The walk and the dog

A dog came from nowhere during my long walk today. He tagged along for quite a while, rested with me (and maybe meditated as well, who knows 🙂) at this old Chapel in the woods, and then left as he came, without a sound, through the foliage padded paths.

This thoughts sorting walk today was intended to be my end of the year meditation – a walk through what I have lost, what I received, what I learned to embrace and what to let go.

The walk and the dog today reminded me about the book I loved the most this year: Nermin Yıldırım’s “Ev” [House], which I am not sure is available yet other than in Turkish. The main characters of the book, walking the Camino trail, were also joined by a dog out of nowhere who silently accompanied their journey inside and out and then disappeared.

Coincidentally, my own encounter today was on the actual Camino trail of Saint-Jacques de Compostelle that passes through the Gers in France.

Consequently 🙂 I shall go on embracing my path with the Real and the Imaginary together, especially since the quiet messenger was a dog. 🙂

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This is the resting point of the Chapel
https://www.armagnac-dartagnan.com/patrimoine-culturel/eglise-de-lhopital-de-sainte-christie/

This is Nermin Yıldırım
http://kalemagency.com/authors/nermin-yildirim-eng/

…. and her latest book “Ev” [House] https://www.hepkitap.com.tr/tr/kitaplarimiz/yetiskin/kurgu/yerli-edebiyat/kdetay/ev

“Nermin Yıldırım takes us on a long walk and shares the world of those who cannot feel at home, those who were forcibly removed from their homes, those who had to flee, those who cannot take shelter anywhere.”

“All the lies that we are forced to believe in order to hold on to life will be revealed when the day comes. And then we don’t die. Something worse is happening. We continue to live with what we have learned.”

#dog #meditation #endoftheyear #camino #walk #compostelle #forest #chapel #ev #home #nerminyildirim

The boy with a donkey and a broken dream

Today is 8th of May and, apparently, World Donkey Day. It’s funny and sweet, but it takes me back to Pirita, where one teenage boy has been caring for his donkey since he was small. He loves that donkey. He speaks to him and decorates his hairs with red – evil eye protective charms.

The boy is 14. His life has been so rough since the beginning; like the lives of many other children living in the slum of Pirita. When coming to the activities of Asociația Pirita Children and having the chance to visit one vocational school in the nearby locality, it turned out that he was fascinated by the agricultural and husbandry machinery and works. He said he would have loved to stay there and do just that. Work with animals and plants.

We had a dream for him but he was not allowed to dream it and the dream fell short. His father got him “married”. He was the eldest among his sons and he had to assume more responsibilities for the family 😦 I just learned also that he no longer goes to school. He takes care of the animals of the household, of his half siblings, and goes with his father with their horse and carriage to collect from the garbage dumps and landfill around the city. This is how they survive.

Poverty and marginalisation, ignorance and indifference are dream killers. For the boy with a donkey I know, dreams need more than one or two dreamers to happen… They need the awakening from shamelessness of those in power, the care of the community around and the commitment of all of us to do better.

On this World Donkey Day, I wish you to be better. #WorldDonkeyDay

Românie, trebuie sa faci mai mult pentru copiii tai!

Sunt #copii in Pirita cu părinți care nu își pot face buletin, neputând arata o adresă, cu copii care cresc, la rândul lor, fără identitate. Au fost acolo bebeluși care au murit în colibe și vieți întregi de oameni sunt încă trăite în continuă nesiguranță: in lipsuri, in noroi, in violență, înconjurați de ura majoritară și de amenințarea buldozerului primăriei de trei decenii.

Copiii din #Pirita, ca și cei din multe comunități marginalizate din țara noastră, au drepturile de bază încălcate de stat și de societate încă de la naștere.

Faptul că acești copii merg la școală (doar) de câțiva ani încoace, se datorează unei mâini de oameni care n-au vrut să mai aștepte statul nostru anchilozat să facă ceva pentru copii. Copiii noștri însă, în majoritate, de la cei de grădiniță până la cei de clasa a 5-a (că de 6 ani doar au fost înscriși la școală), învață în clase segregate. Separați. Cei mai mici și mai fără “voce” sunt chiar singuri singurei într-o clasă dintr-o clădire goală din Baia Mare.

Azi este Ziua Internațională a Drepturilor Omului și mă duce gândul la ce spunea Mandela despre faptul că adevăratul caracter al unei societăți este revelat de modul în care își tratează copiii.

Românie, ai mult de lucru cu tine.
Mă doare sufletul să ți-o spun.

ziuamondialaadrepturiloromului #HumanRightsDay2021 #copii #drepturi #dreptiridebaza #segregare #RomaniaEducata #baiamare

#piritachildren

Please celebrate my day by helping #piritachildren

On the 18th of October I will turn 46.

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If you want to “be with me” that day in making it a good and meaningful day, please make a little #donation for #piritachildren or ask me to give you woolen scarves and hats, gloves and children’s vests I knitted together with friends.

The #piritachildren live in deep #poverty, in makeshift huts, in open fields in the North of #Romania. (See more posts about it in this blog or on Facebook Page of Pirita Children Association @piritachildren)

Your contributions can help them get daily meals, to have school supplies, decent clothing and adequate shoes to make it through the mud of their informal settlement to go to #school.

Please celebrate my day by helping #piritachildren – I know them and they are amazing 🎉 🧶 🧤🧣🛖 📚

We were far from the rest of the society, and just imagined things about each other

Elmas’ View: The Experience of Being a Roma

Elmas Arus comes from a mixed and controversial background. She is Alevi Muslim, with an Abdal father and a Roma mother. Her family moved from one place to another due to discrimination and poverty, from Northern Turkey’s Amasya to the metropolis of Istanbul, in search for better means of survival. As a child, she had to contribute to the economy of the household by collecting paper and metal scrap from dumpsters around the city. She struggled to be allowed by her family to continue her education and resisted early marriage. Elmas was the only one that managed to escape her family’s destiny. With help from some good people, she managed to continue her education and to move out of the Roma neighbourhood.

Nowadays, she is one of the most known Roma leaders in Turkey, president of the Zero Discrimination Association and head of a network of NGOs of Roma, Dom, Lom and Abdal in Turkey. She is also the author of a documentary on Roma in Turkey called “Buçuk” – The Half.

These are her reflections about her experiences of living in the urban areas of Turkey:

Our people were basket makers and, because of this craft, they managed to interact with the society. We were still marginalized back in Amasya, but that did not obstruct us from getting an education or to find work. When we came to Istanbul, however, we got to know both poverty and exclusion at the same time. We did all the unwanted jobs of the city: we collected stuff from garbage because we could not find anything else to do. That kept us alive, but also kept us poor and away from the rest of the society. Apart from collecting their waste, the society did not need us. When we were making and selling our baskets – we were needed. People had to buy those from us. We were the providers. But in the big city we had nothing to offer.

There was this big difference between us and the people of the city. We were far from the rest of the society, and just imagined things about each other. The city had no connection with us – it did not “talk” to us.

Being a Gypsy meant being stuck in a closed “road” that led nowhere good.

Our barracks were demolished many times and collecting from garbage got my father’s pride shattered. In the end, he took refuge around his shack. He improvised a small garden around it, planted trees and raised some chicken – just like in his old home in Amasya. He stopped seeing his relatives. He stopped going to the city. The city seemed too big for him.

It is imperative to have a helping hand in order to get out of poverty. When you are poor and have to struggle to make ends meet day by day, you cannot escape that place. It is impossible to break out of poverty.

[Regardless of your achievements]… You can still be demoted to a second class; you need to show humbleness and gratitude for the fact that society has accepted you and has given you recognition for your qualities and efforts.

PS: Elmas is my best friend and today is her birthday. İyi ki doğdun, Elmo, iyi ki varsın!

Cum puteti ajuta #piritachildren

❤ Pentru a sprijini asociatia noastra, o puteti face prin DONATII directe, dar si prin redirectionarea din impozitul pe venit sau profit.

Asociația Pirita Children – Copiii din Pirita
Sediu: Baia Mare, str. Forestierilor nr. 57
Cif: 42593353
Conturi la Banca Comerciala Romana
Cod swift: RNCBROBU
cont EUR: RO85RNCB0182167378330002
cont RON: RO15RNCB0182167378330001

Pentru directionarea a pana la 20% din impozit (persoane juridice / firme – intreprinderi, PFA), o puteti face in baza Legii nr. 227/2015, prin sponsorizari.

Pentru redirectionarea a 3,5% din impozitul individual pe venit (persoane fizice), puteti completa formularul 230 pe care il trimiteti la ANAF https://static.anaf.ro/static/10/Anaf/Declaratii_R/230.html sau puteti urma pasii din profilul nostru de pe redirectioneaza.ro – https://redirectioneaza.ro/asociatia-pirita-child…/doilasuta

Ce conteaza e sa ii pese cuiva

Acestia sint niste copii care traiesc intr-una dintre cele mai rele colibe pe care le-am vazut vreodata. Substandard si pentru ce inseamna coliba in Pirita.

Mama lor e nevazatoare si tata abia intors acum din inchisoare. Copii care aproape nu vorbeau acum doar cativa ani si pe ai caror maini si fete era continuu lipita toata tarana si mizeria saraciei in care supravietuiesc.

I-am cunoscut prima oara acum doua veri, apoi in urmatoarea vizita, anul trecut, am mers cu Claudia (cea de toate zilele) si i-am vizitat la scoala unde erau numai ochi si urechi la doamna invatatoare Bozga Cecilia.

Copiii simt cind cuiva ii pasa de ei si raspund la bunatate cu schimbare in bine – chiar daca lucrurile raman la fel “acasa”. Copiii acestia se trezesc singuri dimineata si se imbraca in bezna colibei si pleaca spre scoala. Singuri. Responsabili. Copii. Acesta este doar un mic exemplu despre cit de mult conteaza sa ii pese cuiva; sa ajute cineva.

#piritachildren

Cind statul iti spune ca nu existi

Ma intorc azi la Baia Mare si la copii. Anul trecut ziceam de buletinul Mariei. Anul asta am auzit iar despre buletinele temporare date oamenilor inainte sa inceapa pandemia. Acum aud despre buletine temporare expirate si despre copii care nu pot beneficia de nici un drept de la stat pentru ca parintii lor iar au ramas fara identitate. Sintem in anul 2020, in care administratorii si politicienii nostri se bat cu pumnul in piept, mai ales in prag de alegeri, despre cit de mult le pasa lor de oameni. E clar ca de unii insa nu le pasa. Indolenta celor din sistem, anchilozarea structurala a institutiilor, lipsa dramului de umanitate care trebuie sa se extinda dincolo de membrii familiei si prietenilor pentru a misca un deget – duce aici, unde (inca) suntem.

2019, cu Maria si fiul ei, la modul #piritachildren

Maria, 2019, cu primul ei buletin

Cu baietelul Mariei si Claudia Costea, in coliba Mariei de pe Pirita, ianuarie 2019

Maria, la activitatile de la modul, iulie 2019

Scriam asta acum un an:

A fost tare bine sa o revad pe Maria, pe care Claudia a ajutat-o, printr-un ONG, sa se mute din #coliba intr-o casa normala in oras. Maria a venit ieri sa o aduca pe fata mai mare la activitatile scolii de vara din #container. Cu mandrie mi-a povestit de casa ei frumoasa si de faptul ca a devenit si ea OM – adica are in sfarsit #buletin. Are acum dreptul sa primeasca indemnizatia de ingrijitor al copilului mai mic cu nevoi speciale si fata ei merge la #scoala.

In tara noastra, tinem o multime de oameni fara acte de #identitate. Unii nu au nevoie sa fie asistati de nimeni, dar au nevoie sa intre in legalitate – sa li se recunoasca dreptul ca exista. Dar autoritatile noastre se cramponeaza de reguli inflexible (care in alte conditii si pentru altii se pot contorsiona la discretie) si ii obliga pe unii oameni sa gaseasca refugiu numai in baraci si case parasite, fara nici un drept, cautandu-si painea de maine pe drumuri, la intamplare, alungati si urati de toata lumea…; lumea noastra cu buletin si cu un dram sau o caruta de drepturi. #baiamare #pirita #actedeidentitate

Sprijiniti Asociatia Pirita Children cu pana la 3.5% din impozit

Dacă doriți să ne sprijiniți prin completarea formularului 230 ANAF pentru a redirecționa către noi până la 3.5% din impozit, până pe 30 iunie, o puteti face cu datele de mai jos. Vă mulțumim!

Asociația Pirita Children – Copiii din Pirita
C.U.I. 42593353
cont EUR RO85RNCB0182167378330002
cont RON RO15RNCB0182167378330001

Formularul ANAF https://static.anaf.ro/static/10/Anaf/Declaratii_R/230.html

Pentru acelaşi scop, ne găsiți şi pe platforma redirectioneaza.ro
https://redirectioneaza.ro/asociatia-pirita-children-copiii-din-pirita/doilasuta

#piritachildren online #homework

My student from one of the worst informal settlements in #Romania has never been among those who managed to keep up in #school.

Now, during the time when he has to connect remotely with the #teacher and with me – the #volunteer helping him with #homework – he proved that he can be among the first to succeed.

One on one support and help to catch up on lost knowledge pays off. We are just at the begining but he proves every day that he is up for the challenge.

His life, as of all the #children in #Pirita, is an incredible challenge for survival on daily basis. And for that, I am grateful for all the lessons I learn every day with him and the others.

Piritachildren #volunteering