Making connections and sharing advice in Bucharest

Hanna Eklund is a participant on the Active Citizens programme in Sweden. Here she talks about her exchange visit to Romania.

On the second of July me and two other people from Gothenburg, as well as twelve from Oxford, arrived at the Otopeni airport in Bucharest. Eight intense and fruitful days were to come.
 
This blog you are reading right now is written by me, Hanna Eklund. I work in a social inclusion project for an organisation called Friends in Gothenburg, Sweden. The organisation we are partnered with in Bucharest, the Policy Centre for Roma and Minorities, works with Roma communities, and we met many young people and youth workers through them. Since my work focuses on youth and marginalisation, the exchange was an immense opportunity for me to learn more about how work can be organised from the experience of youth workers in other countries.
 
Inspiring voluntary work
 
There are so many highlights; I will start with when we went to Ferentari, a very poor area where mostly Roma live. There Laurențiu, who is an Active Citizen, told us about his voluntary work preventing drug abuse and providing information about contraceptives, which was very moving and inspiring!
 
Another highlight was when we went to the Dimitrie Gusti High School where Elena, who is also an Active Citizen, does incredible work within the second chance program, giving people a new opportunity to finish school. She has been working there the past five years without getting paid, which shows her determination and commitment. Voluntary work was compulsory during the communist era, but there are not many people like Laurențiu and Elena now. What will happen to such important organizations when people cannot afford to work for free anymore?
 
My workshop; sharing advice
 
I had the opportunity to lead a gender workshop with a group of people from diverse backgrounds, who all have had different experiences with gender issues. It was really educational for me to facilitate a session encouraging people to share their stories and I believe that we got closer to each other after that.
 
I want to emphasise that my partners from the UK and Hungary made up a fantastic group. People let me in, shared their stories, experience and advice, and listened to mine. Those connections on a grassroots level are what the Active Citizens programme means to me. We go home, we continue our work, but with a new reminder that we are not alone. That inspiration is needed in the work I do locally. We are all just an e-mail, Facebook message or a Skype call away. The exchange in Bucharest was just the beginning.
 
I would like to give my biggest thanks to the participants in this exchange program and especially I want to send my love to Cristina, Radu and Dorian at the Policy Centre for Roma and Minorities, who were there for us all the time.
 
Each One -Teach One
 
Best wishes
 
Hanna