Recreation centre Valea Crisului for people with disabilities
On 16 May 2014, the official opening of the main building of the recreation centre for disabled people Valea Crisului in Romania took place. Among the guests were the local mayor of Valea Crisului, Sándor Kisgyörgy, representatives of the Reformed Church in Transylvania, employees of Raiffeisen Bank Romania and Joanna Kinberger from Diakonie Austria, who all welcomed the beneficiaries of the joint project of the H. Stepic CEE Charity and Diakonie.
Until today, the approximately 3.900 people with disabilities, living in the region of Sfantu Gheorghe had no such thing as a recreation centre. The Charity, together with its project partners decided to take action and support these exceptionally vulnerable people and their families through the construction of a recreation and leisure centre.
Getting closer step by step to other people again
Since 2006, the Diakonie Sfantu Gheorghe operates a day centre for people with disabilities, who are presented with employment possibilities in a specially designed and constructed workshop. The beneficiaries get familiar with important social skills and partly overcome the barrier of the face-to-face communication. A distinctive example of the centre’s positive effects is the story of a young Romanian man, who was previously supervised in the day centre and who suffers from autism. Today, he is working in a full-time job in a shop and is integrated very well in the working community with his colleagues. He is even starting to learn Hungarian, which, for a person, who rather prefers isolation, is a remarkable accomplishment.
With the support of the Charity a recreation centre was established on a parcel of land of 7.800 m2 in Valea Crisului that consists of a main building and three other houses. By renovating the main building – which is used as living accommodation for the staff, kitchen and dining room – as well as establishing and equipping another house in a disabled-friendly way, where eight to ten people with special needs can live during their stay, the Charity made a great contribution to the realization this project.
Time-out for caretakers
In the recreation centre, 18 to 24 persons with disabilities can be attended by well trained employees for a period of 14 days. During that time, the parents or other caregivers, who normally have to be available 24 hours a day, can recover from their stressful everyday life.
The Charity governs all its projects under the motto „Help them to help themselves“ – as it is in this project: particularly vulnerable people with disabilities are empowered to walk their path into independence and social inclusion. The visits of the recreation centre bring a relief also for their caretakers. That is how the Charity sustainably improves not only the lives of people with disabilities, but also the lives of their entire families.
Photos © Joanna Kinberger/ Brot für die Welt
