Graham Jackson Past DG District 1280 on "Hope and Homes" Charity

Rotarian Graham Jackson, a past District Governor from District 1280, held all of us in rapt attention as he described the history of Hope and Homes for Children and related some moving personal experiences as a volunteer with the organization.

The story began in 1994 when Mark Cook, a retired British UN Commander, and his wife Caroline visited the Bjelave Children's Institution in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Despite the fact Sarajevo was still at the heart of one of Europe's bloodiest civil wars, they visited the building that housed 120 children that had also been targeted and badly damaged by snipers and constant shelling. There was no glass in the windows, no running water or electricity and very little food. The youngest children were crammed into one room, kept warm by a single flame from a gas pipe. In the next room the teenagers had torn up floorboards and pulled down door frames to burn for warmth. Some had turned to drugs to escape the reality of trying to survive in a warzone. The institution was described as "the worst place in Sarajevo aside from the morgue." Children, who had already suffered the ordeal of being orphaned or abandoned, were now living in poverty, fear and misery, with little hope for a happier future.

Shocked to see that a home for neglected children had been deliberately and relentlessly shelled leaving the children so alone, distressed and living in such perilous conditions, Mark and Caroline set up Hope and Homes for Children when they returned to their home in Wiltshire. The early work focused on improving the living conditions of children in state run institutions: rebuilding war torn buildings; investing in equipment and facilities; and sending out qualified childcare volunteers to provide training to existing staff. As time passed they realised that this approach would need to be a lot more radical if lives were to really be transformed.

When children were asked what they really wanted, their responses were unanimous: they all craved a family and a home. The realization that even the best institutions were unable to offer the individual care, attention and stimulation a child needs to develop properly. What was really needed by the children was the security of a home and the love of a caring family. So the remit of Hope and Homes changed from re-building children's institutions, to closing them down