A team of 28 volunteers from seven countries on three continents (Canada, UK, the Netherlands, Romania, India and Singapore) will work between 3–7 April 2006 building homes for underprivileged families in Craiova.
A team of 28 volunteers from seven countries on three continents (Canada, UK, the Netherlands, Romania, India and Singapore) will work between 3–7 April 2006 building homes for underprivileged families in Craiova. The voluntary action is the fruit of the collaboration between the non-profit association Habitat for Humanity and the Aviva insurance company. The prestigious company is sending its international managers to work with shovels and trowels, side by side with the families in great need of homes, to get a real feel for the mission and values of Aviva, which are based on caring for people.
“There are many reasons why the Aviva Leadership Academy is pleased to become a partner in local initiatives, such as Habitat in Romania. These projects give us an opportunity to develop our people in a manner that demonstrates our purpose and values. Aviva exists in order to bring prosperity and protection. Our approach is to work as a team, to be progressive, to obtain results, and to do all this with integrity. Our aim is to support the development of our people through a wide range of experiences, and working alongside the poor communities in Craiova is one of the ways in which we are trying to achieve this.” – Carolyn Reed, director of the management development group for Aviva.
The stories of the families who will benefit from Habitat homes this year in Craiova are very moving.
With the help of Aviva, the drama of Adriana Pungă is nearly over. Widowed three years ago, the 43-year-old woman from Craiova had to face life on her own, helped by her children, Andreea (aged 17) and Gabriel (aged 15), and a few kind relatives. “My husband died following a traffic accident. Several months of anguish followed. A long succession of lawsuits had eaten up even the modest savings that we had”, said Adriana.
Other families live in insalubrious homes or in crowded circumstances with their relatives. Until a few months ago, they all lived in one room in a house taken into state ownership, in the town centre. “That building was more than 100-years-old. The kitchen was somewhere in the basement, and we all shared one bathroom. We lived in inhuman circumstances, risking our children’s health. However, we never lost the hope of having our own home one day”, said the Ienciu family, who are also receiving a Habitat home.
”The Habitat for Humanity association offers Aviva managers a chance to return something to the community in which Aviva has a branch, and to see the palpable results of their work. But above all, the joint efforts of the company and Habitat are aimed at solving the problem of poverty homes and lack of homes for the hopeless families in Craiova”, says priest Gheorghe Zamfir, chairman of the Craiova Habitat for Humanity association.
As a member of an international group, Aviva recognizes its social responsibility as insurer, educator and investor in the countries in which it operates. The project initiated by Habitat for Humanity constitutes, in fact, a first step towards something that will very likely become a habit for the Romanian society, too – active participation in various projects taking place in the community in which we work.
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For further information:
Anca Sert
Aviva
Telephone: 203 84 73
Zamfir Todor
Habitat for Humanity
Telephone: 0724 29254
Notes to editors:
Aviva
- The Aviva group is one of the strongest financial groups, the largest provider of life insurances and pensions in Europe, the sixth largest insurer in the world and the largest insurer in the UK. After five years in Romania, Aviva Life Insurance is one of the main players on the insurance market, with a presence in 21 towns throughout the country; currently over 300,000 Romanians are already insured with Aviva. At the end of 2005, over 300.000 Romanians had bought an insurance product provided by Aviva. Like in the other countries, the company is committed in the long term, and its key preoccupation is to provide services at the same quality standards as those offered in Western countries.
- Aviva is a European leader on the pension and life insurance market, with an experience of over 300 years in this sector.
Habitat for Humanity
- International is a non-profit, Ecumenical Christian organization working for the elimination of poverty housing all over the world. Habitat has built over 200,000 homes in 100 countries, for over one million people. In Romania, Habitat for Humanity has assisted 300 families in need of homes to move into simple, decent and healthy houses. Habitat for Humanity is active in Beiuş, Cluj, Piteşti, Rădăuţi, Comăneşti, Craiova and Cumpăna (County Constanţa). Beneficiary families are working together with Romanian and foreign volunteers to build their own homes.