'I'd never seen anything like the suffering of children in Romania'

The head of a London charity that helps vulnerable youngsters in Romania has said more “must be done”, more than two decades after she started her work.

FARA chair Jane Nicholson founded the charity in 1991 as a reaction to the “terrible conditions” she came across on a visit to the country.

She said: “I have never seen anything like it. The abuse and the neglect that children were suffering. I started the charity right then.”

Nicholson opened the first FARA charity shop in Fulham the following year and there are now 46 across the capital. The charity provides family homes, child therapy centres, poverty relief initiatives and training in social and vocational skills.

FARA is marking the 25th anniversary of its first shop with a range of T-shirts in collaboration with lifestyle brand Honey Rocks, founded by sisters Hannah Hodges and India Hares. The sale of each top will fund either a backpack full of books and writing equipment, or a week’s worth of hot meals for children on the charity’s Tackling Poverty Through Education Programme.

Nicholson said there had been changes in Romania since she started her work but it had “a very long way to go”. She added: “There is still a lot of poverty, homelessness, child neglect. Romania has a bit of a bad name and we are trying to develop an understanding about that. There are lots of talented doctors, for example, from Romania working in the UK.”

Of the new T-shirts, she said: “More people are selling clothes on eBay and not giving to stores, so we need to think of different ways to get people giving. This is the first time we have done new clothes.” The T-shirts are available from honeyrocks.co.uk or faracharityshops.org