2nd April 2012 Bucharest, Romania
Great Britons in Romania: Ian Tilling and Casa Ioana
Third in our series of Great Britons in Romania is Ian Tilling, founder of Casa Ioana, a charity devoted to Bucharest’s homeless. Guest blog by Ian Saunders, our colleague from the embassy.
Ian arrived in Romania in 1990 and settled in Bucharest in 1992. His wish was to convert a block in a deprived area of the city into ten large apartments that would each provide accommodation for some institutionalised children with disabilities. In 1995 “Casa Ioana” – named in memory of Joanne (Ioana in Romanian) Pope, a young British woman, who lost a brave fight against a terminal illness – was established.
Two years later, the Mayor of Bucharest asked Ian to develop the country’s first night shelter for homeless people. The shelter was honoured with a visit by Prince Charles in 1999.
But Ian wanted to do more than just provide emergency night shelter and developed the “ACASĂ” programme to provide a range of professional services aimed at getting homeless people back on their feet and into their own homes. 4,000 homeless people have passed through Casa Ioana since they opened their first shelter. They care for up to 60 people in two shelters at any one time. Beneficiaries can stay up to one year if need be.
I visited Casa Ioana last week: the shelter feels like a small community. Ian and his team of five psycho-social experts work round the clock, supported by regular volunteers. I am one of them, and have been visiting weekly for over a year.
In all his experience, Ian has never met a homeless person who has told him that they have ‘adopted’ this way of life. He has met hundreds though who have told him that they have no hope and no opportunities and have ‘adapted’ to this way of life. Therefore, everything they do in Casa Ioana is aimed at creating opportunities and nurturing self-belief, so that children go back to school, parents go back to work and families move into their own homes. Their success rate is an impressive 80%.
Ian’s philosophy is to empower the residents to take back control of their lives. Casa Ioana runs money management courses, encourages saving, helps with CVs, and gives employment advice. The residents manage their own shelters. They use a mixture of techniques – from group therapy to one-to-one counseling.
Prince Charles aside, they have had a number of VIP visitors over the years from Romanian Royalty to actress Carmen Tanase, currently an active Goodwill Ambassador.
Ian is truly a Great Briton in Romania. He is a retired British police officer, whose initial intention was to stay two years in Romania. 22-years later Casa Ioana is the centre of his life, along with his family. He has received many accolades. In 2010, he received the “Romanian Oscar for Excellence” (normally reserved for Romanian citizens) for 20 years humanitarian work. In 2002, he received the “Order of Faithful Service” for developing professional social assistance services in Romania. In 2000, he was decorated with an MBE in HM The Queen’s Birthday Honours for social community work in Romania.
After receiving his honour from the Romanian President, a former lawyer who was staying in Casa Ioana as a resident turned to him and said, “Before I came to Casa Ioana I was nothing but a bum. Since then, I’ve met the future King of Great Britain, the King and Queen of Romania, the President of Romania, and the Vice-President of the World Bank. I guess that makes me pretty important!’
Ian is truly an inspiration to me – and many Romanians. He devotes his life to helping those less fortunate, is always smiling and positive. I am honoured to know Ian, and I will continue to work as a volunteer at Casa Ioana whilst I am based in Romania.
Ian Saunders
British Embassy Bucharest
Well done Ian I am so proud to have known you, good luck to you and yours.
Liz x
I am a South African/British citizen, I live in Botswana. I was married to a Romanian but sadly we got divorced but I am in Romania to bring my son to see his Mum. My mornings until 4-5 in the afternoon are spent sitting watching TV in a studio apartment and I was wondering if they was anything thing I could do to help for the next 2 weeks …..please let me know if I could be of service
Dear Patrick,
Thank you for your comment. You can find out more about Casa Ioana and how to get involved with them on their website http://casaioana.org/
I have known Ian for the last few years in association with students from Coleg Powys helping out at Casa Ioana.We were involved with decoration of the night shelter and working with the families and young people there .We had the privilege of providing a play/education room for the children in placement at the shelter.The love and devotion of all the staff under Ian’s guidance has been an inspiration to all our Students visiting.Ian has been a charming host to us and from his example the students worked so hard to complete the tasks before them and left Romania with a huge influence on their lives and appreciation of their achievements.But more importantly impressed upon them their own values of life and appreciation of what they all have back home. We love Ian for all he has done for the less fortunate people within Bucharest and hope that we may continue our association with this development for a long time to come…
Impressive!
Hi Ian,
please let us have a person like Ian in Hungary as well!! – it was good to read this article it brings hope. I have participated in the Embassy chirstmas soup charity event few years ago as well and try to help people in need with my partner as often as we can. “Az ember nem attól válik értékessé, hogy mi mindene van, hanem attól hogy mi mindent tud adni! ” –
keep on the good work Ian,
Ian, God Bless you all for this wonderful work. You make a difference in people’s life! You give hope, purpose to those people, who are “Fearfully and wonderfully made” Psalm 139:14
“Life always sends us angels to help at every step along the way.”
Dan Brulé
Congratulations, beautiful article…
Congratulations! you make a difference to this world!
Thank you for sharing this article with me! Ian and all the volunteers do an amazing and inspirational job, a job worthy of admiration that all of us should copy. God bless Ian and all his team!
I have met Ian in the summer of 2004 at Vama Veche, one of his most favorite place in Romania. I knew about his work and dedication from other friends, but since I met him, I have never ceased to admire his willingness and desire to help others, struggling almost on a daily basis to overcome all sorts of obstacles and the sometimes ridiculously rigid bureaucracy in his line of work. He has become a Romanian and has adopted the Romanian lifestyle, nevertheless his “no nonsense” British upbringing emerges always when needed.
He really is an inspiration to us all!
Thank you for writing a beautiful article on the work my brother has done in Romania. I am so proud of him. Ian and Cristina came to visit us in Canada last year and it was so wonderful to see them again. I went to Romania about 11 plus years ago for the first time and visited casa iona and had a wonderful time with the children there. He and all of you volunteers have done something so wonderful for the people of Romania. Thank you.