2005 charity projects Romania

April 11th

We all arrived home safe and sound. On Wednesday, April the 6th, we left Romania early in the morning and started our trip back to the Netherlands. We stayed overnight in the South of Germany and arrived home on Thursday, late in the afternoon.

The past two weeks, we've had many highlights but also a few disappointments. First, there was the theft of our tools: damage estimated at €3,500 (approx. $4,500). The villain or villains are unknown. A lot of Romanians show an attitude like: "You are in Romania, so you know this happens". We are very disappointed about the hospital's management (the University Hospital). They showed absolutely no commitment or any interest. We just had to solve the problem ourselves. It's a pity that after the 15 years that we come here, the attitude and mentality still hasn't change much. Fortunately, there are always exceptions. People who DO care. In fact, some people were a little ashamed about this whole affair.

We finished the Neonatology Project with borrowed equipment and tools. The cooperation of the doctors and nurses was very good. Thanks to their positive inputs, we regained some of our good "spirits".

On Tuesday March the 9th, it all happened again: another theft. This time, work shoes, toys and some clothing was stolen (mind you, we're talking about a locked storage room at the hospital). We were fed up with this so we decided to finish the project we were working on, and postpone all further activities in the University Hospital.

We started with the Outpatient's Clinic Project at the Children's Hospital on Wednesday, March the 30th. What a difference a day makes! The Children's Hospital is so much warmer and cooperative than the University Hospital. The main differences are the mentality and the basic approach of things. The employees are always willing to lend a helping hand. If you volunteer abroad, this is an absolute necessity for things to succeed. We enjoyed the work at the Children's Hospital, and it gave us an energy boost. We did more work than we initially planned so the dentist chair is hooked up to the compressed air installation as well.

There were some difficulties with the Berko compressors though. After some examinations and consultation of the factory in the Netherlands, we concluded that the compressors simply don't run enough. The consequence of this is condensation in the motor, which jams it up. We agreed to blow out all air three times a week, which hopefully will prevent condensations. We will confer with Berko when we are back in Holland.

Paula Wilson visited us on Monday. She is a co-ordinator for the Schlumberger Spouses Association and is looking for possibilities to support the Children's Hospital. She's thinking about literally lending some helping hands. We discussed with the management about possible arrangements and did a tour around the hospital.

We also had a meeting with the management about all the projects we've carried out so far. The hospital has made reports about all the projects of the last three years and agreed to take care of the maintenance of the installation. We spoke about future developments as well. For example: further expansion of the oxygen and compressed air network at the main building and possible developments at the infection building, located elsewhere in the city. In the upcoming months, we will think about how the Urgenta Foundation can be of assistance to the development of the Children's Hospital.

When we look back at our stay in Romania, we tend to declare these projects a success, inspite of some negative things that happened. We would like to thank everybody who helped us or contributed to the success of the development projects. We would like to especially thank Alexandra Bogai and Alina Cozac. They showed some tremendous commitment and help us out with a lot of problems.