To Romania with love

 A letter from Lesley Anderson

Naturewatch invited students from Hartpury College to raise money for the faculty horse project in Bucharest, with the incentive of a weekend trip there for the one who raised the most. Lesley Anderson raised over £360 and was the runaway winner. This is her story of the trip.
 

When Otilia and Ovidiu met me at the airport on Friday evening I was feeling terribly nervous, my social skills being absolutely abysmal, but they turned out to be pretty lovely human beings, and made me feel very welcome. Otilia was working that evening, so Ovidiu showed me around the project and introduced me to the horses. They are wonderfully healthy, friendly and spoiled, and it was great to see them looking so well.

Ovidiu told me about the progress of the project so far and their future plans. I was struck by his dedication and how much he’d put into the project. He was by turns proud of what they have achieved, excited about their plans, frustrated that they still can’t afford many of the things they need and worried about what will happen to the project in the future.

The next day an emergency colic case came into the clinic, which meant I couldn’t visit the project, so I wandered around the museum of art with Ovidiu instead. We became quite engrossed eventually realising we’d been there several hours and the place was about to close! In the evening I met more of the students who have been involved in the project – they’re all so lovely!

On Sunday I worked the horses with Otilia; it’s impressive how far Otilia has brought them in such a short time. Johnny was lovely and eager to please. Salomeea, on the other hand, taught me that I should not be so careless on a new horse; managing to unseat me within 10 seconds of my seat touching the saddle! Codruta then had her first lunge lesson and wore the saddle for the first time – it shows how well she’s been handled, as she took it all in her stride as if she’d done it 100 times before.

Before going to the airport on Monday I went to Ovidiu and Edi’s classes with them, and was also taken to meet the head of clinics and the vice dean. They both seemed very positive about the project. Edi told me that they hope that by demonstrating international interest in the project they may get more support from the faculty.

I’m so glad I was able to visit them; it’s become much clearer to me what difficulties the students face and what an achievement it has been for the project to come so far, and how important it is. At first glance there is nothing unusual in the project, but I have come to realise how much the students have achieved in reaching this point. They have had to be extremely resourceful and have done a lot with very little. Ovidiu described to me how difficult it was to find people to support them initially and how no one really took them seriously, or even laughed. Edi told me that they still have trouble finding people to help with the project, as volunteering is an alien concept in Romania, where people have previously had to struggle for their own survival.

It is great to see the lives of the horses so vastly improved, but I see that what has been achieved is more than that. Ovidiu told me that previously the horses were simply treated as objects, but now both students and teachers are starting to treat them with respect. If the attitudes of the students and teachers at the university change, with so many students passing

I want to do everything I can to support the students and their project. They are lovely human beings and can’t wait to see them again!

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