Comanesti

Comanesti is an ex-mining town in the County of Bacau. Many of its people have been unemployed since the mines closed. The closures brought great poverty to the area and the town was also badly hit by the floods in July 2005. It was the Rroma who suffered most in the floods because they build their homes on the flood plains of the river on the outskirts of the town.

Libra works with a number of different partner organisations in the town and places great importance on the integration of the children from these organsiations:

School No 7:

School No 7 is a Romanian Middle School with good facilities in the centre of the town. The children involved on the Libra summer programme are those with social difficulties and those with deprivation in their families.

School No 4:

School No. 4 is in the middle of the Rroma community and provides the children with a basic education and has minimal resources. One of the key issues that the school is addressing is its low attendance by the Rroma children. Libra aims to assist by showing the children that coming to school can be fun.

Pietricica Residential Centre:

Pietricica is a residential care home for abandoned children and those with learning difficulties. Most of the residents are boys aged 12 to 20, many of whom have special educational needs and the centre’s priority is to ensure the care and safety of these children with education provided by a separate special needs school next door.

Casa Lumina

Casa Lumina is a residential care home for 23 young adults with special needs.

The Robert Cole Centre

The Robert Cole Centre is a special needs school and day care centre, established by the UK registered charity Biggin Hill Romania Group. It is named in loving memory of a young Englishman who worked and tragically died near Comanesti. Once pupils have graduated from the school there is an opportunity for them to gain further vocational and life skills in the ‘Foundations for Life Centre’.

The Summer Project

The children from all these organisations join together in joint activities based in School No. 7. We are extremely grateful to Robert Laic, the head teacher for providing these facilities. Libra’s educational programme includes music, dance, sport, art and craft, all with a message that learning in school is fun!

In 2010, with the support of the Town's mayor, the project took over the town on one colourful day in July. The Libra Team took all of the children participating in the project onto the main street for a Street carnival, with music piped over the town's PA system. The local people became very aware of the authorities' support for this programme which brings all sections of Romanian society together, and opens up the eyes of local High School students to the plight of some of their fellow Romanians.