Corabia Foundation

The Corabia Foundation (The Ark) is a Christian charity based in Sardu, a small rural village in the north of Romania and has been in operation since 2004. It is an official Romanian charity with strong links back in the UK.

Bob and Edith McDonald live in a house called Casa Sperantei  (House of Hope) situated near the village centre and they provide weekly activities for the children and teenagers of Sardu and the nearby villages of Sanpaul, Mihaiest and Berindu.   

The activities were at first held in their home however due to the numbers attending it became necessary to construct a Family Centre in the grounds of their home. This was completed in 2009 and it is having a positive impact on the whole community. The official opening of the centre was in April 2010

Between 150 and 200 children and teens use the new centre each week. There are few other facilities in any of the villages and the children and teens love coming to the centre for the organised programmes. They also come to the centre on nights when nothing is organised just to be together and use the games equipment.   Recently two new programmes were introduced - a Guitar workshop and a Puppet workshop.

As a result of the work being done within the gypsy community in Sanpaul, Bob has decided to build a new centre in their community. The local mayor has given a plot of land for this venture and in 20111 works began on clearing the land. It is hoped that the church/community centre will be completed in 2014.

During the summer school holidays, various groups from the UK go out to Sardu to help Bob and Edith with their programmes.

A group of ROKK Club leaders have visited Sardu in 2009, 2011 and 2013.

The new Gypsey Church/Community Centre