Actions of the Local Initiatives Groups in the month of December

We already know that only #together we can contribute to the development of the community we belong to. Step by step, little by little, constantly getting involved in the life of the community, we can solve its problems starting from the bottom up, from neighbors, friends and family, from students, drivers, farmers, tailors or shopkeepers. Those who live in the community know best what they are facing and are the most entitled to talk about community issues.

The aim to form a Local Initiative Group (LIG) is: attracting people from the community who can and want to get involved in its development, identifying the common needs of members and taking the initiative to address them. LIG members take part in training courses in which they learn how to organize and mobilize the community, develop an action plan, how to communicate effectively and participate in decision-making with public authorities, and how to raise funds to solve problems identified.

Below, we present some of the actions carried out in several counties by the initiative groups, in December. The holiday season was marked by the arrival of Santa Claus, but also by the celebration of the International Day of Human Rights, December 10, and the Day of National Minorities, on December 18.

The Local Initiative Group municipiul Brăila from Brăila brought Santa Claus to the Lacu Dulce neighborhood, to the “Anton Pann” Gymnasium School, an school that sets an example of good practices for how they managed to attract children through activities to promote Roma identity and preservation of traditions. LIG members contacted local and private sponsors, ensuring that Santa's bag is roomy enough for all school children, regardless of ethnicity or financial situation.

Then, Santa Claus stopped in the town of Însurăței,attracted by the joint efforts of the initiative group and the Damaris Association. The children, who sometimes forget about Santa's visits, received gifts and recited poems. The Christmas celebration was also marked at the ȘuțeștiCommunity Center, where the children made ornaments, sang carols and decorated the Christmas tree, the activity being coordinated by the members of LIG of Șuțești. Towards evening, the City Hall brought Santa Claus in a sleigh pulled by ponies, and together with the members of the initiative group, he gave gifts to the little ones.

In Viziru, LIG organized a meeting with the mayor and several important people at the local level to discuss the significance of the International Day of Human Rights and what activities can be organized to promote Roma traditions and customs in the community. Thus, during the Festival of Carols, Traditions and Customs "Holy and Good Carol", organized in Viziru commune, the Roma ethnic group participated for the first time in traditional dress with other participants of different ethnicities, each dressed according to tradition. In the evening, a carol festival was held with the participation of several national minorities, including Roma children who sang carols in the Romani language and were dressed in traditional dress.

In In Făgăraș, the City Hall has started a pilot program of selective recycling in the newest district of the city, where most non-Roma live. The local initiative group proposed to Făgăraș City Hall and the sanitation company the initiation of such a pilot program in a vulnerable Roma community in the municipality. The project started at the end of November 2021, and community members were largely receptive to the selective sorting of waste. Thus, through this initiative, the people included in the pilot program were able to save on the expenses for the sanitation service (paying as much as they throw, not a fixed and disadvantageous tariff), and at the same time, they showed that “Roma know how to sort , there is no difference between them and other ethnic groups ”(Ionuț Androne, county coordinator), waste sorting being possible in vulnerable communities, not only in new neighborhoods, inhabited by people with medium or high incomes.

Also in Făgăraș, a charity fair was organized with the help of GIL to support a blind child. People sent clothes, toys and other goods that were sold in the city center to the charity fair. The amount raised from the sales, together with the money raised during the fundraising campaign were enough to send the child to the operation in France to help restore his vision.

For the National Minorities Day, the initiative group, together with the Roma Association from Făgăraș and the Pro-Europe Roma Party, appealed to several personalities from the county to send an anti-discrimination message, urging solidarity, collaboration and cohesion. The messages were gathered in ten videos promoted afterwards on social networks, on televisions and radios in Brașov County, thus reaching thousands of people.

Last but not least, LIG offered Christmas presents to the children from Făgăraș, Rupea and Cincu. In Racoș, through the "Santa Claus of all" campaign organized by the “Împreună” Agency, almost 300 children who wrote letters for Santa Claus were surprised that this year Santa Claus answered and brought them exactly what they wanted.

On the International Day of Human Rights, the initiative group, together with the City Hall, gathered at the school in Mășcăteni, Albești commune, representatives of local public authorities and members of the Roma community, discussing together the importance of respecting human and minority rights, existing legislation against discrimination of any kind, and the competent institutions that people can turn to when their rights are violated. For example, community members learned about the National Council for Combating Discrimination and how they can file a formal complaint with the institution.

For the National Minorities Day, the local initiative group, in partnership with Botoșani and the Pro-Europa Roma Party Association Botoșani, organized a contest event for Roma children from eight local communities to celebrate Roma traditions and customs. The podium of the contest was occupied by three children who were awarded, and all 150 children who participated received a bag of sweets. Armenians, Lipovans and Jews also spoke at the event about minority, cultural diversity and national wealth.

Through the mobilization of the LIG and the requests sent to the authorities, Christmas reached all the communities and the most vulnerable families. Thus, in Botoșani Botoșani, over 100 packages of sweets, fruits, food and toys were given to families in severe poverty. In Albești commune, the 100 students and preschoolers from Mășcăteni enjoyed packages with sweets, food and clothes, and in Săveni, on the occasion of organizing the holiday festival, an ensemble of dances, music and traditions was formed consisting of Roma students. who took the stage, being applauded and awarded.

Christmas was felt not only by children but also by the elderly in Bălușeni, where the initiative group, together with the Association of Marginalized Communities and through the involvement of the City Hall, visited and offered packages for 40 elderly people, living alone, most of them and survivors of the Roma genocide. "Our young high school students were able to see history live, you had the impression that they wanted to 'touch' the old people because they lived then" (Bălan Semiramida, county coordinator). In addition to the packages, the volunteers helped the elderly with household chores that became difficult for their age, such as cutting wood or bringing water from the well.

The Day of National Minorities was marked in schools in Viperești, Mihăilești, Calvini and Cilibia, where younger students made the Roma flag, and older students talked about Roma history and Roma personalities who influenced different periods in recent history. The local initiative groups organized, together with other partners and sponsors, the action "Santa Claus of the children" through which the children from Viperești, Calvini and Cilibia received gifts on the occasion of Christmas.

The initiative groups also assist community members in preparing the documents and acts necessary to access the services provided by the authorities, or identify vulnerable issues and cases, which are subsequently brought to the attention of the competent authorities by the GIL members. For example, the initiative group supported an elderly person without a family in Calvini in obtaining the disability certificate, and other members of the community are guided to make heating files, obtain state allowance or access to social housing.

The initiative groups from the communities from Iași organized a fundraiser in which economic agents, charities, as well as members of the community took part. With the money raised, over 80 children from four communities enjoyed sweets, clothes and toys from Santa Claus. December 10th and 18th were celebrated in the community through both shows and debates. In Crucea şi Zece Prăjini, for example, shows dedicated to the Day of National Minorities were organized, in which groups of different ethnicities recited poems and sang carols. In Moțca , a local celebrity, Iulian, student from a Roma family that has members that are fiddlers, who impressed the jury of the Next Star show with his musical talent, took the stage. In the schools of Moțca and Crucea, there were also activities with older students who discussed with their teachers about human rights, the history and traditions of the Roma.

In Zece Prăjini, the initiative group brought the community together to secure the burial of an elderly woman who had no relatives or family who could take care of the expenses and steps required for burial. And where it snowed, the initiative groups organized and went to the elderly to help them clear the snow. 

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