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Challenge Camp 2005 Camp Chief’s Advisors Report 2005 Yet again the Camp was different! To start with, I went out a week after the Team! They went to the Neuro Hospital at Sasca and lived with the children for a week. Helen, the Vice President of our Romanian Charity, “Challenge Camp Romania”, arranged this. She was to take her Final Exams at the Local University the week after we came home, but still managed to fit it all into her revision programme! A family funeral, during the third week, also gave her some problems, but he came through it all, if not smiling, at least without any major hitches. This was all the more credit as year she was the Camp Chief! My instructions were to be there to give advice, if asked, and to pick up the pieces if things went awry. She did far better than she thought she could and it was very encouraging. The next odd thing was that for the very first time in fifteen years I travelled out on my own. I was met at Bucharest Airport and unlike the earlier party, was lucky enough to get one of the few sleeper-berths on the train for the next stage of my journey. This should have been 625 kilometres to Suceava, but because of storm damage to tracks and bridges the distance (and the time taken) was doubled. Oh yes! The fare is almost doubled too! Having left home at 2.30 am on Saturday I got to Suceava at 12.30 PM on Sunday and was invited to go shopping! So, off to the Fruit & Veg Market for about an hour or so, where Helen and Adi checked quality and compared prices for, among other things: tomatoes, potatoes, cabbages, carrots, cucumbers, onions and a variety of herbs, that, I’m afraid I couldn’t identify. My part in all this was to look critical and help carry the selected produce back to the van in the car park! Then onto the Metro, a big cash & carry, where we overfilled three large trolleys with a mixture of items too numerous and diverse to list. At long last we set off on the last leg of my journey. When an hour later I arrived at the Campsite (Romanian roads are still not fit for speedy driving if you value your suspension), I was just in time to join in on the “Fun Day” we were running for the children from Zamostea, our nearest village!! When it was all over a group of children arrived to take part! They didn’t know it was over and had to be comforted with gifts of sweets and balloons! On Monday a large coach brought thirty-seven children and three staff from Sasca. I thought back to 1997 when we were so proud that, having decided that Sasca was too far off for their children to come for day visits (the Siret Neuro Hospital only allowed half-day visits), their Director at that time allowed five of the most able of their special needs children to come for the week; with strict instructions that at the first sign of distress they were to be brought back!! The number from Sasca has crept up, year by year. Usually they had tents, were fed and generally ran their own programme using our facilities: but last year they had us all to themselves while we battled our way through the tangle of new rules and regulations about caring for the “institutionalised” children. This added to the good feelings generated during the visit by the Team, resulted in the big increase in numbers this year. My thanks and congratulations must go to all those who had anything to do with that visit. My first “crisis” arrived with the coach. I was told that the driver wanted paying for the trip he had just done and, so he could buy diesel he also wanted the money in advance for the return journey. As I didn’t have enough Romanian Lei to pay him I offered to pay just over half the total in either Dollars or Sterling so he could change it and I would give him the rest when he came back for the children on Friday. He got very excited and after much arm-waving and long speeches I found he didn’t even want paying for the trip he had just done until he came back on Friday! He was only letting us know how much cheaper he was than the first coach they had tried to get! The week just slipped by. Those who had come in earlier years helped the “first-timers” and the carers who came with them are old friends we have worked with for some years now, so it all went very smoothly. It was a pity when it was time for them to go. On their last night they combined with some of the staff to entertain us. Rehearsals, costume finding and make-up, script changes; it seemed to go on all day! The resulting show defies description! I have been promised a C.D. of the show and hope it captures some of the atmosphere. Then, when I thought it was all over, each child was called to the mike in turn, interviewed, and presented with a hand made Diploma to mark their attendance at the Camp! Then the three carers got Diplomas and then Helen! Finally, I got one! To be honest it says it is for the “Worlds Best Camp Chief” but it’s mine, all mine! I presented them with a trophy that David Kennington made some years earlier. I told them that my only regret was that David, whose idea it was to set up this Camp, was prevented by his poor health from being there to see them and their show. The next day they left, their driver duly paid! They all told us “We’ll be back next year!” The weather was a strange mixture of some really hot sun and some heavy rain, and the new building proved its worth again, but the experiment seems to be working, these children really enjoy the “Zamostea Experience”. Maybe next year we can make if Fifty! Over, during the weekend it rained on and off, with the ground never getting time to dry out. Most of the team went to visit the orphanage at Guru Hormuli to see some of the children who had been on Camp on other years, and I dosed my heavy cold and felt miserable. By early Monday morning it was obvious that it was too wet for the Siret Hospital to send their people out to us, so the “maxi-taxi” was redirected to pick up the Team to take them into Siret. The visit was as traumatic as usual, especially for those seeing the conditions in which these people live, for the first time. It is hard for them to realise that the dilapidated building they are seeing was actually refurbished towards the end of its time as the Casa de Copii (Boy’s Home); and is far better than the old Siret Neuro Hospital, which is now closed. Living now at Siret are the people who were formerly at the old Neuro Hospital, but being over seventeen years of age, they are no longer part of the Child Protection Agency’s policy to create smaller units at locations nearer the children’s birthplaces. On Tuesday the rain stopped, but the field was still under water and the ground and road were very muddy so we went in again. However, Team members were repeatedly led to windows and shown the sunshine and told “Zamostea” very firmly! So we took a chance and out they came on Wednesday. In spite of intermittent rain they came out each day for the rest of the week and, as usual, really enjoyed their “country holiday”. I don’t know if there is a world record for throwing plastic balls into the air with a parachute but if the Olympics include it watch of for a Romanian Gold Medal! We don’t try to run a programme for this week, we don’t even work in teams, we just try to make them happy in any way we can. Sometimes groups will get together for an activity but it can quickly become one to one or any other combination. Just having people around who play, dance, draw with them is sheer joy to them. Another change for this year, we held a disco for the younger children from the village. I must admit to having some doubts about it buy my gentle hints were completely ignored! So much for the advisory side of the job! All I managed to do was get them to let the local police know about it in advance! OK OK, I was just showing my age. The start was a bit slow but in ones, twos and a memorable six, the invited younger end of the locals arrived, were “party-hatted” and the boys also got ties so they conformed t the “dress code”. I found out how important that was when being tie-less, I was grabbed by three of the ugliest “nurses” I have ever seen and subjected to a most searching medical. Then, to add insult to loss of dignity I was presented with a bill for £30! All in all a good night was had by all. And I got away without paying my medical bill! Progress with the improvements required to enable us to expand our activities to the level they were at prior to the rules being changed is slower than we had hoped, partly due to the very wet summer and also to the rapidly rising inflation, putting the cost of everything beyond our present means. But we will get there in the end! When it was time to come home we found that the railway system was still restricted, not only by the summer storm’s damage but by more flooding because of the recent rain. We had a choice of two trains from Suceava to Bucharest: one that got us there at just after midnight; and one that arrived at noon. The latter train did not allow us enough time to get to the airport for the two that were flying to Heathrow, so that was nice and simple! Luckily our friend in Bucharest is used to such problems and met us with enough cars to take our luggage to safe storage and arranged taxis. Three of us slept in her flat while she went to her Mother’s for what was left of the night! I forgot a bit of news for the very early “Zamosteans”. Do you remember Patric, a very shy, quiet boy at our first Camps, who carried his precious chess set everywhere? Well having graduated from University in Forestry Engineering he is now teaching at a local school. He sends his love and thanks to all his British friends. To finish the report I feel I must comment on the smooth way our smaller than usual team of Brits worked with our Romanian friends. Language problems seemed few; In fact for most of the time it was just one team. My thanks to all who brought so much love, light and happiness to people very much in need of it. And my thanks as always to every one of you who contributed in any way to Challenge Camps 2005. I am lucky in that I see for myself the result of your generosity and hard work. On behalf of the people, of all ages, that we help “Thank you once again”. The search for the Team for Challenge Camp 2006 is on form, now, so start making your mind up and doing your fund raising right away! I will end by thanking my team and asking them to try very hard to be there next year. You know how much it means to so many who have so little, especially when people they know “come back”.
Roy Lennie Camp Chief Advisor
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