How It All Began

Eva Benke (centre) summer 1991

REVA [Romania Education Vision Action ] is a small charity on the Isle of Wight, set up in memory of a dear friend Eva Benke who tragically died in 1997. Eva, a Hungarian, was an English teacher who lived in the town of Targu Mures. In 1991 she help organise a visit to the town by a group of teachers from the Isle-of-Wight. An English doctor, who had visited the town and the wife of the pastor of the local Reformed church, arranged the visit. The teachers stayed for three weeks teaching conversation English to groups of local people. The visit was a great success and continued each summer for a number of years.

How It Continued

After the initial visit, which had a profound effect upon the group of teachers, a few of the them continued the contact they had made with individuals and families in Targu Mures. One of the teachers developed a deep and lasting friendship with Eva and arranged along with other friends on the Isle-of-Wight to visit her and her family during the Easter of 1992. A local Methodist church supported the group and funds were raised for the trip through talks and various fund raising events. The group travelled to Targu Mures in a mini-bus packed with all sorts of aid. These trips continued up until the death of Eva in1997, each trip deepening the bond between her and her English friend and establishing a lasting link between the two families.

Becoming a Registered Charity

Following her untimely death her friend decided with the support of two close friends on the Isle-of-Wight to set up the registered charity REVA in her memory. The support of other friends enabled the setting up of the charity, the aim of which would be to provide support, as similar as possible, to that provided by community nurses in this country, for families with a child with special needs. Another very good friend, a doctor in Targu Mures helped REVA achieve this. Two locally trained nurses visited families on a regular basis offering advice and delivering the aid the charity regularly sends to the families. In addition to this, aid is also regularly delivered to families in the village of Lazarea.

A Change in Direction

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the nurses the support was very successful but not the most efficient use of the nurses time. This and the need for a base in the town resulted in the long-term plan of the charity, that of purchasing a property to provide a place where the nurses could meet with the parents and children, to become an urgent short-term plan. It would allow the parents the opportunity to meet together to support each other and also allow the children to play together. An association, Caritas REVA was set up in Targu Mures to enable this to take place. A property was purchased in the summer of 2001 and the necessary maintenance and organisation is underway at the present time that will allow the aims of REVA to be realised in the not too distant future.

Isle of Wight Support

To date the charity has sponsored a visit to the Isle-of-Wight by one of the nurses to experience at first hand the role of a community nurse and other support services. The professionals involved gave freely of their time and did all they could to make the experience both interesting and worthwhile. The nurse greatly appreciated all the support she received during her visit and returned home eager to implement the knowledge she had gained during her visit to Britain. The charity has provided specific resources to satisfy the needs of individual children and continues to provide, for example regular supplies of vitamins for the children, as well as regular shipments of clothes, toiletries, bedding etc.

Last summer REVA was able to provide an electric scooter for one of the children, a large proportion of the cost being raised by a local primary school on the Isle-of Wight.
In the past the charity has provided crutches, hearing aids, a food processor, sensory equipment and educational toys as well as a Braille type writer for one of the children in the village.

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It is hoped that the property purchased in Romania will be able to include a sensory room as well as an outside play area for the children. These facilities will provide excellent opportunities for those children already involved with the charity and the employment of an experienced kindergarten teacher will allow others the opportunity to become involved and benefit from our Opportunity Centre.