Radio România Internațional

Tag: June 1

  • Children’s Day, a celebration of both mothers and children

    Children’s Day, a celebration of both mothers and children

    Every year, the month of June reminds us to celebrate children and childhood, June 1 marking the International Childrens Day, first mentioned in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare in August 1925, when representatives of 54 countries adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Following this event, a number of governments around the world started celebrating Childrens Day.



    For the employees of this community center in Bucharest, the welfare of both children and parents is very important. Melania Medeleanu, a founding member of the center, told us more about a series of workshops addressing both children and parents.



    “We work for the Good Days Community center, which was originally opened to address the Ukrainian community, and starting June 1 it also addresses the Romanian community. Today we welcomed a few children and their mothers. In the morning, we had a workout workshop for mothers and their babies. Now we have an African drums workshop, featuring Mihai Axinte. Children are anxious to try them out. It is the first such event. We have been organizing Romanian and English language classes for the Ukrainian community, as well as yoga, art therapy and dance classes for children. They meet four times a week and so far we have enrolled 500 Ukrainian mothers and children, and were happy to be able to welcome them in a friendly environment where they can attend workshops, laugh or cry, if they feel the need to do that”.



    Alexandra Axinte, one of the organizers of the workshops, also gave us more details:


    “Todays workshop is called Good Monday, since its the first day of the week. We want to build a community here, so we started with children and their parents. We had several interactive workshops. First, mothers danced with their babies and worked out, then we had an emotion management workshop with the map of emotions for children aged 5-8, and now we have a drum workshop, designed to teach children and parents a number of rhythms. The aim is to get people connected, to find various ways to bring us together, through words and movement, and music and emotion, to see what people need right now and help in any way we can”.



    Weve asked Alexandra Axinte what kind of feedback she got.


    “In the morning, mothers were very excited to be able to meet other mothers and their children and socialize. Its something they desperately need. Then, in the emotion management workshop, mothers got to relax, away from their children. They sat out on the terrace while the children had fun with us. You can hear everyone having a good time, which means so far so good!”



    Alina Tofan, an actress and eco-performer, also shared her experience with us.


    “My workshop focused on art-therapy. We worked with the map of emotions, an exercise teaching children to focus on the shape of their body. They are only now starting to discover their bodies and we worked a lot at a mental level, trying to stimulate their creativity and spontaneity. The workshop was adapted to the needs of each child. Today, I had four children in my class. There are usually as many as 12 children, but the fewer they are, the better it gets for them, because their focus isnt spread too thin. However, they work better in larger numbers because they learn from each other fast. Another exercise was to build our own gift bags, which we are basically recycling. Children learned to work together and be mindful of the others needs, they got inspired from what they saw around them. Then each kid introduced himself, and we got to work a bit on the language and creativity – how to tell a story, how to describe a character, sharing fears and hobbies. Its interesting to see how many things they get to learn by interacting with each other. Its a very good exercise that boosts their self-confidence, and it gets easier when they work in groups. What I noticed is they are each very open. They know their limits and know exactly what they want. But I think theres still room to guide them, and encourage them to express themselves freely. There have been kids who have trouble unlocking their creative potential. They might have the potential and the intention, but they just cannot tap into it. Its usually the other way round, since kids are very creative but often dont know to manifest their creative side. Each group has its specificity, but I can say children today know a lot of things they can also express, so the future looks good!” (VP)


  • June 1, 2022 UPDATE

    June 1, 2022 UPDATE

    June 1 — On the International Childrens Day, marked on June 1 special activities such as concerts and flash mobs, treasure hunting parties, sports and creative activities and theater performances were organized throughout Romania. In Bucharest, the Parliament Palace opened its doors, and children and their companions could visit the plenum halls of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, and could also participate in outdoor activities in the gardens of the largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon. Superheroes and princesses, a flight simulator, a magic show or a military marching band made the day for children. Also in Bucharest, over 500 children celebrated the International Children’s Day by participating in various events held by the Ministry of Sports on the Arch of Triumph Stadium. Entitled “Childrens Sports Day”, the multi-sports event was organized in the form of demonstration workshops, with trainings given by certified athletes, under the guidance of specialized coaches. The children were able to learn the basics of several sports events such as basketball, archery, rugby, football, tennis, fencing, football-tennis, table tennis, wrestling, martial arts, judo, kempo, boxing, historical archery and teqball. In Oradea (west), the State Philharmonic presented a special concert with cartoon music, and in Constanţa (southeast) puppet shows, magic and face painting events were organized.



    Vouchers — The electronic vouchers offered through the government program Support for Romania started being issued and will soon reach their beneficiaries, the Romanian Labor Minister Marius Budai announced. The vouchers have a face value of 250 lei (about 50 Euros), are intended for people in situations of material deprivation or risk of poverty and are part of the most important initiative of this kind carried out, so far, from the perspective of the number of beneficiaries. According to the aforementioned source, over 2.5 million Romanians will receive vouchers for the purchase of food products: pensioners from the public pension system, people with a very severe, severe or moderate disability, families with at least 2 dependent children or single parent families. A first for this social assistance program is the wide range of funding sources, both from the state budget and from European non-reimbursable funds.



    Embargo — The US has hailed the embargo on Russian oil imports decided earlier this week by the European Union, aimed at cutting off funding for Russias war against Ukraine, France Presse reports. The U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price also hailed the European efforts meant to diversify energy supply and develop renewable sources to reduce long-term dependence on Moscow, and pointed out that Washington had already announced a ban on all Russian oil imports. On the other hand, Russia warned that the European sanctions on Russian oil imports would affect the global energy market and underscored that Moscow would redirect exports to limit the damage, Reuters reports. During Monday’s meeting, the European leaders reached an agreement under which Russian oil imports will be reduced by about 90% by the end of the year and also agreed on several other sanctions, including the removal of Russias largest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT system. More than a quarter of the oil used by Europe came from Russia last year, with nearly half of Russias oil and oil products exports reaching the EU, according to data provided by the International Energy Agency. Moscow has already begun redirecting deliveries originally intended for Europe, following the sanctions, the Kremlin officials said. India and China are among the countries that have massively bought Russian crude oil, benefiting from a lower price.



    Film – The third edition of the Romanian Film Festival in Washington, the largest national cinema promotion event held in North America, will begin on Friday, June 3, 2022, at Miracle Theater, one of the historic cinema halls in the American capital. This year, the festival is dedicated to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States, an important landmark of the relations between the two countries, shows a communiqué of the Romanian Embassy in the US. The festival will run until June 19, under the already established motto: Reinventing Realism – New Cinema from Romania. The American public is expected during the first three weekends of June to watch some of the most valuable recent Romanian films and to meet with the most popular actors and directors of the moment.



    Handball — The Brazilian Raul Nantes Campos and the Spanish Alex Pascual, both handball players at CS Dinamo Bucharest, are nominated in the ideal team of the 2021-2022 season of the EHF Champions League – the most important club handball competition for men’s teams in Europe. The South American was nominated for the left-back position, and the Spanish handballer was nominated for the title of best young player. The vote is open until June 15 on the dedicated EHF application, and the ideal team will be announced on June 17, during the Champions League Final 4 tournament in Cologne, and will be established based on the vote of the fans, and also of a committee of EHF experts. (LS)

  • June 1, 2022

    June 1, 2022

    June 1 — On the International Childrens Day, marked on June 1 special activities are organized throughout Romania. Children are expected at concerts and flash mobs, treasure hunting parties, sports and creative activities and theater performances. In Bucharest, the Palace of Parliament opens its doors, and children and their companions will be able to visit the plenum halls of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, and can also participate in outdoor activities in the gardens of the largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon. Superheroes and princesses, a flight simulator, a magic show or a military marching band will make the day for children. In Oradea (west), the State Philharmonic presents a special concert with cartoon music, and in Constanţa (southeast) there will be puppet shows, magic and face painting.



    Vouchers — Wednesday sees the start, in Romania, of the process of issuing, distributing and uploading the social vouchers offered through the government program Support for Romania– the Romanian Ministry of Investments and European Projects announced. The vouchers have a face value of 250 lei (about 50 Euros), are intended for people in situations of material deprivation or risk of poverty and are part of the most important initiative of this kind carried out, so far, from the perspective of the number of beneficiaries. According to the aforementioned source, over 2.5 million Romanians will receive vouchers for the purchase of food products: pensioners from the public pension system, people with a very severe, severe or moderate disability, families with at least 2 dependent children or single parents. A first for this social assistance program is the wide range of funding sources, both from the state budget and from European non-reimbursable funds.



    Embargo — The US has welcomed the embargo on Russian oil imports decided earlier this week by the European Union, which thus cuts off funding for Russias war against Ukraine, France Presse reports. The European leaders have reached an agreement under which Russian oil imports will be reduced by about 90% by the end of the year. U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the US, which is less dependent than Europeans on Moscows energy, has already announced a ban on all Russian oil imports. He also hailed the European efforts meant to diversify energy supply and develop renewable sources to reduce long-term dependence on Moscow.



    Unemployment — The unemployment rate in the European Union stood at 6.2% in April, a stable figure as compared to the previous month and down from 7.5% in the same period in 2021 – show data released today by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). With an unemployment rate of 5.5% in April, Romania ranks among the EU member states with a low level of unemployment. The lowest rates were reported in the Czech Republic (2.4%), Germany and Poland (both with 3%) and Malta (3.1%). On the other hand, the highest unemployment rates were recorded in April in Spain (13.3%) and Greece (12.7%).



    PPE — The Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, as presdient of the National Liberal Party, has had several bilateral meetings with European officials on the sidelines of the European Peoples Party (EPP) Congress in Rotterdam: with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and with the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, as well as with the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu. At the same time, Nicolae Ciucă met with the new president of the European Peoples Party, Manfred Weber. During his meeting with Ursula Von der Leyen, the Liberal leader expressed appreciation for the European institutions constant and sustained effort to ensure coordination and unity at EU level. At the same time, the Romanian PM also expressed his support for the rapid implementation of the sixth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation and strongly condemned the war of aggression launched by Vladimir Putin against Ukraine. The future of the EPP, the current EU agenda and the enlargement of the Schengen area were the topics discussed in the meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. Prime Minister Ciucă also reiterated on this occasion that Romanias accession to the Schengen area is a priority for the Romanian authorities. (LS)

  • Further relaxation measures in Romania

    Further relaxation measures in Romania

    With a number of deaths recently exceeding 1,200 and about 19 thousand cases of COVID-19 contamination confirmed over the past 3 months since the reporting of the first case of coronavirus infection on its territory, Romania will now enter a new phase of easing of restrictions. The measures, imposed as of March 15 across Romania in a move to contain the spread of the virus, have already been partially relaxed two weeks ago, when the state of emergency was replaced by a state of alert. So, as of May 15 Romanians no longer needed self-declarations to leave their homes and travel in their home localities or metropolitan areas. Parks and museums were re-opened, people thus returning gradually to normal socialization.



    The authorities have analyzed the situation of the past two weeks of state of alert and have concluded that further relaxation measures may be taken in Romania as of June 1. Among the new relaxation measures: the opening of café and restaurant gardens, of beaches, and the organization of open-air performances with up to 500 spectators. Sports competitions, that do not require direct contact among athletes, will be resumed, as well as international road and rail transportation. People will also be allowed to travel without any restrictions outside their home towns or metropolitan area, the PM Ludovic Orban announced.



    He also highlighted the conditions that need to be observed: “It is permitted to prepare, sell and consume foodstuffs, beverages and alcoholic drinks in special places located outside buildings, in the open air, while ensuring a distance of at least 2 meters among tables and with 4 people at the most sitting at one table, if these people are not from the same family. As of June 1, people can also go to the beach, with beach administrators having to ensure sun beds for each person. A minimum distance of 2 meters needs to be ensured among sun beds used by different families.”



    Although some of the restrictions will be eliminated, President Klaus Iohannis calls for caution though: “We cannot say that the epidemic has significantly subsided. Consequently, please continue to be very careful! I repeat, dear Romanians, dear young people, dear students, dear children, we will succeed in overcoming this pandemic if we observe social distancing rules, if we wear masks inside enclosed spaces, and if we wash our hands as often as possible.” Said President Iohannis.



    The evolution of the pandemic, with almost 200 new contaminations reported daily, shows that we need to continue to pay attention to hygiene and prevention rules, because there are still many cases of infection and people in ICUs, President Iohnnis also added. (tr. L. Simion)