The Romanian children’s choir will be with us on Sunday 23rd August. Tim caught up with Vicki to find out more.
It’s great to see the Romanian children’s choir from Caminul Felix joining us again on Sunday 23rd August, what can we expect?
Some of the Caminul Felix choir have visited ACC in previous years. They tell us it is like coming home when they see many of their friends here. This is visible from their faces when they sing for us. We will hear some songs in English and some in Romanian, bearing in mind that some of these children can be as young as 5 or 6 that is quite an achievement in its self. Also some of the children will tell us a little of their own life stories.
We can expect to be blessed, entertained and moved emotionally during this time.
Why do you think it is important for us to support the work that Caminul Felix do?
We have been involved with them for many years now, for some people in ACC over 15 years. We were told by Lars Hornberg (one of the founders of Caminul Felix) that when the British support them it is usually with great loyalty, commitment and love.
At ACC we have strived to maintain that commitment. We have personally sponsored children, watching them grow and being a part of their lives for years. This is such a blessing and can give a sponsor a new addition to their own biological family. For many resulting in visits to Romania to see their sponsored child and find out more about how they live at home.
They rely on sponsors from all over the world to maintain regular financial support in order to continue the work they do.
Can you tell us a bit more about how they started and the work they are involved in?
Caminul Felix started over 20 years ago when Lars and Linda Hornberg began taking Romanian street children into their own home. They quickly recognised that there was a great need to reach out and love these children who had often been abandoned by their parents and families.
Caminul Felix is the result of this initial outreach.
There are two villages which care for approximately 150 -200 children from when they are very young, to ready to fly the nest as adults. The children live in houses with “House Parents”, 14 – 16 children in each house.
Over the years they have developed the charity in many ways to raise funds to help care for the children. They have a dairy farm, a mechanics workshop, a wood working shop, a hotel and an enterprise called Sunflower Design making and selling handmade craft items, to name just a few.
How can we get involved and support?
For people from ACC who have not met them before it is an opportunity to become sponsors. This can be a financial amount to suit the individual. Regular monthly financial support is invaluable to them in order for their work to continue. Even a small amount given regularly helps considerably, so no one would need to feel unable to become sponsors due to financial restrictions.
As a sponsor you can even request a boy or a girl of an approximate age if you would like to. This works really well with some families when they would like to become involved with a child similar to their own children, developing great family bonds.
People can also help VERY MUCH with the ongoing task of raising money to fund a lorry with goodies of all descriptions sent to Romania around Christmas time each year. This involves considerable costs, about £1600 to pay for fuel, ferry crossing and European licence costs. A small group of ACC members raise funds in a variety of ways, Barn Dances, Skittles evenings, Lorry Lunches to name but a few, you probably know of us as TLC. We are always looking for new members to join us in this adventure!
Also at Christmas time we are planning to fill shoe boxes with presents for the children to send over on the lorry. Details will follow at a later date.
We also need MUSCLE POWER for a variety of reasons. One of the big needs is to help when we move around many boxes of provisions and with loading the lorry for its journey to Romania full of the wonderful things that lots of people from ACC contribute to this mission.