20/09/2022
In July 2022 I took part in a short term, team volunteering project named “Spotlight-Mishto” handled by “Funtatia de Voluntari Somaschi” and funded by European Union, it lasted until the end of August 2022.
In the project, there were young volunteers from all over Europe and outside, like two people from Ukraine and one from Turkey. The first two weeks were crucial, because it was all around teambuilding and getting to know the realities of the Roma communities from Baia Mare (and not only) where we were going to work and more in general, the Roma history and cultural aspects, especially in Romania and around the globe.
With the three trainers, we did different kind of activities that helped us knowing each other better, our backgrounds, our countries and our stories. We also had a lot of fun, doing a “No talent show”, barbecue dinner with specialties from our countries.
During the second week, we went more into the field, going to the communities and seeing the life conditions of the people living there, we
exchanged our ideas and the emotions we felt after the visits. The feeling of being powerless in front of that poverty was common, but at the same time the will to do something, because our motto was that „small things make big difference”.
We started preparing different kinds of activities to do in “La centrale”, the place where the kids from Craica (a marginalized community in Baia Mare) are welcomed and have the possibility to attend school and learn. We prepared many workshops, like juggling, art and painting, origami, dancing, skateboarding and so on. The kids were very involved in each of the activities/workshops and it was so exciting to see them performing in front of many people.
I am sure that kids from these communities need this type of visibility in order to show to people that they also have voices, abilities and, above all, rights to learn, as they did through those weeks with us. Despite all the stereotypes around this ethnicity, they are just kids who desperately want to know the world and learn about it, without any prejudices or walls in their life path.
Mattea Martorana
