FACTS
Sad old people sitting on the benches in front of their houses having nostalgia for the past times when they were proud to speak about their village. Some children playing in the dust, ducks and geese on the road, seemed to picture the life at the beginning of the last century.
Old and deteriorated buildings with broken windows once “the village Hall”, the school…
The Orthodox Church built on the village’s hill in 1762 with the painting in fresco executed between 1785 – 1789 is still well preserved.
This is Toparcea, a component village (10 km from Ocna Sibiului) situated only 27 km away from Sibiu.
Despite the small distance that separates it from the busy town, the village has the air of a place entirely remote from civilization. The dirt road that leads to Toparcea is almost impracticable in winter. There’s no railway or even a bus station. There are only two phones in the village due to the lack of phone cables, and there’s no coverage for the mobile phone.
Once a flourishing village with 2800 inhabitants, most of them shepherds, Toparcea is now the pale image of what it once used to be. Because of Ceausescu’s megalomaniac ideas of changing the country’s status from an agricultural country into an industrialized one, the village population was forced to move to the city and increase the so-called “working class”. The small village of Toparcea represents the perfect example for the recent troubles facing the Eastern European rural areas. Battered by urbanisation and the disappearance of the local smallholders, which started mainly after the fall of communism, the village shows a lot of empty houses. The young people are moving towards the cities in their frantic search for a better future. The ones who stay behind are mainly the elderly.
Toparcea has 180 inhabitants, most of them retired people who used to work for the communist C.A.P (collective farms, the Romanian version of the Russian COLHOZ) as daily workers, with no working contract and yet without social benefits and pension. There are no possibilities of earning an income by harvesting due to the inadequate soil.
For most families, the cost of transportation for their children to go to school causes great difficulties, as it sometimes exceeds the family income because there is no bus station there. The nearest town is not very far, but is also lacks employment opportunities.
The main problems are:
- buildings which are unsuitable, too big, badly maintained and poorly insulated in which heating takes a disproportionate amount of the budget;
- NO secondary school;
- NO kindergarten (building unsuitable and no early teacher educator);
- the lack of school supplies;
- poor sanitary facilities and no kitchens and canteens;
- no gyms and a total lack of modern equipment such as books, maps not to mention computers;
- the lack of motivation of pupils and teachers, partly as a result of poor conditions and low wages.
INITIATIVE
As a response to this situation, we are developing a project to support two groups: children and elders of Toparcea. As a starting point, we consider that the most effective support is the simplest one: we intend to distribute parcels containing the daily essentials like food, clothing or soap to the elders, school supplies and toys for children.
GOAL
The goal of this project is to help the poorest elderly within this community to survive. (Support for the elderly project).
Regarding the children, we intend to organize Birthday Parties, Christmas, Eastern and Child Day Parties, to distribute clothing and school supplies. We also intend to repair the school and the kindergarten and to organize transport to the nearest school (Ocna) for the children who attend secondary school.
This is a long term project, and we shall continue to offer this support to the elders until the government will apply a better program of social protection.
OBJECTIVES
- to provide material support (food, hygienic and school supplies, clothing, medicines, optical glasses);
- to prevent and reduce school abandonment by offering the children the chance to continue their education;
- to offer summer camps for the children (Special Projects);
- to provide emotional support through visits of Response employees and volunteers.
CONCLUSION
As a result of the support offered by Response foundation, the living conditions for this community will be significantly improved:
- diversified and improved daily diet for elders;
- better access to medication and medical care for both children and elders;
- decreased rate of school abandonment – better access to education for the children;
- a chance for the children to learn in an adequate environment;
Sad old people sitting on the benches in front of their houses having nostalgia for the past times when they were proud to speak about their village. Some children playing in the dust, ducks and geese on the road, seemed to picture the life at the beginning of the last century.
Old and deteriorated buildings with broken windows once “the village Hall”, the school…
The Orthodox Church built on the village’s hill in 1762 with the painting in fresco executed between 1785 – 1789 is still well preserved.
This is Toparcea, a component village (10 km from Ocna Sibiului) situated only 27 km away from Sibiu.
Despite the small distance that separates it from the busy town, the village has the air of a place entirely remote from civilization. The dirt road that leads to Toparcea is almost impracticable in winter. There’s no railway or even a bus station. There are only two phones in the village due to the lack of phone cables, and there’s no coverage for the mobile phone.
Once a flourishing village with 2800 inhabitants, most of them shepherds, Toparcea is now the pale image of what it once used to be. Because of Ceausescu’s megalomaniac ideas of changing the country’s status from an agricultural country into an industrialized one, the village population was forced to move to the city and increase the so-called “working class”. The small village of Toparcea represents the perfect example for the recent troubles facing the Eastern European rural areas. Battered by urbanisation and the disappearance of the local smallholders, which started mainly after the fall of communism, the village shows a lot of empty houses. The young people are moving towards the cities in their frantic search for a better future. The ones who stay behind are mainly the elderly.
Toparcea has 180 inhabitants, most of them retired people who used to work for the communist C.A.P (collective farms, the Romanian version of the Russian COLHOZ) as daily workers, with no working contract and yet without social benefits and pension. There are no possibilities of earning an income by harvesting due to the inadequate soil.
For most families, the cost of transportation for their children to go to school causes great difficulties, as it sometimes exceeds the family income because there is no bus station there. The nearest town is not very far, but is also lacks employment opportunities.
The main problems are:
- buildings which are unsuitable, too big, badly maintained and poorly insulated in which heating takes a disproportionate amount of the budget;
- NO secondary school;
- NO kindergarten (building unsuitable and no early teacher educator);
- the lack of school supplies;
- poor sanitary facilities and no kitchens and canteens;
- no gyms and a total lack of modern equipment such as books, maps not to mention computers;
- the lack of motivation of pupils and teachers, partly as a result of poor conditions and low wages.
INITIATIVE
As a response to this situation, we are developing a project to support two groups: children and elders of Toparcea. As a starting point, we consider that the most effective support is the simplest one: we intend to distribute parcels containing the daily essentials like food, clothing or soap to the elders, school supplies and toys for children.
GOAL
The goal of this project is to help the poorest elderly within this community to survive. (Support for the elderly project).
Regarding the children, we intend to organize Birthday Parties, Christmas, Eastern and Child Day Parties, to distribute clothing and school supplies. We also intend to repair the school and the kindergarten and to organize transport to the nearest school (Ocna) for the children who attend secondary school.
This is a long term project, and we shall continue to offer this support to the elders until the government will apply a better program of social protection.
OBJECTIVES
- to provide material support (food, hygienic and school supplies, clothing, medicines, optical glasses);
- to prevent and reduce school abandonment by offering the children the chance to continue their education;
- to offer summer camps for the children (Special Projects);
- to provide emotional support through visits of Response employees and volunteers.
CONCLUSION
As a result of the support offered by Response foundation, the living conditions for this community will be significantly improved:
- diversified and improved daily diet for elders;
- better access to medication and medical care for both children and elders;
- decreased rate of school abandonment – better access to education for the children;
- a chance for the children to learn in an adequate environment;
