accepting death with the words, "You will soon be going to our Jesus.'' It was just one of the heart-rending scenes witnessed by Miss Noreen Walsh, a nurse who worked in a hospice for the Romanian orphans, cruelly neglected by the country's regime under Ceaucescu.

Yesterday she relived some of her experiences, speaking of the work of the UK-based Children in Distress charity to the Hamilton Lions, and accepting $2,000 for the charity, raised by the Lions through a sponsored weight loss.

The charity was founded in 1990 originally to help children in Romania, but has expanded its work to help children in the former Yugoslavia and Albania.

It is funding and staffing the St. Laurence Children's Hospice, in Romania, and the St. Luke's hospital and hospice which is due to open in Albania later this year.

The charity is also building a 30-bed hostel in Bucharest for the city's "street children'', some aged as young as four, begging for a living, and cut off from their families.

Miss Walsh, who came to Bermuda 17 months ago to work as a midwife at the King Edward VII Hospital, became involved in the charity when living in England.

She spoke of the laws introduced that said Romanian women up to the age of 45 had to have five children, abortions were illegal and miscarriages had to be reported to the police and treated as a crime. Contraception was also outlawed.

It was all in an effort to increase Romania's population to 30 million by the year 2000 to create a future pool of labour for the country, but at the same time nothing was done to help the children or their mothers.

"By 1990, there were 100,000 children in orphanages, malnourished, neglected, sick and deprived of love. AIDS was rife as the children were given blood to prevent malnutrition, often with dirty needles,'' said Miss Walsh.

"The country had one of the highest infant mortality rates from AIDS in Europe. But it was felt, due to many family circumstances, that it was better for children to be put in an institution or orphanage.'' Miss Walsh was in Romania when the charity's children's hospice opened and says the experience will stay with her for the rest of her life.

"I could see the terror on the faces of these children, then suddenly there were shrieks of laughter when they saw the bright colours and the toys. It was an experience that would have stayed with anyone for the rest of their lives.'' The charity's work in Albania is on-going, but it is being hampered in the former Yugoslavia because of the war.

Of he experience in Romania, she said, "In the words of one Romanian child `you have given us help and you have given us life'.'' If anyone wants to contribute to the charity they can send cheques to Children in Distress, Unit 2/1, York Road, Thirsk Industrial Park, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 3BX, England.

HELP FOR KIDS -- Miss Noreen Walsh (right), accepts a $2,000 cheque from President of the Hamilton Lions, Mr. Jim Leech, and Mrs Carolyn Hall-Vaucrosson, a Lions' member, for the British charity Children in Distress.