Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I'm on my gap year in New Zealand and there are so many active challenges to take on here.  The current aim is to take the Wattyl Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge on 29th November 2009.  I've chosen to do the solo 160km challenge which will take me all the way round the picturesque lake in the centre of the North Island here in NZ.

I'm raising money for The Epiphany Trust Child Action in Romania.  I will be spending the last summer of my gap year in 2010 at the orphanage's Summer Camp. This is an orphanage project situated near Timisoara, the city where the Romanian revolution began in 1989.  When the charity first found the orphanage, there were 450 children living in total squalor in the care of 28 overworked, under paid and totally demoralised staff.  With the help of local labour and volunteers, the charity has managed to provide an environment  for the first class care and education of learning disabled children.  

The charity has now begun a new project for those children who have turned 18 and must leave the orphanage to fend for themselves.  This is a great challenge for many of these children and too many end up on the streets or in adult institutions.  The Arc is a facility in Sinaia and aims to act as a stepping stone for these young adults to learn to cope with the outside world.  There will be opportunities to do some unskilled manual labour to help with the ongoing construction of new houses for the young adults needing continued support to move into once they turn 18.

I will be joining the charity in the Summer of 2010 on their longest-running and most successful project, Camp Romania.  This gives the orphans a chance to leave the orphanage for a few weeks.  For many of the orphans this is their first time away from the orphanage.  Outdoor activities are arranged, from football and basketball games to pavement art, face painting and relaxing around a campfire.  The orphans also get to experience many things we take for granted such as eating out, wandering around the town, shopping in markets and barbecues.

If you'd like to know more about the charity and the work it does in romania, please do not hesitate to ask me or you can find the charity's website at www.epiphany.org.uk/child_action_international/romania.htm

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So please dig deep and donate now.