Re-cunoaste Romania Project

The following text was written by two Romainian students, Andra Kolb and Andreea Enache

Romania's national patrimony is in grave danger of being lost forever. This is most obvious in the sad state of repair of our great houses. This neglect for our patrimony has one great advantage in that our natural heritage has been untouched and so areas such as Transylvania still retain their magnificent natural beauty.

We believe we can restore one or more of these great houses in areas such as Transylvania, working to protect the local environment and in ways that generate wealth for local communities and create hope in the future for the people in these areas.

We believe that young people from across Europe will work with young Romanians to bring about this change. We also believe that the Romanian Diaspora will contribute to this effort.

We believe that the traditional way of life of rural Romanians is in great danger of being lost and we feel that the above will help give value to these age old communities and, in so doing, sustain them into the future.

We believe that Transylvania offers the perfect context for this project. The forests fauna has found much interest from important eco-touristic projects and in this sense, "The Way of the Wolves'' is dedicated especially to the protection of the wild life and the implication of people in projects that will help volunteers learn and help the wilderness life. And there is much more.


We believe that by collaborating with organizations such as the AWF we can affect great change at no great cost to anybody and achieve the above goals.

The AWF is a UK charity with many years of experience in running a variety of volunteer programmes.

The AWF has a number of established programmes which can be integrated into a restoration project, in ways that will finance the complete project and leave the programmes intact in a sustainable way.

The AWF has no interest in owning the property involved, but would like to feel that its use would continue in delivering the programmes developed in support of the local community. There is no need for external funding (although, if there is any, it will be nice!)

The AWF has a number of programmes that would be a benefit for our project:

1. Volunteer programmes

Volunteers can be attracted through everything from specialist restoration of ancient buildings to supporting farming activities, providing micro-financing facilities, running conservation projects etc.

These volunteers contribute financially as well as physically to the cause.

The AWF estimates that in year 1 it can generate between 500 and 700 volunteer weeks, raising up to € 75 000. This can be tripled over a 3-year period and sustained indefinitely.

Volunteer programmes will be initially based on restoration of the property, conservation initiatives, farming, eco-tourism developments, social anthropology, micro-financing, film-making, photography, nature conservation, including animal sanctuaries etc.

2. Educational programmes:

The AWF collaborates with colleges and universities across Europe, 300 in total. Many of these are specialist agriculture colleges which, in the UK at least, are based within old manor houses set within rural communities. These colleges in particular will be interested in running courses for 2-12 weeks in countries as Romania, as opposed to their home campus.

It will be very easy for the AWF to bring these groups to Romania for 1-2 weeks initially, with the view of establishing more formal relations over 2-3 years.

The strategic educational links that the AWF can generate focus on agricultural practices, forestry, conservation, cultural studies, restoration, photography and film-making.

3. A Place for Women

It is a core AWF programme, designed to facilitate local women's initiatives. This programme could implement CEDAW (Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women), with the creation of a collaboration with Feminism in Romania Foundation.

4. Plant a Tree, Fund a Dream:

This AWF programme funds education for local children in exchange for them planting trees in collaboration with children in the West, to restore our damaged forests.

Tree nursery:

5. Cultural Arts Centre (HeArt):

Our focus on children will be in relation to their education and creative arts. There are many funds available for Rromas (one of the most disadvantaged community) and we can use them for the benefit of all the local children, as we will integrate Rroma children into the local community and build up a strong relation between Romanian and Rromas through creative arts classes.

Our objective is to develop a creative cultural centre where education and cultural understanding meet through art, bringing the children and the community together and inspiring them to dream.

There are many artists in Romania willing to teach photography, painting, theatre classes to children. Kingsley Nwaibia, Victor Yila and Cabral Ibacka would be interested in working with children and getting involved in our projects.

An interesting idea is to teach children that arts are a universal language and can be easily taught in English – as an unconventional way of teaching English (or any other foreign language).

In order to encourage education and equal opportunities, we will provide transportation to school for children living in remote areas. Furthermore, we will offer them study materials.

For all these, we can collaborate with The International School of Cluj and use Youth Initiative funds.

6. Eco Tourism:

Through the restored house, we also want to sell the Ultimate Traditional Romanian Experience. This could be a key income generator for the programme.

Eco-tourism in Transylvania has its origins in the Apuseni mountains. Here one has contact with the world of the 7000 caves, with dark forests where bears, wolves, lynxes are at home.

The experience includes: accommodation in a historical building/castle at the countryside; experiencing the wildlife of Transylvania; tracking wild animals with the local rangers (paid); eat traditional food; arts and crafts; sightseeing with carriages pulled by oxen; visit a traditional sheepfold and milk sheep, take part in the cheese-making process, wool sheering and have the possibility to spend the night there; experience folk music and traditional dances; go hiking, trekking, mountain-biking etc. - all these include the collaboration with the locals.


Wildlife enthusiasts will find here many species of animals, including chamois (on the edge of extinction), red and roe deer, wild boar, bear, wolf, and fox, and may come across lynx tracks. Otters find themselves at home in the park's rivers. Chaffinch, song thrush, ring ouzel, red-breasted flycatcher, chiffchaff, nutcracker and the rare golden eagle, leaser spotted eagle, eagle owl, pigmy owl, crag martin, scarlet rose finch, three toed woodpecker, horned lark are among the 120 nesting bird species of Retezat National Park (which lies in the very heart of Transylvania).

We will also hire local craftsmen to teach courses in: weaving, pottery, the making of leather products and cheese-making, cooking, traditional Romanian dances. The locals will receive a fair local wage.

Wolves and Bears: In Romania, these two animals are prone to getting into contact with humans. For example, in some mountainside resorts, there have been reported many cases of bears coming to the rubbish bins in towns in their search for food. They end up being shot or injured by local authorities or scared locals.

Therefore, volunteers interested in wildlife protection can develop a project and implement it, while staying at our centre.

7. Micro-financing (Eunomia) and trade:

The AWF has funds available to invest into budding entrepreneurs within local communities: be they local women wanting to design and create clothes or people wishing to commence farming or ceramics, wood products etc. We would also be available to sell these products. Again it is not possible to say what income this can generate, but it can be substantial. What is important is that we give local people hope, a chance to improve their lives.

Farming (micro-financing opportunity): € 25 000 for the Young Agriculturer Programme – we will help local peasants to access EU funds to develop their own farms and boost agriculture in the local community. A trained volunteer will support them through the application process.

8. EU funding:

The project is self-financing, but there are huge possibilities of attracting EU funding to complement the above projects and this can only be a positive thing. We don't need the funding, but we predict that we will attract much and use it in our projects. The Young Agriculturer Programme – as mentioned before, it is a micro-financing opportunity with EU funds. It will help young Romanians to create their own farms and improve the local agriculture.

Collaboration

a. In both volunteering and educational programmes mentioned above, all that is needed is safe multi-bedded accommodation, lots of nice food and great programmes! The AWF can fund this development through its own resources.

b. In all the above activities, we will be involving Romanians. Whether they are managing or teaching programmes, they will be paid a fair local wage. We foresee employing at least 4 people initially and creating up to 20 local businesses in the first year.

c. For Romanians participating in any of the educational programmes, there is no cost whatsoever.