any contribution will be greatly appreciated and used for this purpose only. I will keep you updated and informed on this project through the newsletters.. If you wish to set up a standing order for £1 or 50 pence a week to help this project please find a small form enclosed.The money will be initially used to build the unit and if people wish to carry on sponsoring this project after the building is completed the money will be used for equipping and purchasing consumables and paying necessary Romanian staff . As you all know I am a fully qualified aromaterapist and reflexologist and I intend to use my knowledge to train romanian girls to help these children personally as much as possible.

Together we can all make it happen!

Gabriela Jones.