Radio România Internațional

Category: Society Today

  • Environmental Problems in Bucharest

    Environmental Problems in Bucharest

    The Romanian capital Bucharest is not only the most polluted European capital, but it has a level of pollution way above normal, endangering the health of its citizens. In addition, over the last few years, another phenomenon has been noted: the quality of air in Bucharest is variable, especially depending on the season. During winter, and more recently autumn, pollutants tend to be higher, as higher levels of burning occur.



    These conclusions, along many others, are in the report for researching the quality of the environment in Bucharest, recently launched at the request of the Bucharest Community Foundation. In fact, this report is the basis for the NGO platform to which civic activists and local administration representatives are invited to participate. The environmental problems in Bucharest come in many forms, and have been ignored for a long time. They now need concerted efforts to find solutions, which leads to the reason for creating this platform. Of course, any attempt at this has to be preceded by a detailed analysis of the situation, and this is what professor Cristian Ioja did with this research report, looking at the sources of pollution in Bucharest. Here is what he found, in short:


    “Bucharest has issues with suspension particles, has problems with nitrogen oxides, has problems with benzene, has issues with many categories of pollutants. In the end, it is mostly about the way in which we choose to commute in the city, because the main source of pollution within the city is traffic. Most of the citizens of the city choose a car to commute and move within the city. Also, Bucharest has a fairly low rate of use of public transportation. What is the further meaning of this type of mobility? This mobility represents public space occupancy. We are surprised by the number of automobiles registered in Bucharest in the last few years. However, this has to be taken further, in terms of occupancy of public spaces, because we can see that most sidewalks in the city are occupied by automobiles. Which bring us the issue of cleaning up the city, because if institutions want to clean up the city, there is the humongous effort of moving aside all cars just to clean up a street. Also, speaking of green spaces, the authorities show us some figures, and we are told that they are very close to the targets set by the legislation. However,if we look at what happens in reality, we can see that our main green spaces are crowded, including by cars.”



    How did we find ourselves in this situation? By a combination of economic interests and the neglect that Bucharesters show. Here is Cristian Ioja:


    “I believe that, at this moment, what has to be understood, at the level of the city, is that some have to gain from a polluted environment, a polluted air, bad water quality, the lack of green spaces, the poor management of waste, and our over the top consumption. So, practically, right now we can talk about an economy that is oriented towards a model of consumption in Bucharest where there is no awareness, or there is no taking into account too much environmental issues. I believe that one of the most important problems, which branch out into the environmental issues that the city has, is the fact that there isnt much attachment towards the city. The attachment towards the city is very low, lets say a very low sensitivity towards what happens further down the line as a result of our individual choices. If we climb in the car every day for each movement we make, we have to be aware that we have no way of having clean air. By the same token, if we have exaggerated consumption of products, we cannot have a circular economy. So basically these individual gestures, multiplied at the scale of the city, bring with them this multitude of problems we are facing at the present moment.”




    Over the last few years, waste management has truly become a serious problem. Waste has been piling up, and the authorities have not managed to keep up with selective collection, recycling, and storage. Which is why you can see on the fringes of the capital improvised garbage dumps, and in the nearby villages waste is getting burned, releasing into the air substances that are extremely harmful for the health of Bucharesters. For the time being, the Environmental Guard seems to be overwhelmed by the number of incinerations, and their interventions are meager faced with the size of the phenomenon. Generally, the authorities are clumsy intervening, and burdened by the bureaucracy. This was the conclusion presented by Bucharest Sector 2 mayor upon taking over his position:


    “Community police came to tell us that we should be fining the Romanian Waters public state utility for not cleaning up their bodies of water. We have the chain of bodies of water in the northeast of Bucharest, and we had a discussion with Romanian Waters. They told us that they themselves could fine us because the citizens of Sector 2 are dumping garbage in the city lakes. I think that this best describes the way in which the authorities were relating at that time to managing waste: how we could best slap fines upon each other. We sat down with the director from Romanian Waters, and we agreed to attempt to do something in common. We signed a protocol, and it took us about three months to formulate it, because, even though the political will was there, this is the Romanian bureaucracy we have to deal with. It took three moths to sign a protocol by which Romanian Waters contributes with machinery, and Sector 2 City Hall takes the water out of this waste and takes it to the dump. We took out over 10,000 tons of waste from the chain of lakes around Bucharest, which shows us what pitiful degree of pollution we have reached in the last 30 years. Waste doesnt go away. If a company takes it over, it doesnt mean it disappears. Many times it ends up in the field, it ends up in the water, and many times it just ends up in peoples stoves as fuel. This is reality. A lot of stuff gets burned in Bucharest, and it gets burned in peoples stoves. We should be managing these things. It helps us very much collaborating with civil society.”



    Collaboration between civil society and the authorities is precisely the target set by the environmental platform recently launched by the Bucharest Community Foundation. At the same time, the foundation is keenly aware that this collaboration would have to aim for the really long term in order to produce results and actually reduce pollution.

  • PROUD Romanian language school

    PROUD Romanian language school


    Romanian cultural institutes in major cities around the world, Romanian embassies and churches routinely organise classes, weekend schools or various recreational activities that focus on the Romanian language and address children from Romanian communities abroad. But the school we are looking at today is special in that it brings together people from all parts of the world who are interested in learning Romanian or in refining their Romanian language skills. And this is only possible online.



    Delia Pavel has been living in New York, USA, since 2019. Two years ago, she had this initiative which she describes as being born on American land but having deep Romanian roots:



    “In Romania, I used to work in the independent theatre sector and in organising cultural and educational activities for children and adults. I chose to move to the US, and when I arrived my plan was to do the same activities for the Romanian children in the Romanian communities in the state of New York, where I live. But then the pandemic came, and we had to rethink the entire programme for the online medium. We had set out to organise activities in Romanian exclusively, but it turned out that children were speaking very little Romanian. Even with families who speak Romanian at home, children speak only English at school, so they forget their native language, and when they go home they answer their parents in English, their parents start using English with them as well, so kids are less and less exposed to the Romanian language.”



    This is how PROUD school was created, as a platform for cultural and educational activities targeting children in the Romanian communities abroad and in mixed families in the diaspora. Here is the founder of the school, Delia Pavel, with more details:



    “The online medium has given us a chance to expand to many other countries. So far we have trained over 200 children, and thanks to the original method used by our teachers, who use games and play and who focus on personal development and on improving self-esteem, children are delighted to take these classes. So actually we are more than just a Romanian language school. We try and we manage to make kids proud of their Romanian roots, to encourage them to find out more about Romania, to read books in Romanian, to make friends in other countries, united by this strong, although invisible connection which is our Romanian background.”



    Children from the United States, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, the Philippines, Egypt, Nigeria and Dubai have already enlisted for the courses provided by PROUD. The courses themselves, which are targeted for different age groups and levels of Romanian are held by Romanian language teachers in the case of children who want to learn Romanian from zero and by actors for those who only wish to improve their Romanian.



    Anca Manolescu is an actor, script writer and acting teacher who is part of PROUDs team. She told us how she works with the children who signed up for the online courses to learn or improve their knowledge of the Romanian language:



    “Im employing a number of methods that I, myself, have only recently learnt when I began to learn this new profession. Everything is held online, so Im using personal development games that are also used in acting. The children are between 4 and 13 years old, so you can imagine that the methods vary a lot depending on their age, and I also have to take into account their level of Romanian and their personality, etc. We do speech games, I teach them poems that Im very fond of and that I myself learnt when I was growing up, from poems written by Romanian poets to childrens rhymes and which I believe can help children not only learn Romanian but also get a feel of how children play here, in Romania. Its important they also learn something about how we, in Romania, live, from the food we eat here to colloquial language, how we speak to friends or what type of language we use in more formal situations. Im happy to see the children respond to these things and to be able to recite a poem or tell them about my own childhood or teach them words for trees that dont grow where they live, like the name of a wild apricot tree that you only find here.”



    The initiator of the PROUD school Delia Pavel says the enthusiasm of the children who attend the courses and their parents content with their progress make her think the project was a good idea and that it should go on.


  • Resignations and adjustments on the Romanian labor market

    Resignations and adjustments on the Romanian labor market

    In 2021, the second
    year of the pandemic also brought about an unusual, if not unexpected,
    phenomenon on the labor market – a massive number of resignations. Seen as the
    great resignation in the USA, the phenomenon turned global, also affecting
    Romania. A recent survey attests to the existence of the phenomenon. Raluca
    Dumitra, a communication manager with an online recruiting agency told us more:


    Candidates are more willing
    to compromise. At the start of the year, we conducted a survey among
    job-seekers and it turned out 21% of employees would quit their current job,
    even if they don’t have a backup plan. It’s a rather high percentage which I
    think should worry employers, all the more so as restrictions were lifted on
    March 9. This means employers will want to get people back to work, considering
    workers want to remain flexible. A return in block to the workplace would also
    possibly prompt employees to resign. Another interesting fact is that right now
    candidates are extremely optimistic. Around 75% of Romanians believe they might
    find a job within three months. It’s a high rate of optimism considering the
    reality on the market. Most industries and sectors are facing a significant
    labor shortage, which means highly qualified experts might actually find a job
    in less than three months right now.


    Petru Păcuraru, the
    director of a company that specializes in human resources has confirmed this
    phenomenon, also identifying its causes:


    One reason would be
    that 2020 was a year of uncertainty. People stopped switching jobs, meaning
    there were less people who resigned in search of a better workplace, but the
    situation changed radically in 2021. 2020 will be the year with the highest job
    retention rate in the history of mankind, as mobility was affected. Another
    reason is that, businesses have started moving back offline bit by bit. And
    then, part of the people who got used to working online will have a hard time
    doing their job, and for them this is a criterion when looking for a new job.
    And thirdly, I might add, despite economic difficulties, we see people continue
    to invest in luxury goods. And one reason is that, in times of crises, people
    are thinking about what matters to them most. And those who were about to
    compromise, thinking they would keep their job until they find something better
    for themselves, found themselves in a bad spot and realized the tradeoff wasn’t
    worth it, and they mustered up their courage to look for something better.


    At the same time,
    people who dare resign without any safety net have a financial and professional
    status above average, Petru Păcuraru told us:


    If we look at
    demographic and income indicators, we will certainly notice people over the age
    of 30 or 35 taking this decision, as well as those whose education and income
    levels are above average. However, resigning is not always followed by an
    immediate reemployment solution. An example are those working in highly
    volatile sectors who face high stress levels that can lead to burnout. The
    decision to stop working is not determined by finding a new job, but merely by
    the will to stay alive.


    Although resigning
    without a backup plan might seem a decision stimulated by an exaggerated sense
    of optimism at first, the latest developments on the labor market do justice to
    those who believe a new job, one that is better-suited for them, will sooner or
    later appear. Raluca Dumitra told us more:


    For instance, last
    month we had 38 thousand new jobs listed on our platform, which is tantamount
    to the war in Ukraine. If we look at the previous month, we will notice a 13%
    increase, considering this is a difficult context we’re talking about, meaning
    people continue to switch jobs. Candidates continue to apply and we have some
    900 applications every month. Therefore, people continue to resign and are
    prompted by jobseekers’ desire to find a better job. In terms of the number of
    applications, they are down compared to the same period last year, but that’s
    not a surprise, since last year came with record-high numbers of applications.
    This time last year, the market did not favor job applicants. Last year,
    employers were in a position of power. Another important aspect is that 8 out
    of 10 Romanians for whom switching jobs was a priority have already started
    looking for a job. And this is also reflected in the high number of job
    applications we continue to receive.


    Of course, there are
    sectors where the demand of workforce is higher, such as retail, transport,
    hospitality, call-centers and IT&C. Therefore, the market will continue to
    change, Raluca Dumitra argues.


    We cannot compare to
    the wave of resignations in the US, and I don’t believe Romania will get to
    that point, simply because we are talking about a different culture and
    mentality. Yet it is worth noting that Romanians are growing increasingly aware
    of the context and the fact that there are many jobs available, even in times
    of pandemic or war. This makes them feel more confident, even though they don’t
    have backup plans. The high number of jobs will definitely favor the wave of
    resignations over the coming period. All that must be analyzed in a
    geopolitical context, of course, but once a ceasefire is reached, the labor
    market will continue its current course and we’ll be seeing more resignations.
    (VP)

  • The pandemic and its aftermath in Romania

    The pandemic and its aftermath in Romania

    2022 is, among
    other things, the year of the housing census of the population in Romania. Initially,
    the housing census was scheduled for 2021, but it was postponed because of the
    pandemic. We are still waiting for the final data, to be compared with the data
    collected in the previous housing census carried in 2011. Meanwhile, we have
    had a look at the current statistics which sadly point to a worrying condition
    of the country’s birth and mortality rates.


    According to statistics, the number
    of the newly-born has stayed relatively constant during the pandemic. It was
    small, anyway. However, the mortality rate has soared. In 2021, irrespective of
    the death cause, the total number of the deceased Romanians went over 334
    thousand, that is 27% more than for the timeframe previous to the pandemic. All
    told, the mortality rate’s exceeding figure during the two years of the
    pandemic went over 100 thousand people. Concurrently, in Romania, in 2020, the reported
    number of the newborn accounted for 40 thousand less infants than in 2019.


    Dr Vasile
    Ghetau is a sociologist and demography expert. He told us that in that period
    of time the fewest children in the last hundred years were born. Which means
    that the natural growth rate, made of the difference between the number of the
    newborn and the number of the deceased, is still negative and only speeds up
    the natural decline.

    Dr Vasile Ghetau: The
    natural decline of the population before the pandemic, in 2019, accounted for
    71 thousand inhabitants. In 2020, the natural decline went up to 120,000, while
    the data for the first 11 months of 2021 point to a significant increase in the
    number of deaths, with the natural decline reaching almost 150,000 inhabitants.
    If we also take the month of December into account, last year we’re highly likely
    to have witnessed an appalling natural decline, of 160-170 thousand people in
    one year alone. It is an appalling figure as compared to the country’s
    population, accounting for 19 million people.


    Here
    is Dr Vasile Ghetau once again, this time speaking about the causes of the high
    mortality rate across the country.


    Dr Vasile Ghetau: The increase in the number of deaths in 2020
    and mostly in 2021 has the COVID-19 infection as its cause only in a moderate
    proportion. The deaths have been on the rise, specifically, because of the circulatory
    system conditions and of the respiratory system conditions other than COVID. This
    increase did have something to do with the pandemic, nonetheless. However,
    research studies on that are still in progress. For instance, it has been
    unanimously acknowledged that in the case of the circulatory system diseases, social
    isolation under quarantine circumstances led up to a reported growing number of
    deaths among the elderly, against the backdrop of the pandemic. As for the
    respiratory system conditions other than COVID, if we examine some of the data,
    we can see the mortality rate has grown because of pneumonia. Perhaps the general
    context of the pandemic has something to do with the characteristics of that
    virus, yet the final data, when they are provided, will offer a very accurate
    image of the mortality as a whole, in keeping with the specific causes of deaths.
    Then we can accurately measure where the COVID-generated mortality stands,
    against the backdrop of mortality as a whole.


    Until
    then,
    we can measure the immediate aftermath of mortality in recent years.

    Dr Vasile
    Ghetau    : Mortality
    rate in October and November was on the rise, and its outcome was a decline in the
    level of life expectancy at birth, which was something predictable. So, for a
    whole year, life expectancy at birth for the entire population, male and
    female, in Romania, stands at almost 76 years. Data for the first 11 months of
    the last year point to a life expectancy rate which is three years shorter, therefore
    standing at 73 years. And, if to all that we add the month of December, life expectancy
    is highly likely to stand at 72 years. A four-year decline in life expectancy,
    that is whopping. Of course, other countries are also very likely to experience
    a rather high rate of pandemic-generated mortality that may lead to a setback
    in life expectancy. Yet we’re speaking about much smaller values than those
    reported for Romania in 2020 and those that have been quite clearly outlined
    for 2021.




    Here
    is sociologist Dr Vasile Ghetau once again, this time proving that these
    figures only make an even clearer representation of a phenomenon that has
    been ongoing for quite some time now: the new generations that have been born
    in Romania no longer provide the replacement level for the population as a
    whole.


    Dr Vasile Ghetau: In order for the population to grow or at least stay the same, for a simple
    replacement, one single woman will have to give birth to two children, in her
    life. It only takes two children for a primary population replacement process to occur.
    If, on average, more than two children are born, the population is likely to
    grow, so we’re going to have more than the numerical replacement level. However,
    in Romania, the last generation to have provided for itself the genetic
    replacement is the one born in 1961. All the subsequent generations had a final
    descendance rate lower than two children for one single woman. The more such
    generations are reported to occur, the more obvious is the fact that, in time, the
    population will be on the wane because it is unable to provide its own
    replacement.


    Further data and, implicitly, a more detailed picture of the demographic
    evolution and involution, we are going to have all that as soon as the housing census
    is completed. The online self-census of individuals begins on March 14, 2022.
    The field housing census carried through a face-to-face interview kicks off on May 16,
    2022.

    (EN)


  • Don’t look down!

    Don’t look down!

    One third of the Romanians have never looked at the sky in the last week, in spite of the fact that they say they are very close to nature. This is the result of a recent study, commissioned by a glass window producer. According to another recent study, most people across the globe spend 5 thousand hours a year looking at a screen, which causes back pain and related health problems. Speaking about screen time, an American neurologist gave it a name – the Head Downers Syndrome. The constant head downing leads to muscle cramps, a condition increasingly common in teenagers. There are many children and adolescents who go see physical therapists, looking for quick solutions to a chronic problem – the addiction to technology, which has an impact on our physical health.





    Radu-Mihai Avram, a physical therapist, tells us about the consequences of the bad posture most of us have, sometimes without knowing it: It is true, people spend a lot of time keeping their head down and the number of young people and children who do so is worrying. They are addicted to new technologies and the phones we did not have in our childhood, which triggers a series of functional problems of the spine. We spend a lot of time keeping our heads down, when we look at the screens, and we forget about our posture when we are concerned about work, school and other things, all these causing us back problems.



    Radu-Mihai Avram tells us about the most difficult cases he dealt with: The most severe cases here in our clinic were in teenagers aged 13 to 18 or even younger, who were diagnosed with conditions that are normally common in adults. They were diagnosed with spondylolisthesis, a spine condition that occurs when one of the vertebrae slips out of place onto the vertebra below it. Others had lumbar discopathy, a condition which is very painful. Medication, physical therapy and pain killers are needed in these cases.



    Radu Mihai Avram has a piece of advice for parents: We should always pay attention to our childrens posture. Each time they use the phone or another device we should teach them what the correct posture is, for either standing or sitting. They should avoid using mobile devices while staying in bed, in an armchair, with the head down. We must learn the correct posture ourselves, as parents and then teach our children to do the same. My advice to parents is to look for the 90 degree angle. A 90-degree angle between trunk and femur, femur and tibia. By maintaining this angle we ease pressure on joints and muscles. Also, body weight should be supported equally by both legs; the neck should be kept straight, and the shoulders slightly pulled towards the back.



    Radu-Mihai Avram also told us : If our spinal cord could speak, it would tell us the following : do not rush to solve everything in a minute, do not carry heavy things, remember that I am here and I am not indestructible, I can be easily damaged. Once a lesion occurs, it is difficult to make it go away and it takes years to improve things. You need physical exercise. Make sure you keep your back in the correct position and have a healthy diet. Avoid lifting heavy weight and remember you are responsible for your own health. (EE)



  • Large-scale construction works and their impact on Romania’s still unspoiled traditional culture

    Large-scale construction works and their impact on Romania’s still unspoiled traditional culture

    A lot has been built in Romania in the more than 30
    years that have passed since the outbreak of the anti-communist Revolution. However,
    and more often than not, construction works were carried chaotically, at once being
    blatantly misplaced, as tall apartment blocks were built in private residence
    districts, new constructions cropped up nearby listed, historical buildings, or
    shapes and colours, randomly chosen, simply took hold of the architecture of an
    area. The disorder caused by all that is simply exhausting. Whether we speak
    about the urban areas or the rural regions, the architectural chaos has mainly been
    generated by the lack of a clear-cut system of standards in the construction
    sector. Not to mentioned the fact that the authorities in right turned a blind
    eye on the serious abnormalities perpetrated on the ground.


    That being said, we invite you to meet the initiators of
    the project themed Upstream Topolog river, Cristina and Paul Budan. For one
    year running, the project’s stated aim was to undertake a study period, prior
    to preservation, of the vernacular architecture of the southern part of Arges
    County’s Topolog river’s upstream segment.


    Why? Because a highway is soon to cross the region. Notwithstanding,
    the Budan family would like that, at least for that particular segment, the good
    points of the technical progress should not have a negative impact on the
    specificity of the area. And, if that may not also be possible, at least the locals’
    centuries-old way of life should be registered for posterity.


    Cristina Budan is a teaching assistant with the
    Faculty of Architecture as part of the Bucharest-based Ion Mincu University.
    She has been explaining what the Upstream Topolog River project actually meant:


    ʺThe project sought to map the entire upper
    part of the Topolog river valley, in a bid to see what could be preserved of
    that traditional architecture and attempt to carry a documentation of the valley,
    to keep as much info as possible on that particular type of architecture, given
    that a highway segment will cross the area. The Cornetu-Tigveni segment will
    cut through the valley, and everything will change, most likely, as soon as
    that happens. As we speak, the valley is rather quiet, as there is no major roadway
    to cross it so it has been preserved in a very good condition, traditional architecture
    was easy to preserve in the area as well. Infrastructure changes will surely alter
    the structure of the villages, the development of the region, therefore it will
    also have its impact on the built heritage.


    What experiences, what revelations did the volunteers
    have, who worked in large numbers for the mapping of the upper part of Topolog
    River Valley?

    Cristina Budan once again.


    ʺAs I’ve said before, there
    is no major road to cross the valley, to cut it through, so it has its own
    peace and quiet, it does have its autonomy. What’s most interesting is that it functions
    as a whole, it is closely-knit and living in that valley is something beautiful,
    it is intertwined, since the locals there are owners of the house, the pasture,
    the meadow land and through their daily activities, they somehow keep the place
    together. That’s what we first liked very much about it! Then there are lots of
    hypostases of the valley. The roads are spectacular, especially when you start losing
    yourself in the lateral hills, the experience is very beautiful, that of
    crossing the valley and how you get to reach those houses. And we found very
    beautiful houses, they were hard to include into categories, we even had our difficulties
    trying to trace several clear-cut typologies, since they are so varied in terms
    of expression, so that was really difficult. We ran into very beautiful, porch houses,
    of that classic typology we all associate with traditional architecture, but we
    also ran into walled houses with very elaborate plastering, with very refined, complex
    roofs…well, it’s all about a very rich expression we don’t seem to pay heed to,
    unfortunately. It is very important for us to keep a database of all we have
    now and the way the valley functions, together with those houses, which are
    expressions of the place, after all. And we were also interested in creating a
    database with the various expressions of those houses, what shapes those houses
    can take, so that we can see howe much variety is, in fact, in the local
    architecture.


    For Paul
    Budan, The Upstream Topolog river project has, apart from its practical importance, a psychological importance as well. A Bucharest city-dweller as he may be,
    Paul Budan has its family roots in that valley. He spends his summers there, actually, and it is not at all indifferent to
    him how the area will look like, after the highway will have been built.


    ʺIt is hard to imagine such a
    transformation. In a couple of years’ time the valley will most likely be a huge
    construction site, but, when the highway is completed, and if possible, with
    the help of the authorities, it will develop harmoniously, we hope, ideally
    speaking, also taking into account the specialists’ opinion…maybe the reconditioning
    of the river banks, maybe the reconstruction of certain pathways, of certain little
    bridges, maybe the proposal of several local constructions, that also including
    buildings which can be put to good use for the highway – parking areas, hotels,
    guesthouses – which somehow can preserve the architectural specificity, at once
    preserving a coherence of the valley. With the help pf the project, we believe
    we could open a dialogue or we can bring together the local authorities and the
    high-level ones, so that a dialogue proper can be initiated to that end, and
    together, they can build the valley harmoniously, naturally. We hope we could
    influence that valley for the better or have a beneficial intervention in that
    process of change.


    That outcome would be an ideal one, by all means. But
    if that may not be the case, unfortunately, the outcome of Cristina and Paul
    Budan’s initiative will be an exceptional work, where joining the two were also
    in the Architects’ Order in Romania, the Village Museum in Bucharest, the Vine
    and Tree Growing Museum in Golesti, Arges County, but also specialists in
    history, sociology, geography, landscaping or volunteer workers, mostly
    student-architects, but also architects who are on the job already. The results
    of their works can be visited at petopologinsus.ro, on the project’s Facebook
    page, but mainly in a book of an exceptional quality, content and design-wise,
    a book which is always impressive in terms of size.


    We’re well aware of the fact that
    modernization is something necessary, we all want that to happen and the infrastructure
    projects are necessary, we all know that. In a separate move, the way things are
    being done matters a lot. First of all, the infrastructure project needs to be implemented
    there with utmost care so that it should not dent the future development of the
    region. What we do hope for, though, is for the project to come up with that promised
    well-being and not take more than it could offer, from that particular place..
    These were the final words of Cristina Brudan, a teaching assistant with the Faculty
    of Architecture in Bucharest. We all want progress, but that should not happen
    at all costs.


    (EN)

  • Heritage buildings in Bucharest

    Heritage buildings in Bucharest

    Real estate in Bucharest, seriously affected by the communist nationalisation, the post-December restitutions to former owners or heirs, but especially by neglect, not only renders the city rather desolate, but also poses safety risks. Many of the heritage buildings, unconsolidated and unrestored, are deteriorating before our very eyes, and some risk a complete collapse in the event of a major earthquake. These are tall and voluminous buildings, some erected in the second half of the 19th century and in the early 20th century, which have not benefited from any repair or consolidation. In recent years, however, there has been some maintenance and consolidation work financed both by the local administration and some owners, but specialists, civil society and residents say its not enough. The reasons are many, as Ștefan Bâlici told us:



    “I believe we are still trapped in that scenario in which the status of historical monument is automatically associated with something negative. If we have a monument, we must have a problem. As long as we do not have effective and well distributed tools to fix things in this area, the heritage will continue to be an issue. We will keep looking at these building degrading or being pulled down. Obviously, this status of historical monument, or part of a historical monument – and we shouldnt forget that the entire downtown Bucharest is on the list of historical monuments – comes with certain restrictions. This means that certain authorizations are required, the costs are higher and so on and so forth. They cannot be demolished and there are also restrictions regarding the works that can be done on them. This translates into a certain authorization chain, higher costs, etc. The balance should be ensured through owners support programs or by mere funding.



    In other cities, like Timisoara and Oradea, where heritage buildings have been largely restored and refurbished in the past years, solutions have been found at administrative level. Its true that the issues are more complex in Bucharest, because the real estate is larger and covering a bigger area. Moreover, we dont really know how many buildings would just collapse should an earthquake occur, according to Radu Vacareanu, a professor with the Civil Engineering University in Bucharest:



    “At one point we did a quick estimate of the consolidation efforts and we got to somewhere in between 13 and 14 billion Euro. If we add the amount needed to ensure energy efficiency, the amount would be 27 billion. Even if Santa Claus came and gave us 27 billion, we still wouldnt be able to implement these projects, because we do not have enough capacity. Are construction companies capable of implementing projects of this scale? Obviously not! So, what we need is to prioritize, and for that we need to know how big the problem is in Bucharest. I probed a little bit into the seismic danger in the capital. And here, the problem is twofold. First of all, the threat to life, which means that peoples lives must be protected, and then damage control.



    Given the situation, what has the Bucharest municipality done so far? Edmond Niculusca, a representative of the institution responsible for building consolidation told us:


    “This is a rather new institution. When I took office eight months ago, I was surprised to find that there were no structural engineers among the 90 employees of the institution, and that says a lot about how things stand. Its true that there are no funding programs. But the problem is not really there. The mayors office has major financial problems, but the Consolidation Administration doesnt. The municipal restoration program will focus on the entire historical real estate, located in built-up protected areas or in protected areas of monuments or classified compounds. It includes reimbursable 25-year financing with a real estate guarantee. Based on certain criteria, people will apply to this financing program, a program that can accompany you as an owner or as an association of owners in the whole designing process and consolidation-restoration works, but also in matters related to permits or authorizations that are very complicated. The percentage of co-financing from the mayors office is between 50% and 75%. It is the first financing program on historical monuments in Bucharest.”



    As regards owners attitude, it depends on their type and interests. In the past, there have been cases of heritage buildings left derelict on purpose, in order to lose their status as historical monuments and to be demolished for land use. There are also owners who, for various reasons, are reluctant when they hear about consolidation works. But, according to Edmond Niculușcă, in all these cases the main responsibility lies with the authorities:



    There are associations that do not want consolidation. So, the works drag on, the project expires because they cannot find an agreement. We, as the authority, have according to the law the obligation to draw up a report recording the fact that the owners take responsibility and the authority could not intervene to reduce the seismic risk to the respective building. Indeed, there are cases in which the owners do not want to, but to generalize and say that consolidation does not happen because people do not want consolidation is false. People have refused because the authorities have not been transparent. It hasnt been clear how much it would cost, what people must pay, why the costs are so high and especially hot long it takes. “



    Currently, there are 349 buildings on the official list of buildings in Bucharest in the seismic risk category I, but civic associations and construction experts believe that, in reality, the number is higher, because the buildings have not been properly assessed. (MI)

  • Romanian Children Tackle Bullying

    Romanian Children Tackle Bullying

    After many years of debates between authorities, NGOs, and parents, in 2019 a law passed against harrassment and aggression in schools. Its methodology of enforcement was published only in May 2020, during the early pandemic, which made things much harder. In spite of that, children and educators did not sit idle, and continued to find ways of combating bullying. One of the most recent such activities took place at the Childrens Forum, a project of the Save the Children organization, already in its 20th year. In fact, the project provides a context that offers the children the possibility of expressing their point of view regarding the issues they identify in their schools. In addition, this is an original project, because the opinions and recommendations provided by children are sent to the authorities that are enabled to act on them.




    In 2022, the Childrens Forum met around the International Childrens Day, and Mariana Moraru, one of the coordinators of the forum, talked to us about it:

    “It took place in Bucharest, where we gathered 100 children from 14 counties, including Bucharest, who focused on the issue of bullying. Even though we have a law that provides that children in schools would not be facing such phenomena, or that they would have available the mechanisms to manage them, unfortunately reality shows that there are still issues with such unfavorable interactions between children. On June 1, the international day dedicated to children, the Save the Children organization published a study showing that one of two children is exposed to one form or another of physical or emotional violence, even sexual. It is a study that shows us the magnitude of the phenomenon, and also shows us that the number of verbal and social aggression events is staying the same, if not rising. In 2017 we had another study dedicated to bullying, involving about 1.3 million children. That study showed that about 400,000 kids were subject to various forms of bullying and cyberbullying, while 200,000 of them were subject to physical violence. Unfortunately, bullying in all its forms is more present than ever, and the pandemic period definitely had an impact on the increase in the number of cases of bullying.”




    Even though the figures are worrying, the increased number of reported cases surely has to do with the existence of the anti-bullying law itself, and with the fact that more and more parents, teachers, and students are more and more encouraged to report this phenomenon. Here is Mariana Moraru from Save the Children:

    “It is true that this law has an important role in the increasing number of bullying cases getting reported. It is a good thing that they are getting reported. However, experience tells us that this is not sufficient. No law was ever sufficient to improve the reality in any system. What is needed is for people to have the necessary support to implement the measures provided by the law. Based on the experience we gathered by working closely with schools during this school year, I realized that we need better information for school staff, as well as for parents and students, regarding the causes of bullying and its effects, and especially the ways in which we can intervene directly. There is a lot of fear on the part of young people regarding intervention and reactions they should have in case they are involved in bullying cases, in one form or another.”




    We asked Mariana Moraru what proposals were made by the young people involved in the Childrens Forum to reduce this phenomenon of aggression.

    “First of all, the children believe that it is very important to have priorities regarding the measures which contribute directly to improving school climate. They also found ideas to help the collaboration between the government, ministries, and organizations, all with the aim of turning education communities into safe education communities. The categories of proposals submitted by children were based on the need for adults, but also for young people in schools of enjoying social and emotional support. Our practical discussions focused around this idea, that of the need for emotional support, and children tried to identify the way in which emotional support could be offered by different levels of authorities in the Romanian state. The children were listened to, and, with the help of moderators that accompanied kids when interacting with authorities, they emphasized the fact that this is an event that is mainly about childrens participation. It emphasized the fact that they should express their needs. Even though there is opening on the part of the authorities, it is a bit harder when it comes to putting into practice the proposals that children have.”




    Therefore, the children were provided with the possibility of expressing their opinion, and be listened to by the people in the ministry and the school inspectorates. We also have to bear in mind that there will be a while until these proposals will be put into practice.

  • Attitudes and Expectations in Romania Related to the Social State

    Attitudes and Expectations in Romania Related to the Social State

    In the 15 years since Romania joined the EU, economic progress is obvious: average net wages went up 3.5 times, the pace of economic growth was one of the highest in Europe, while GDP growth places Romania among the first in the Union. At the same time, statistics also show growing income inequality, a rise in school drop-out rates, and rising emigration. That being the situation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Romania planned a sociological study to plumb Romanian opinions about state involvement.




    The result was the paper ‘Progressive Attitudes and Values in Romania’. The premise for the study was detailed for us by one of the co-authors, sociologist Claudiu Tufis:


    “The public sphere is strongly anchored on the right, ideologically, and when it comes to values there is always talk of liberalism, of the market economy, of competition, respect for private property, of corruption and anti-corruption. There is also less talk about topics of interest for the largest part of the population, those who live one paycheck to the next. This was what motivated this initiative from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. We wanted to measure in some way if certain values usually associated with the left can be found among the public, because there isn’t much sociological research to look at such things directly.




    For sociologist Claudiu Tufis, the term ‘progressive’ was not the most inspired choice. He would have even preferred the term ‘left leaning’, given that the broad brush topics in the polling are usually among left wing policies. For instance, social protection, state financing of education and healthcare, state intervention in the economy to ensure equitable living conditions, etc. Among the polling questions was that on progressive taxation, a topic under discussion now in Romania, in the sense of eliminating the single tax rate. Here is Claudiu Tufis:


    “The first question that drew attention was that related to preferences on taxation, and the famous percentage of 73. Meaning that three quarters of the population believe that those with higher incomes should pay higher taxes. Of course, the discussion on progressive taxation is complex from an economic point of view, and progressive taxation in broad terms doesn’t say much. The way in which this principle of equitable taxation is implemented can take many forms, and the way in which this principle is implemented can take many forms. At the same time, the way in which it is implemented can also have very different outcomes. We didn’t have room in the questionnaire for such detailing. We could not inquire about preferences regarding various modes of progressive taxation. We know that, at a very general level, the population believes that those with higher wealth should be taxed more. However, beyond this question of progressive taxation there are questions about various ways in which the state should help those in need. One example is rent control, setting ceilings on rent, a topic that is not only under discussion in Western Europe, but is even implemented in Spain, or in Berlin, where they have rent control. There was never any serious discussion of this topic in the Romanian space. Regarding rent control, about a third, meaning 34%, believe strongly that this should happen, and about 30% more say that they want this rather strongly. If we add up the percentages, we get about 65% of the population believing that the state should put a ceiling on rents. Another question revealed that Romanians believe that the people who own more than one home should pay higher property taxes starting with the second home owned.




    However, contradictions emerged in the answers to the questionnaire. Even though a majority of respondents believe the state should pay more in social assistance to disadvantaged categories, there are many who are against raising government spending. Here with details is Claudiu Tufis:


    “There are areas in which respondents believe that government spending should increase in areas such as poverty reduction, unemployment benefits, health pensions, healthcare, and social assistance. However, here we get in a more complex discussions, because we have general questions within the limits in opinion polls. The answers to such general questions are usually something along the lines of ‘Yes, we should spend more money to reduce poverty, or finance better education and healthcare’. However, when we get to the other question, if they agree with raising taxation, or if they would be willing to pay more for such things, the situation changes to some extent. People are more reticent in saying that they would dole out more money for these things.




    Given the very general nature of the questions, which address mostly humanistic ideals which we would be hard put to reject, contradictions are unavoidable. We asked Claudiu Tufis what would happen if we would reduce the level of generality, and ask more pointed questions:


    “We are looking at support for various values, and try to discover sets of values. So we are not necessarily interested in the percentage of those in support of a certain idea, we are rather interested in seeing if those who support better financing of education have a similar opinion regarding healthcare, or if, by the same token, they want less spending for the military system. Which circles us back to that 73% support regarding taxation. If we had formulated the question along the lines of ‘Would you agree for those making over 3,000 lei a month to pay 50% more tax’, the answer would have clearly been different, because 3,000 lei is a relatively small salary for Romania. Therefore things change depending on the specificity of the question, on the clear situation we present to the respondent.




    The conclusion of the study was that, in spite of such contradictions, in Romania there is massive support for the idea of a strong social state, which implements generous policies for more social equality.

  • Housing challenges for young people

    Housing challenges for young people

    European statistics have confirmed over the
    years the existence of a phenomenon that is not showing any signs of slowing
    down: more and more young adults, aged 19-34, continue to live with their
    parents. The dream of leaving home and becoming independent as quickly as
    possible is no longer a priority for young Europeans, including in Romania. For
    instance, in 2018, approximately 42% of young Romanians aged 25-34 still lived
    with their parents, while the latest data shows that their number stands at 2.2
    million. The pandemic did little to correct the situation, Romania ranking
    among Europe’s top 10 countries with the highest rates of parent-child
    coresidence. Ranking first are Croatia, Greece and Slovakia, while Nordic
    countries such as Sweden, Finland and Denmark are the opposite end. Socilogist
    Dumitru Sandu, a university lecturer at University of Bucharest, has studied
    the phenomenon analyzing the recent data.


    In 2020, at European level, 65% of young
    adults in Croatia lived with their parents, 60% in Greece and 53% in Slovakia.
    Romania ranked 10th with 43%. In fact, over 2018-2020 a major change
    occurs that has to do with gender differences. The share of young men aged
    24-34 who still lived with their parents stood at 55%. Young women in the same
    age bracket accounted for 29%. Therefore, we are dealing with a difference of
    approximately 27%. In terms of gender gaps, Romania ranks 2nd at
    European level after Bulgaria, where the difference stands at 28%. Therefore,
    we are witnessing in Europe a gap not between the old EU and the new one, but
    between geographical extremes. There are southern countries like Croatia,
    Greece, Slovakia and Romania, which have demographic tendencies similar to
    Portugal, Spain, Italy and Malta, and then we have Nordic countries, creating a
    major rift between southern and northern Europe.


    The main cause behind this phenomenon is
    economic in nature. High youth unemployment, soaring rent and the growth of the
    real-estate market are reasons that prevent young people from leaving their
    parents’ house. The persistence of older cultural or social models might also
    contribute to this reality, all the more so considering the aforementioned
    gender differences.


    Economic reasons are real, but there’s also
    a cultural or social motivation, in the sense that in the traditional cultural
    paradigm the man is the main income provider. Men dominate the labor market.
    This social motivation impacts sociological studies. I have measured the social
    performance of the 27 EU countries in terms of life expectancy at birth, an
    indicator used in expert studies that measure the development of societies. In
    a nutshell, societies with underdeveloped social and health services tend to
    force young adults to continue to live with their parents, men in particular.
    Hence the huge gaps between men and women in southern Europe compared to
    northern Europe.


    Still, this doesn’t fully explain the
    phenomenon, considering southern Europe has undergone many transformations,
    Romania being a case in point.


    Poor countries in southern Europe have in
    the last 20 years experienced a process of accelerated growth in terms of the
    prospects of young adults. In brief, young people in Romania, regardless of
    their financial situation or the country’s economic development, want to live
    in the West. Under these circumstances, some of them leave to Western
    countries, but others stay behind. They curb their personal spending and
    prepare to make a family. For instance, Romanian society has started investing
    more in more in child education. We don’t want a lot of children, but to offer
    them a better live, in our family, in our household and in society, so that
    they have access to better education and higher living standards, Romanians
    tend to think. Therefore, this type of procrastination that might seem peculiar
    at first glance is completely sound. It results from the sudden increase in the
    aspirations of relatively poor young people in southern Europe who postpone
    making a family and building their own household until the conditions are
    ideal.


    Unfortunately, none of the current studies
    indicates the fact that the level of parent-child coresidence will go down any
    time soon, at least as long as the current economic context persists. (VP)



  • How we talk to children about the war

    How we talk to children about the war

    The complicated situation in Ukraine has brought out an extremely sensitive issue. Maybe we can keep our children away from a dramatic situation in our family, but we certainly cannot cover their eyes when they see terrible images of war. How do we explain to children the drama of war? How do we prepare them to deal with complicated situations that may arise later in their own lives? Do we filter reality or not?



    Heres psychologist Cristina Năstase’s opinion: “In a crisis situation, a child first and foremost needs safety. Lies, omission of information and false assurances cannot create safety. On the contrary. They deepen the uncertainty, throwing the child into a situation of total confusion, given that children can no longer trust their parents words. If parents don’t talk to children, they can somatize their distress, refuse to leave the house, become apathetic or, on the contrary, become angrier. Talk to your children as much as necessary, give them information, but not in excess. Give them only basic information, in a progressive way. Children need time to process. If a child asks a question about a certain situation, specific only to a certain event, it is important to answer that question alone and avoid enlarging upon the issue, but, still, show availability, a sincere openness, so that whenever the child has questions, he or she should know that the parent will answer it. If children come up with questions and parents deny them, children will be confused, they will think that the adult is lying, and the parents lose the opportunity to assure them that they are safe. But parents are supposed to be the children’s safe haven. Parents, especially of children aged up to 11-12 years, can filter and translate the information to make it accessible to them. They can reassure them, encourage them to let out their emotions, and be there for them. Not talking to them means letting them fill the narrative gap, and the child will think like this: if they hide this from me, it must be something serious, which leads to increased anxiety. If they dont tell me, it means they dont trust me, which leads to lower self-esteem. So, be honest and direct, but without extreme details.”



    Next Cristina Năstase will tell us how we should approach the subject of death with children of different ages and will also talk about the role of the parent in this equation: “It is recommended to start from what children already know, then they should be encouraged to ask questions. They should also be helped to share their feelings of worry, fear, anger, sadness and compassion. What’s the role of parents? To explain, depending on age, what war is. There are history books for kids that parents can get inspiration from, to give explanations to their kids. You can read them stories about battles in which the good wins. Or you can watch animated films or movies with them, adapted from history books. It is very good to play with your children war games, if this game is initiated by the child. The game helps them release their fear and project in the game their war-related fantasies, a game in which you should let the children be in control. Most likely, this game will be initiated by younger children and children of up to 9-10 years. Maybe with the older kids you can use strategy games or video games. Humor is an important resource, because it releases pressure, puts things in perspective and produces joy, and laughter has the potential to wave off fear and anger. For some children it may be enough. Others would ask if people who are fighting a battle die. And you will have to tell them the truth, and answer other questions related to death, because the fear of war ultimately boils down to the fear of death. You can reassure them that they will not die, and neither will you, the parents, because the adults from all countries are working to solve the situation, you assure them that this is not their responsibility, that they do not need to feel guilty, that they can play with their friends, and they can continue do everything they enjoy. Parents can tell children that themselves, as adults, feel the same emotions, worries, sadness, anger, and that they are sure that the war will not extend, that our country will not be at war. They can say that it is important to focus on what we have to do every day, that we can help those from Ukraine, that they can also help if they want to, that it is important to be united, that together we can resist better. Children will feel safe as the grown-ups explain them what is happening. They won’t let themselves be overwhelmed, they dont cry, theyre not terrified.”



    Psychologist Cristina Năstase also teaches us how to talk to teenagers about war: “The big children, the teenagers have a representation of what war entails. What consequences derive from this? They know this from books, movies, friends, history classes, and from TV. Never before has the war been so close. With them, parents need to check the source of information. To bring clear, logical arguments to help them calm down. You need to validate their emotions, accept when they tell you that they are not afraid, although their behavior says something else, to help them become aware of the relationship between their thoughts and emotions, to work with thoughts, to make them think rationally. You can share, as parents, your own views about the war, you can encourage them to talk about theirs. You can talk to them about how we can help refugees. Pick a time in the day when to talk about what changes have occurred in the course of events, if they appear more anxious than the previous day. Be open to discussions, but dont prolong them excessively.”



    Do not try to cancel children’s emotions, talk together about their emotions. Thus, children will feel safe and will learn about themselves, says Cristina Nastase: “Although they are difficult for adults, these conversations should take place. Such a dialogue should be seen as an open door to other future discussions on complicated topics. Adults must accept childrens emotions, not repress them, and find, to the extent to which this is possible, appropriate answers to their questions, so that the image they will process should be as appropriate as possible for their understanding. Do not forget that children can experience strong emotions, but not for too long. The better you master them, the faster they pass. By talking about fear, you bring it out and help the child calm down. Parents don’t have to have perfect answers to all the problems and questions. Analyzing a topic with children is the way to teach children to navigate through ambiguous feelings, to think difficult, complicated things through, which will increase their psychological resistance to them. Parents shouldn’t be afraid to say ‘I dont know’ and ‘I cant’. Showing ones own vulnerability, in a calm and self-controlled manner, is useful, because it encourages the expression of feelings.” (LS)

  • Special education for the people with special needs

    Special education for the people with special needs


    30,000 hearing-impaired people live in Romania, or
    thereabouts. They have a fully-fledged right to integrate themselves in the educational
    life with dignity, as well as in the professional or the social life. However,
    they are low-profile, more often than not, for the simple reason that they do
    not make noise. Nor can they voice their needs or complaints, either.


    A lecturer with the University of Bucharest’s Faculty
    of Journalism and Communication Sciences, Dr Florica Iuhas is one of those
    people who have adamantly provided a staunch support for the hearing-impaired people.
    Here is Dr Florica Iuhas herself, explaining why, for instance, a mere 1% of the
    hearing-impaired people pass the baccalaureate exam for the Romanian Language and
    literature exam subject.


    Dr Florica Iuhas:

    One of the big problems is that the
    education system has not been tailored to suit their needs, since they think
    and dream in the sign language, yet they have no choice other than take their
    baccalaureate exam in the Romanian language. A hearing-impaired
    person     does not have prepositions in their vocabulary, nor conjunctions, they
    will never be able to understand the difference between the present tense and
    the past perfect, for example, because they have a visual culture, their own
    culture. But at ministerial level, officials cannot
    understand that, for the time being, at least. A hearing-impaired
    person will never be able to have a full command of the
    grammatical standards, because, for a hearing-impaired person, the syntax and the word
    order in a complex sentence are very different from the word order in Romanian. So,
    in effect, the sign language in Romanian will have to come first, for the
    baccalaureate exam. Rote learning works perfectly well for the hearing-impaired people,
    they can manage for Geography, for History, they can pass the baccalaureate exam
    for the theoretical disciplines quite all right, they’re doing fine in
    Mathematics, some of them are even successful IT specialists, but when it comes
    to Romanian language and literature, they have serious problems, as their mind
    and language are not structured according to the grammar of the Romanian
    language we, the people with no hearing problems, can speak .


    In other words, the present education law does not make
    a clear-cut distinction between the people who can hear and the
    hearing-impaired people. Both categories need to meet the same examination
    standards. According to Dr Florica Iuhas, for the hearing-impaired people, the Romanian
    language and literature exam should be replaced by an exam in the mother tongue,
    which, in their case, is the language of the signs. As for the Romanian
    language and literature exam, it should have a much lower level of difficulty.
    By the same token, a self-sufficient department is needed, capable of training
    teachers in the sign language, for the special-needs schools. Not just anybody
    can have a command of that particular language, let alone teach it! That also
    works for any other language!


    There is another situation we need to take into
    account: if the hearing-impaired people go to a front desk, they are unable to
    communicate with the hospital employees, or, when in court, they cannot utter what
    their complaint is or what exactly the wrongdoing is, that may have affected
    them. To that effect, in the spring of 2020, in Romania, the so-called Saftoiu law
    was promulgated, it bears the name of the former deputy Adriana Saftoiu, she
    was the one who wrote it and promoted it among her colleagues in Parliament. Here
    is Dr Florica Iuhas once again, this time summarizing what that particular law
    stipulated.

    Dr Florica Iuhas:


    The Saftoiu law stipulates that all state
    institutions in Romania must provide, for a hearing-impaired person, an
    interpreter specializing in the gesture and mimicry language or in the Romanian
    sign language, as in effect, that law certified the existence of that
    particular language as the hearing-impaired persons’ mother tongue. If a Hungarian goes to
    an institution and can communicate with a Hungarian-speaking person, for
    example, in the counties of Covasna and Harghita, it is, however, impossible
    for someone with a hearing impairment to communicate with the state authorities,
    as there is no dedicated interpreter employed by the state institutions.


    And, for such institutions, there was a two-year
    period of grace, after the law had come into effect, for them to take all the required
    measures so that as of April 2022, any deaf person entering a state institution
    can have a dedicated interpreter. Notwithstanding, as we speak, there are still
    very few interpreters of the sign language. Dr Florica Iuhas explains why that happens.


    ʺBecause they are disheartened
    by the institutions’ inability to pay them or to conclude collaboration contracts
    with them, or hire them. So no step forward has been taken, actually, you can even
    see that for yourselves on TV: the president who signed that law, whenever he
    makes a speech in public, is not accompanied by an interpreter, which is not
    okay. In any civilized country, joining the president, whenever they make a speech
    to the nation, there is an interpreter, and that, because the president of a
    country is everybody’s president. So what should a hearing-impaired person do? Do
    the lip-reading as they watch the president speak? According to the law, not only
    the television, but the institution must have an interpreter as well.


    The TV stations are also faced with the same problem,
    the limited number of dedicated interpreters. Dr Florica Iuhas is a sign
    language interpreter herself. At the Journalism Faculty, she opted for teaching
    a sign language course to those interested. However, it is the only such course
    across the country.


    Dr Florica Iuhas:

    ʺ I have been asked, for instance,
    by people working for the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and
    Extrication, they asked me ‘could you also teach us, since we’re faced with
    the situation of having to help families with those particular special needs
    and we cannot communicate with them!’ And then the idea crossed my mind, to do
    such a course with is open to everybody and not only to the University of
    Bucharest students, because of the impending necessity for the people who can
    hear to make themselves understood by the hearing-impaired persons, as you do
    not know who you may interact with.


    In Romania, that is a revolting iniquity, and that iniquity
    has been lasting for a good number of years, given that for decades, 48
    countries have officially recognized the sign language as the mother tongue of
    their hearing-impaired citizens, the former deputy Adriana Saftoiu stated. A
    language in continuous progress, the Romanian sign language has only 8 thousand
    signs, as compared to the 38 thousand signs of the French sign language or to
    the 50 thousand signs of the German sign language. Unfortunately, in Romania, there hasn’t even been such
    a concern to develop this special language, to enrich it. There is no institute
    or department where the Romanian sign language is studied.


    Florica Iuhas:

    ʺYet the hearing-impaired people are among
    us and they also need to communicate, they need to develop that language. I hope
    Romania will understand that it is important for such persons to be integrated
    in the vast majority of Romanians, and that it should make an effort to develop
    that language as well and to integrate the hearing-impaired persons.

    It was
    the conclusion drawn by Dr Florica Iuhas, a lecturer with the University of
    Bucharest’s Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, herself a voice
    of Romania’s hearing-impaired people.

    (EN)

  • The pandemic and its effects on children

    The pandemic and its effects on children

    The negative psychological impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the adult population is well known. Unfortunately, children also bear the brunt of its effects. Education experts, psychologists and parents alike have been signalling, ever since two years ago, the negative impact that the epidemiological situation has on children, especially due to the isolation they have experienced. Studies have now come to confirm it. Sociologist Ciprian Gradinaru tells us more about a recent report by Save the Children organisation: ”The situation should be analysed in a wider context. Indeed, these past two years have affected children, and not only them. We see that almost half of the children have been feeling lonely, sad, isolated and stressed. They feel this way because they have been isolated from their friends. Also, they had to be part of a completely new education system, which they never tried before. They received less information and their access to education was reduced. That is because some of them have had limited or no access to education during this period. For this reason, almost half of them say they feel unprepared for exams. 8th and 12th graders say they are under a lot of pressure, they are concerned about the upcoming exams and these are situations that experts in education and in related domains have anticipated.”



    In their turn, children seem to describe the situation accurately. Only one third of the 8th grade students say they feel prepared for the national exams. 31% of secondary school children say they have a lot to catch up, while one in two children says homework is more difficult than in previous years. For this reason, more children need assistance from their teachers and parents. 51% of students say this year they have needed more help from their teachers at school, 13% have needed private lessons and 9% have needed the help of a family member.”



    8th gade students say they needed private lessons more than their younger colleagues. Aware of the fact that they have a lot to catch up with in terms of study, they feel frustrated, angry, sad, stressed or tired, the Save the Children report says. Sociologist Ciprian Gradinaru: ”Parents have also been experiencing a stressing period, with a lot of tensions. Their work manner changed, just like their way of interacting and socialising. This is the perfect recipe for tensions within the family, which always affect children.”



    What makes children and adults feel sad and concerned? Ciprian Gradinaru explains: ”The lack of interaction and isolation are the main reasons why children feel this way. It is not just the education system that has changed, but many other aspects of their lives. Holidays were different and also the daily interactions with other children. Online interaction, which was already worrying before the pandemic due to the many hours spent on the internet, has now exploded in terms of time spent online and has brought along many disadvantages. These elements combined — the isolation, spending a lot of time indoors, not doing the things that children normally do — led to tensions, sadness and concern.”


    The study was conducted in March on around 1,900 children aged 9 to 18. (EE)




  • What Humanity Learns from the War in Ukraine

    What Humanity Learns from the War in Ukraine

    Todays edition is about kindness, compassion, and empathy, in the context of the war in Ukraine, whose only good side is that it has sparked an extraordinary level of communal feelings. The impressive voluntary efforts made by Romanians, alongside the rest of Europe, have unveiled a fundamental ability of humans, that of putting themselves in someone elses shoes, of reacting speedily to help them out. This unique human quality shows the bottomless ability for empathy that our species has. If there is anything good about this war, it is just that, discovering the fact that kindness endures, and that empathy can go a long way. Maybe now, more than ever, we should meditate upon these qualities that mark us apart.




    We talked to Elena Maria Dumitrescu, a cognitive behavioral therapist, about the huge explosion of empathy in the entire world related to the Ukrainian drama. We first asked her to explain kindness from a psychological point of view. Here is her answer:


    “Each of us is part of a whole, which we call life, universe, fundamental energy, creation, or divinity. I would put kindness in the same place as compassion, with caring, with being inclined to help your fellow man. More than that, this need is important at an individual level, as well as at a collective level, and we have examples from nature to this end. Fire ants live in anthills along rivers, and when there is flooding, they know they dont stand a chance by themselves. Which is why they grab on to one another and form a huge raft. They stay together, floating on the surface until the waters recede, and so they save individual ants, the anthill, and the species. Both religion, as well as Darwin, who doubted the divine nature of man, showed us that each species comes equipped for survival. We ourselves have something to give to others, as well as ourselves, in order to live, because it seems that nature does not care if a species survives or not, so that it has to prove it deserves it.”




    Friendship is one of the highest and purest forms of human expression. Romanians drew admiration across the world for their extraordinary opening towards the Ukrainians fleeing war. We asked Elena Dumitrescu if friendship can be humanitys salvation.


    “We are friends with the Ukrainian people, and friendship is the highest form of communication between people, both energetically and psychologically, even spiritually. Since we are in Lent, we have the biblical example set by Jesus, who calls both his disciples, and the women bearing myrrh, his friends. Many times, he talks about the importance and healing power of friendship, both physically and emotionally. Psychologically, things are the same, because friendly relationships are the most important for our mental health. I would like to emphasize that empathy, this human ability to understand others as if we were in their stead, does not necessarily mean that we know that person or persons. Empathy, compassion, and kindness are the triad that brings added value in all our relationships. We need solidarity, because, as I said, solidarity is what sustains us both as an individual and as a species. For this, we need to overcome self-sufficiency, superficiality, and laziness, which I personally believe are our greatest enemies. We have to understand that everyone can do that which is up to them.”




    We then asked therapist Elena Dumitrescu what the limits of empathy are, and she spoke to us about the limitations of it, so she advised moderation:


    “Life is about the energetic and spiritual balance of each and every one of us, and the system we are a part of. Empathy is the balanced position in terms of relationships. Many times, our need to help can be higher than the need of others to be helped. Therefore our help is what we imagine it to be, for various reasons: that of overcompensating for some aspects in our lives, the need to alleviate guilt, perfectionism, public image, standards, and many other reasons. Many times, when we cross the limits of empathy, we identify with the situation of a person in difficulty, and we take on the role of saviors, offering and emphasizing in the other the position of victim, more than the situation warrants. We become more attentive to our needs than to the real need of the other. That involves a useless consumption of resources biologically, physiologically, energetically, and most times it harms relations between people, because it no longer fits the real context. Anything that upsets the balance and goes to extreme is not beneficial. Because every excess spills over, and everything coming short is not up to par.”

  • Share House

    Share House

    I’m not Superman or some kind of saviour of the planet, but I have a good heart, compassion and lots of determination, so I’m trying to change the lives of children that have been hit hard by life.

    This is how Bogdan Tanasa describes himself; the man who, though his association, Share House, refurbishes or builds houses for the disadvantaged and is building a an educational and vocational centre for children in need in the region of Moldavia:

    I’m 48 years old and I am an entrepreneur. I own two factories that produce briquettes and pellets. I was born in a village in Iasi county, right across the street from a children’s home and I think that’s why I have this urge to do something for society. As a child I saw so many things happening there, and I’ve also been lucky enough to meet people from abroad and I’ve learnt a lot from them. I lived abroad for some time and I told myself that, had God helped me earn more and live a better life, I would help other people. And that’s what I’ve been doing for eight years now, working at my factory, and devoting the very little spsare time I have to the Share House association.

    Very little spare time, Bogdan Tanase says, but so many success stories, we would say. Because, in the past eight years that he’s been devoted to his association, Bogdan Tanasa has built 30 houses for disadvantaged people in rural areas.

    People ask me: how did you think about doing that, how did you plan it? Well, I didn’t think and I didn’t plan. It just came to me, out of the desire to do something good. Eight years ago a saw a newspaper article about six children living with their father, as the mother had abandoned them. It was really hard for them, one of the children was dreaming of a little toy care to play with and I said to myself: this cannot be allowed to happen. I went to them initially to help them build a stove, because they had no source of heating, but when I see where they lived, I just built the whole house. And so I’ve built 30 houses.

    The beneficiaries of the houses are, all of them, people that fate has not been kind to: mothers with many children and no dad around, people with no income, people who lost everything they had in a fire, very poor elderly who cannot work to provide for themselves. In time, the association has become a mini-brand, known not only in the region, but all over the country.

    We have to select the cases, we talk to social workers, mayors, priests and do our best to change their lives. That’s what Share House does, changes peoples’ lives. We monitor the children up until they turn 18, and even after we check upon them, to see how they’re doing, if they decide to work abroad we check their contracts. 16 of them have become grown-ups and they have jobs. I very keen on helping them stay here, in the country and help reconstruct it. We need them, as these children have been raised in this spirit of helping the others.

    Everybody Bogdan Tanasa is helping is important. But disadvantaged children are his main concern, because he believes that through proper education and learning a trade, young people from poor families can decide on a better future for themselves. That is why the Share House association has been working on establishing an educational and vocational center in Iasi.

    It’s 540 square meters, with two storeys, four big rooms where there will be some 70 children, and two big workshops. In those workshops electricians, plumbers, carpenters will come and teach them the trade. So, after school (we are keen on sending them to school, because they benefit from so many things this way), we take them to the centre, we feed them, they do their homework, supported by teachers, and after that they go to these workshops where we teach them something practical.

    So, the educational and vocational centre set up by Bogdan Tanasa will be more than just an after-school for poor children, it will be their chance for a better life. Moreover, with the help of the association, Bogdan Tanase provides people with food and makes sure old people see a doctor. During the pandemic, he bought a Covid-29 testing equipment for the infectious diseases hospital in Iasi, tests, masks, PPEs. And now, since the war in Ukraine, he’s been to the Siret border to help the refugees.

    I’ve come here and see what’s happening. Many good people have come with food and whatever people here need. But I’m a very practical person, and that is why I’m building houses, and helping people do things for themselves. When I saw mothers with small children crossing the border after 14-20 hours spent in the cold, together with a friend of mine from Gura Humorului association, we found 14 guest houses, we asked the owners to open them, we filled them with whatever was necessary and we accommodated mothers and their children there.

    What Bogdan Tanasa has been doing through is association is an example for all of us and he has revealed so many sources of humanity that society so desperately needs today, more than ever. (MI)