A MINEHEAD-based charity which sends aid missions to poverty-stricken Romania is throwing five men on to the streets in 70 days' time from a house they have painstakingly renovated in the village of Santana.

The Romanian Social and Educational Projects charity bought and transformed the house for the homeless, but RoSEP chairman Rev Denis Newman has suddenly decided to evict them for no apparent reason.

Five Romanian men in their early 20s now have until March 31 to leave their home. They have no money and winter in Romania means temperatures sinking to as low as minus 20 degrees.

RoSEP is now teetering on the brink of collapse as trustees and project co-ordinators have stormed out in protest over Mr Newman's actions.

The move is also a body blow to the West Somerset people who had donated aid and thousands of pounds worth of money towards the cost of revamping the house.

To drive a lorry from Minehead to Santana costs £800 in diesel and this has always been generated in the past from fundraising and goodwill gestures.

For the past five years, cash has been sent over to be ploughed into the house which included a carpentry workshop to train the boys and a feeding centre. It had running water and even a shower, which is a luxury in Romania. and plans were in place to create an aid distribution point and health advice centre in the property.

But the young men, who all grew up in orphanages, only recently heard of their fate through an e-mail which was sent by Mr Newman to a contact in Romania.

However no-one within the charity in England or Romania can get an answer from Mr Newman as why he wants to evict everyone, and the men concerned are baffled and annoyed at being let down by a foreign charity from a developed country.

Many of the homeless in the village, in the west of the country, are forced to beg on the streets and sleep in the underground heating ducts or the sewers. This is an image repeated all over Romania.

Former West Somerset resident Alistair Ozanne, who resigned as RoSEP manager, still lives in Romania and has been using his own money to help with the construction of the home, which is just a few thousand pounds short of being complete.

He said: "Each of the young people were chosen to be part of a long-term project, approved by the RoSEP trustees in spring 2000. To remove them from their home and security at this stage is both callous and insensitive.

"A small group of us have done our best to support the young people in recent months, during which time there has been little or no support from the charity.

"Any credence RoSEP has left in Santana is fast diminishing as knowledge of the proposed eviction spreads around the community."

Jenny and Michael Evans, of Mill Farm holiday and caravan park, Fiddington, near Nether Stowey, have donated money and aid and been on trips to Santana to help out with work for RoSEP.

They are dumbfounded that the men are to be thrown out without a proper explanation from the charity.

Mr Evans said: "It is just so cruel after all the work and money that has gone into it. They have got nothing - this was going to be their first proper home.

"RoSEP has crumbled apart and there is no-one to help them. Alistair is still there and doing his best but there are other charities out in Romania, such French, German and Swiss, who just get on with their work out there.

"The people of Santana cannot understand why a British charity is doing this to them. We are not going to let this stand as it is and we are going to fight Denis Newman all the way."

Mr Newman refused to comment yesterday (Thursday) but said that the charity was not falling apart and he would give an explanation in 12 days' time.

Earlier, in a brief letter to the Free Press, Mr Newman said: "I am able to state that the position is more positive than you suggest and that Mr Evans is not associated with RoSEP and therefore is ill informed of our intentions. I certainly understand and appreciate your interest."

Dascalescu Marian, one of the men living in the house, said: "We were all brought up in the orphanage and when we had an opportunity to have a home of our own we were very happy and we know we are very lucky.

"Now we are hearing that we came to this house without the consent of the charity and we do not understand this. We are all sad because we worked hard on our rooms.

"The RoSEP house, including the carpentry workshop and feeding centre, was seen as an important new project in Santana. We were looking forward to being part of it and now this has been taken away from us.

"Our friends, both young and old, cannot understand why RoSEP want to evict us."

The four other men Anghel Vasile, Carpaci Stefi, Carpaci Villie and Ciurar Florin are pursuing careers in carpentry, construction and music. One has started a job with an international insurance company and another is involved in humanitarian work.

People from West Somerset have been over to help the young men with the building work but all their efforts now appear to have been in vain.

Voluntary worker at the RoSEP house Baranyai Klara said she spoke to Mr Newman on the telephone to try to explain the desperate situation in Santana.

"I tried to tell him about the situation with the poor people in Romania and he told me that RoSEP is not a rich charity as many people here think.

"I asked why RoSEP has decided to put the boys out of the house when they have worked all over the summer so that they can each have their own room.

"Mr Newman told me that this not a hotel, but I said that they have worked to renovate the house and expect to either work with RoSEP in the future or get another job and pay rent."

The director of orphanages in Santana Vloral Enache said he was very disturbed to hear of the eviction. He had been involved with the five young men as they had grown up in orphanages.

He said: "I am very disturbed to hear this news and I hope the problem can be resolved so they are able to remain in their home.

"I have visited the house on several occasions and have been impressed with the work that has been done. It is their security and it is unfair to remove this from them without good reason."