An aristocratic title is not enough to ensure a noble behaviour. A person's greatness comes from acknowledging the mistakes and agreeing to correct them.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix)
Andreea Pocotila
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The new center offers physiotherapy to almost 100 children who suffer from multiple handicaps and gives psychological counseling to them and their families.
Seven-year-old Robert Pascal had meningitis at birth and for many years was moved from one hospital to another. Despite different treatments, there was no improvement in his condition. The boy couldn't walk, couldn't talk and couldn't hear.
Eventually, doctors gave up hope and he was brought to the Saint Margaret Center, established in 1999 by the Children in Distress Foundation that opened up its doors in order to take care of children with multiple handicaps.
After 18 months of physiotherapy at the hospice, Robert has learned to walk and, although he is deaf, he has learned to communicate and can feed himself.
"For that young man, that was almost the equivalent to climbing mountain Everest. ... We believed within that body there was a brave and eager soul," said the president of the Children in Distress Foundation, Alisdair Barron, who got involved personally in the attempt to save the apparently hopeless case of the foundation's first patient.
Robert's success made the Children in Distress members realize that therapy could make a great significance in the lives of many more children, so they decided to also open a therapy center for children with multiple handicaps in the same location as the current Saint Margaret Hospice in Bucharest.
Fifteen ambulatory children currently living at Saint Margaret and another 85 who are treated can benefit from physiotherapy, kinetic therapy, logopedics and psychological counseling from both Romanian and British medical experts.
This new medical approach is also trying to give a chance to children like ten-year-old Maria, who was born with an underdeveloped brain, cannot use her arms and legs and who cannot talk as well as 18-month-old Iulia, who was born without eyes.
The new center, bearing the name of Saint Nicholas, has been functioning since February, but was officially inaugurated yesterday.
"We are not doing miracles, but we make it possible for everyone to be the best they can possibly be and what more can any human being do for another?" said Barron about the activity of the center.
British Ambassador attends opening of new center
The center is financially supported through fundraising in Great Britain and through a monthly aid of 6,200 RON (about 1,800 euros) from United Way Romania.
The project's coordinator, Andreia Ilie, said United Way approved the project proposed by Children in Distress for a therapy center to be established and agreed to back it.
Dana Deac, the famous TV host who represented United Way Romania at the center's inauguration, as she is a member of the organization's Administration Council, said it is an honor for United Way to support the Children in Distress Foundation in their efforts to improve children's quality of life.
"United Way Romania intends to support long-term projects, so it will fund this project with a constant sum. ... United Way Romania will be close to these wonderful people in order for these extraordinary children, who are unfortunately forgotten sometimes by the state, to be helped," Deac pointed out.
In order to recognize the help given by United Way Romania, the center's plaque reads that it was inaugurated by Deac. The plaque also mentions the name of a renowned journalist in the United Kingdom, Kate Adie, a supporter of the Children in Distress' activities. Present at the debate, Adie said a country is not known through its politicians, businessmen or generals.
"A country is judged not by important people, but by the people with no voice, the people who have no influence, the people whom you sometimes don't notice, the people sometimes almost invisible. In that category are the children here and children everywhere who do not have a voice," said Adie. "How you behave towards these children, what you can do for them - that is how a country shows what good it can do," she added.
The British Ambassador to Bucharest, Robin Barnett, also attended the debate, but he chose to come rather as an individual than in his official capacity of ambassador of the United Kingdom. He and his wife, Tesca, yesterday visited the center, sat with the children, talked to them and caressed them.
"To be quite honest with you, I have a personal interest. As you can see, I have a very, very small personal physical problem. When I was a child, I used to take swimming lessons to improve my physical capability and I did those swimming lessons with children with no arms, no legs and they were much better, much more active than me, and that inspired me hugely," Barnett said. "So I had a personal interest and I was once again incredibly inspired by what everybody is doing here today," he added. Barnett said the state has an important role in child care, but so does the private sector.
"In the UK we don't rely on the state for everything, it is a matter of working together," he said, explaining that the solution is a public-private partnership.
Copyright © 2004-2006 Bucharest Daily News
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