Tonight's speaker - Hope for Homes

Mon, Nov 14th 2016 at 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Tonight's speaker - Hope for Homes


An update from Hope & Homes for Children

Hope & Homes started back in 1994 and many Rotarians will have heard Mark Cook, the Charity’s founder, speak about the Charity and what it hoped to do.  Mark had previously been the Commander of the British Contingent of the UN Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia. He knew only too well the devastating consequences of the long running siege in Sarajevo but it was when he saw the heart wrenching TV news report about the city’s shelled out Bjelave children’s institution that he, and his wife Caroline, had to help.  Following a visit to the city, he promised the children that he would rebuild their orphanage/institution and established the Charity.

Initially the work focused on improving the conditions for children in state run institutions but as time passed, they realised that a more radical solution was needed if they were to make a difference to children’s lives.  After asking the children what they wanted, they all said that they craved a family and a home. It also became apparent that many children did indeed have parents or extended family but had been abandoned due to poverty and war.

Hope & Homes responded to this by changing its remit from rebuilding institutions to closing them down and provide support to reunite children with birth families, placing them with foster parents or establishing small family homes where the children could find warmth, love and thrive.

When Hope & Homes started working in Romania in 1999 there were some 100 000 children confined to institutional care. Today, largely due to the Charity’s work, there are only 8000. That is still 8000 too many and they are the focus of a major campaign, Unlocking Futures,  that Rotary in Great Britain is supporting.  Many of these young people have only known life in an institution and when they leave at 18, they have very little understanding of the outside world.  The aim of this new initiative is to provide life skills support and training for young people leaving institutions so that they are able to live independently.

Whilst supporting this new project in Romania, Hope & Homes is working alongside and leading many initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe and Africa and are world leaders in the field of Deinstitutionalisation.

 

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