Shoebox gifts put spring in children's step

By Anna Adams
BBC News

The Rochdale children were surprised by conditions in Romania

Thousands of shoeboxes full of Christmas presents are sent to Eastern Europe every year by schoolchildren across the UK.

The BBC followed boxes filled by pupils from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, to a village in north-east Romania.

Eight-year-old Alyse Costello from Shawclough Community Primary School has been planning what to put in her shoebox for weeks.

She has saved £9 of her pocket money to buy things she thinks a Romanian girl her age would like.

"I would like my shoebox to go to somebody creative," she said.

"That's why I have put in some crayons and a drawing pad plus some bath oil in case their water isn't very good, then at least they can still have a bath."

Alyse, like all the other pupils in her class, has taken the job of filling a shoebox very seriously.

She said: "I want this to make a difference. I've been doing some research on the internet and not everyone in Romania is poor so I hope my box goes to somebody who needs it."

And she is right. Last year the former communist country joined the European Union and many of its cities are slowly beginning to develop with the status and funding that EU membership brings.

Children - like Alyse Costello - spent their own pocket money on gifts

But many people living in rural areas are still living in extreme poverty - often without electricity or running water.

This is exactly what we found when we followed Alyse and her classmates' shoeboxes to a village in north eastern Romania.

A 40-minute drive outside Romania's second biggest city of Iasi, took us to the small village of Iacobeni, where the shoeboxes from Rochdale have ended up.

With little infrastructure, the village seemed like a different world to Iasi, which is the economic and cultural centre of the region of Moldavia.

There are no roads and the only transport here is a horse drawn cart.

Many of the houses are made of wood and straw and without electricity - despite freezing temperatures in the winter. The other houses are drab communist blocks of low rise flats.

It is difficult to believe this is Europe.

The boxes are delivered to the local school and Alyse's shoebox goes to Petronela Mitetilu, who looks shocked as she opens the box full of Christmas presents.

She said: "These are beautiful. I would like to go to the UK and want to thank the girl that sent me these presents. I would like to wish her a very happy Christmas."

She then put on one of the friendship bracelets that Alyse had sent.

Back in Rochdale the pupils watch the footage of Romania and find out exactly where their boxes have ended up.

They are silent as they watch the children open their presents.

Romanian children - like Petronela - have been given a "drop of happiness"

Alyse was close to tears as she watched Petronela put on her friendship bracelet and thank her via a big screen in the classroom.

"That was what I'd hoped for. I wanted my box to go to someone who was a nice person and make their Christmas as happy as mine and I can see now that it has," she said.

"I'd really like to learn more about Romania and maybe one day I'd like to find that girl so she could see how I live my life and I could see how she lived hers."

The scheme is run by Rotary Shoeboxes which processes more than 50,000 boxes every year and sends them to orphanages, schools and hospitals in Romania, Moldova Ukraine, Belarus, Croatia and Bulgaria.

The shoebox scheme is operated all year round and also includes adults who have no access to basic household goods.

Liviu Statache, from Rotary Shoebox Romania, said: "Not all of these children will get something this Christmas.

"And it's so important that they at least know someone is thinking of them. It's a drop of happiness."

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