Despite a recent break-in by vandals at the Mission Romania warehouse which made large quantities of clothing and equipment unusable, charity coordinator Julian Leggett says this year's aid trip will definitely take place. Here he writes that the needs are greater than ever.

It is now 10 years since the fall of Communism in most of the old Eastern Bloc countries. Yet the passage of time has not been kind to all of them.

Romania, for example, is still desperately trying to bring their living standards up to the level of West Europe, whilst fighting to overcome the appalling conditions the country was left in by the old regime.

It was devastated by the mad man Ceausescu and his cronies such that virtually everything there was old, worn out or sub-standard. Many things that we take for granted were non-existent. An example of this was a hospital's main operating theatre serving over 200,000 people where the youngest piece of equipment, the anaesthesia machine, was 28 years old and often broke down during operations.

The renewal process is not helped by raging inflation. In 1990 the exchange rate was 236 Lei to £1. That figure, today, stands at 29,900 to the pound.

Mission Romania, the Swindon based Christian charity, has been transporting aid to and working in Romania for the last 10 years and is busy getting ready for its next delivery. Having already sent out over 30 trucks loaded with donated aid of all descriptions, this year is no different, though rather special because of our tenth anniversary.

We planned this for June but it may have to be put back to September because of the recent break-in by heartless vandals.

Mission Romania works primarily in the Transylvanian town of Targu Mures supporting over 25 self-help groups, orphanages, churches, hospitals and homes for the disadvantaged. They also have responsibilities in Brasov, Rosnov and Gheorgheni and last year formed a partnership with a hospital that is home to over 240 youngsters, 90 women and a number of young men all of whom are mentally disadvantaged.

This hospital is our main project for year 2000 and it has already had 500 kilograms of top quality food supplement delivered together with £3,000 to try and maintain some semblance of a decent quality of life for the patients. Hopefully that will just be the start.

Mission Romania needs good quality clothing and bedding to take out to Romania as well as money to purchase medicines and food from Romanian sources, where the best value for money can be obtained.

We also welcome offers of practical help on Monday evenings when group members meet to sort out donated aid.

If you would like to make a donation or assist with sorting for the aid trip, please contact Julian Leggett, Centre Manager at the West Swindon Shopping Centre directly or by 'phone on 01793 872987.