Less than 8% of terminally ill Romanian patients received palliative care in 2015. For the vast majority of these patients, their death was unbearably painful and they suffered in agony for weeks or months without any medical support before eventually passing away. In the UK, we often take for granted that we have access to hospices and medicines that can ease the suffering of those in the later stages of their life, taking the burden of care off of family and friends. This kind of support for both patients and their families has, for many years, been totally unavailable to most of south-eastern Europe.

Hospices of Hope aims to change this, and we want to help them do it.

Having established a number of hospice centres in Romania, Moldova and Serbia, Hospices of Hope has been providing a desperately needed service of medical and emotional care to patients and their loved ones since it was founded in 1991. By running a number of holiday camps each year for children and families affected by terminal and life-limiting illnesses, Hospices of Hope have impacted hundreds of lives and provided a week of carefree fun and an escape for those whose lives are often centred around and burdened by their own illness or the illness of a family member.

We are going to Bucharest in Romania to volunteer at a summer childrens camp. The camp allows children who have been impacted by terminal or life-limiting illnesses in their families to spend a week away from the pressures and sadness that they face at home to give them a rare opportunity to be kids and have fun.

The families of the children who attend the camp are generally very poor, (on around £80 income per month), and would not usually be able to afford this camp. As a result, the funds we raise will pay not only for our own travel and expenses, but will also pay for the childrens' costs, allowing every child to attend the camp without any financial worries.