Sussex priest returns to Romania 30 years on to pay respects

Thirty years ago the Reverend Canon Martin first visited Romania. He was at the time a young theological student in his early twenties. Working at the St Laurence Children’s Hospice in Cernavoda. “I remember it being challenging work, there were few nurses in Romania at the time, and so I joined a team of volunteer nurses and carers mainly from the Uk and Ireland. It was very much hands on caring for those sick children”, he said.

In the early 1990’s following the fall of communism many children were given ‘blood tonics’, “It was so tragic that children who, relatively speaking, were healthy, were contaminated with HIV whilst trying to improve their health” said Martin Lane.

Back then, in the post Ceaușescu age, HIV and AIDS were not fully recognised or understood within society, there was a lot of prejudice and misinformation, tragically hypodermic needles were routinely re-used. Thankfully that is not the case today.

The hospice, founded by the anglican priest, Rev Dr John. Walmsley was a beckon of hope amidst the confusion and suffering of these little ones. “It was a place of hope and love in those early days” said Martin Lane.

“It was here that I first met, Ionuț Hangu, he was about 5 years old.” It was whilst caring for him, in what the carers thought would be his final hours, that he asked Martin directly “Will you be my Dad?’’

Martin said “I can remember that moment as if it were yesterday. I responded, of course, in the affirmative, thinking that he only had hours to live.”

Ionuț went on to live for a further seven years, telling everyone that he had a new dad!

It was Martin was visiting Ionuț subsequently that he met Mary Gibson who founded Friends of Orphanages in Romania- now Friends of Children in Romania a registered charity here in the U.K.

Mary Gibson asked Martin for help and he has been involved ever since raising funds for that charity. The charity has two homes in the Carpathian mountains. “Our children in Romania, are not HIV positive, like those I cared for in Cernavoda all those years ago, but many of them have had a poor start in life.”

The two houses provide a secure and loving place for these children to live and grow. They attend the local schools, and live two groups assisted by a social worker, and carers who provide all that they need in order to thrive and grow. “Although we are Children’s home, in effect, we prefer to see ourselves as a ‘home from home’” said Martin Lane who is now a Director of the Charity. “Two of our older children we soon leave us to go to university, one wants to become a teacher, the other to become an aeronautical engineer. I am immensely proud of what they have achieved” said Martin.

Martin told us “I never thought, thirty years ago, that I would still be visiting Romania and now find myself a Director of this small charity, this year though I felt it important to return to the place where it all started, paying my respects at the grave of Ionuț Hangu. I was joined on my trip with a few of the nurses and carers with whom I was privileged to work all those years ago. It was great to see them. “It was as if time stood still.”

Friends of Children in Romania works closely with the Child Protection unit in Bacau, Romania. It is supported in its work with some state funding although the majority of funds are raised here in the U.k. Like many charities the global cost of living crisis has affected its work in Romania, we understand that the costs for basic essentials have doubled, staffing costs have increased in recent months. “I remain optimistic and spurred on by that encounter with little Ionuț Hangu thirty years ago” said Martin. "I hope that his legacy will live on in the children entrusted to our care in Romania today, but our work can only continue thanks to the generosity of those who support us" Financial support is always needed - if you can help contact us at www.friendsofchildreninromania.org