Contributions to the Better Homes Project from Altrincham, Plymouth & Holmes Chapel Methodist Churches
Mission
(extracts from the FAST charity web site)
The mission of the Better Homes Project is
to improve the lives of the poorest members
of local
Roma communities by providing them safe
and reliable shelter in which their families
can live in dignity and their children can
grow in good health.
Together with the local authorities and
members of the Roma community, FAST aims to
provide new homes for families living in
critical poverty in deprived rural areas in
the local villages of Tarlungeni, Zizin,
Budila, and
Sacele.
The need
Many Roma in Romania live in functionally
segregated settlements, on the outskirts of
ethnically Romanian areas, in rundown or
ramshackle homes that lack basic amenities
such as plumbing or electricity, as well as
insulation to keep them warm in the winter.
The Better Homes Project addresses the need
for safe housing in local communities, while
employing members of the local Roma
community to build this housing.
How the Project Works
Utilizing a team of local
Roma construction workers, as well as FAST
staff and visiting volunteers, we build
simple, prefabricated homes in the community
with pieces constructed in our local
workshop. We use our knowledge of the local
community, as well as input from local
leaders, to select the families in greatest
need. Families with many children in extreme
poverty are at the top of our list.
Construction of each home takes
approximately two months. In the first two
years since the project's inception in 2007,
FAST built 20 new homes, and helped
several other families obtain either the
materials, labour, or financial support
needed to build or add necessary
improvements to their own homes.
September 2012
A team of people from Holmes Chapel Methodist Church spent a week in Sacele helping the Romanian charity FAST. They built a large garden house for the use of Roma children visiting the Welfare Centre.
‘Muriel’s Kitchen’ built onto the Mission House in Tarlungeni with funds from Holmes Chapel has been completed and is now very busy.
September 2011 - Mission House now in use
These picture were taken by the team from Plymouth. It shows children using the Mission House in the Roma village of Tarlungeni.
August 2011 - 'Muriel's Kitchen'
Good progress is being made on the kitchen extension to the Tarlungeni Mission House. It is now finished up to the roof. The walls have been insulated and plastered, and will soon be rendered and painted. The windows and door have still to be ordered, and the inside work (tiling, flooring, equipment, etc) completed.
July 2011 - 'Muriel's Kitchen'
About £2,500 was raised in memory of Rev. Kevin Johnson's mother, Muriel, who died earlier in 2011. It was decided to use this to build a kitchen extension to the Mission House in Tarlungeni. It will be called 'Muriel's Kitchen'.
June 2011 - Altrincham Methodist Church
A team of seven people, led by the Rev. Kevin Johnson, were given three main tasks: to build a kitchen and store room behind the church in ZiZin, to install an alarm system and paint the fence at the new mission house in Tarlungeni and to help with the children education programme in the Ziurel centre in Sacele. All three tasks were accomplished.
Kitchen and store room in Zizin:
Alarm system and painted fence in the Mission house in Tarlungeni:
May 2011 - Plymouth Methodist Central Hall
A team from Plymouth Methodist Central Hall, led by Margaret Smith concentrated their efforts on building the new Mission House (above) in Tarlungeni, the village where the Better Homes project has built 24 new homes for Roma families and their children.
September 2010 - Plymouth Methodist Central Hall
In September FAST had a visit from a team of nine people from
Plymouth Methodist Central Hall led by
Margaret Smith, who has been supporting and encouraging us for a
very long time and has always been next to us in good and bad times.
They stayed at FAST for one week during which they accomplished many
wonderful things for families and children from Tarlungeni and left
behind a happy and grateful family with nine children who now can
enjoy a new home, many smiling and joyful faces of the children from
Tarlungeni who came and spent time at Ziurel Centre.
The men from the team worked hard every day in the village of
Tarlungeni, at a family with nine children who have started to build
their own house but haven’t managed to finish it. For some time they
have been living in deplorable conditions, enduring the piercing
cold during winter. At Vicuta’s (this is the father’s name) the
volunteers set the ceiling in a room, they plastered and painted the
walls, the laid laminated floor, they put windows and doors, they
have installed a heating stove.
Meanwhile, the volunteer ladies planned and carried on activities at
Ziurel for all children from Better Homes Project families. The
children came organized in groups. The ladies gave showers to the
children that needed to be cleaned, they gave them clean and new
clothes, they played with them and did interactive games, they sang
and danced, they played outside. With the children also came some of
the mothers, which was a great opportunity for them to spend time
with their children and us in a more relaxed and joyful climate.
It was a fantastic week for all of us, with a lot of work and good
results. Vicuta and his family moved out in their new home, the
children who came at Ziurel had a wonderful time in the company of
our volunteers and enjoyed very much these moments. We thank to each
member of the team, for your hard work and commitment!
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