HOME | ABOUT US | TATARAI STORY | EDUCATIONAL TRIP |NEDELEA | OUR FIRST TRIP 

TRIP2005 | PROGRESS REPORTS | FUNDRAISING | CONTACT | NEW! COPDROP SHOP

In March/April this year (2007) and whilst there fully decorated an accommodation and play room for the children and have also paid for new UPVC windows to be installed in 4 rooms - each room measures just over 7m x 7m and each window is 7m x 3m. The windows were installed the week after we left having been ordered and paid for whilst we were there.

Preperations were also made for the installation of a hydrotherapy room and this was installed when one of our new members - Chris Jones - went back with a group of local educational excluded children and carried out the work.

Full Report and update to follow on the 2007 Trip.

Final preparations are currently being undertaken for the trip to Romania, leaving England on Sunday 3^rd April 2005 Trip

Two minibuses will transport a team of 8 Copdrop members to Ploiesti, which is about one hour north of the Romanian capital Bucharest.

The team will drive continuously for approximately 28 hours, swapping drivers frequently, until stopping at Balastia, a town in Hungary, and an hour from the Romanian border. Here they will enjoy a comfortable nights sleep before setting off on the final leg of the journey.

If all goes well the group should arrive at their destination during the evening of Tuesday 5^th April.

Five days will then be spent working on behalf of the physically and mentally handicapped children at St Andrei Hospital in Ploiesti. The plan is to convert two rooms for the benefit of the children – turning one into a “light room” for autistic children and the other into a “soft room” for the physically and mentally handicapped.

Over the years the Copdrop team have built up a relationship with a local school and on the last trip a number of the children assisted with some of the work at the hospital. This year Copdrop are also going to help at the school by laying a path around part of the building.

The return journey will start on Sunday 10^th April and the team are anticipated back on Tuesday 13^th April.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 

Progress At Tatarai 2001

Tatarai is not only an orphanage but has a working farmyard. It has been able in the past to sustain the children with meat, eggs and milk. The farm is run down at this time, so we are off, in March/April 2001 to renovate some of the buildings to improve the viability of the livestock. This is a daunting challenge. We will let you know what happened on our return. Watch this space! In the meantime, navigate around this site and have a look. Any comments the contacts page. Thanks.

This was the CopDrop Team leaving Horncastle Police Station. We are taking two medium sized lorries and one mini-bus. On board we had everything from chair, wool, toiletries and computers, all donated from people locally.

This was the scene that met us at 4am on the morning of our arrival. The snow was not deep and crisp and even but it might as well been! It took 3 days to get us to our Romanian destination and was not helped by a circuitous diversion of over 100 further kilometres caused by a collapsed road bridge on the original route!

The Hungarian/Romanian border at Nagylak. On both outward and homebound journeys we were stopped by Custom Officials and searched. Bing British and on a humanitarian mission cut very little ice with officialdom on the occasions. This stops cost us an extra 12 hours travelling.

This is part of the Tatarai hospital (left) showing its capability for growing its own food. Our plan (below) was to concrete a slab to enable the handling of livestock to be. We were going to lay some concrete but the snow intervened and the concrete was unavailable.

Then we found out that Tatarai was to become an adults only unti and the young children were to be shipped out to another institution called NEDELEA...........

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 

Progress At Tatarai In 2000

At the beginning of 2000. CopDrop decided to buy a vehicle for the orphanage at  Tatarai because the old one was knackered. We spent about £3000 on a Dacia pickup truck, which is now being used to fetch and carry all the requirements of the orphanage. The State authorities have now decided that they will furnish a budget to run and maintain it.

Other news from Romania is that the State has now 'found' extra funding for this Orphanage. New water pipes are being laid and a new boiler has been installed to make sure the kids are warm during the harsh Romanian winter. And, the maintenance costs for this vehicle are to be met from central funds. Hooray!

Another party of us are going to the orphanage in September 2000 to find out exactly what now needs doing when the main CopDrop expedition 2001 leaves in March next year. We are hopeful that our efforts are beginning to make some difference.

The CopDrop Team

Copyright © www.copdrop.com Registered Charity 1098700