IT is impossible to forget the first images the world saw of the Romanian orphanages in the 1990s. Images of desperate, neglected children in dirty, crowded rooms, but images too that inspired one of the greatest charitable and humanitarian campaigns of the 20th century.
Mercy Corps Europe, or Scottish European Aid as it was then, was one of the positive outcomes of that remarkable campaign. In its early days, the charity helped get donations out to Romania; later it did the same for people caught up in the war in the former Yugoslavia.
Twenty-seven years later, Mercy Corps Europe is a major international organisation which helps local people recover in the aftermath of disasters or major crises. Around the world, the charity helps communities rebuild, but also to develop strategies to help them become more resilient to future shocks.
To continue their work, the charity needs consistent financial help, which is where The Herald Christmas Appeal comes in. Donating to the appeal will help ensure Mercy Corps Europe can continue their work. That means helping refugees in Syria, or helping to tackle the threat of famine in Africa. It means helping people in trouble or need in 42 countries around the world.
If you would like to help, please see Page 8 of today’s newspaper, visit www.mercycorps.org.uk/herald or click here.
Thankyou.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article