The international doors are open for the young people from Ier Valley who want to experience the new.

We have already wrote a summary of the International Youth Programs from the Ér Hangja Association (in the October newspaper), and as we wrote, there is a continuation. Last year our young people were able to smell the air from Norway, Lithuania, Spain, while others were curious about the city of Sacueni through the association. The young people have just arrived home, the year 2020 was already here, the international events starting in January.

Volunteers from many countries have already come to us, thanks to the Ér Hangja Association and other organizations. Slowly, it becomes common in our city to hear foreign words as you walk down the street.

For our latest call, we now have a Hungarian girl who will be the event organizer for the next nine months.

Viktória Vigh is a 19-year-old freshman graduate from high school from Hajdúbagos, Hungary. Viki is preparing to become a dentist and after completing high school she wanted to spend a year preparing for her studies and volunteering. An almost immediate response to her plans was a phone call from her former dance teacher, who told her about the opportunity at the Ér Hangja Association. She didn’t hesitate a lot, she immediately came forward and, in the absence of rivals, she became the sure winner.

Knowledge of Turkish culture with fine dances and snacks The participants were introduced todancing culture and Turkish gastronomy at the first event of the Turkish Volunteer from the Ér Hangja Association on February 15th.

As we wrote in our last issue of our newspaper, Hassan Cimen from Kusadasi came through a program of the European Solidarity Committee sponsored by the European Union, spending a total of nine months in the city, during which time he will organize several cultural events for the residents.

A Turkish volunteer came to us Another volunteer from Turkey joined the large family of the Ér Hangja Association. Hassan Cimen came to our city in early January, celebrating 23 years of age with his new friends at his new home in Sacueni. Hassan came from Kusadasi, a tourist paradise, from where the rest of his family lives, who are working in the hospitality industry. His parents work as cooks and he was introduced to the world of work from an early age.

At the age of twelve, he already worked as a waiter’s assistant after graduating high school and was employed full time. He applied for a diploma in programming, where unfortunately he was not admitted, but he did not give up on his dreams and would try again for admission, because programming and computer work is his hobby and his life. The concept of volunteering is not foreign to him, because, even in Turkey, he was part of a volunteer program, but his work at the Ér Hangja Association is something new, because it seems like a more interesting adventure, being far from home and family in a new community and a new country.

Unlike other days when we do volunteer activities and work, this day was a special one, because today we went to big city called Oradea and spend a big part of it there. It was a great opportunity for the participants to rest and go out of the town in which we spent the whole week so far.
There was a bus taking us to the 1 hour ride. Thanks to one of the participant who was a local, we could explore the city without worry. First we went to the closest touristic place which was the Oradea Fortress, it was only a quick walk around it but it felt fascinating (or maybe not XD) and historic.

Today project participants participated in two kinds of volunteer work: interacting with school kids and volunteering in public institutions that meant taking care of museum, helping librarians to hand out flyers, and painting public walls.

A few weeks after arriving to Săcueni I experienced a somehow unusual situation. The flat where we are currently living was in the process of being furnished and redecorated so everything was a little messy. One morning, the man who usually helps us with the maintenance of the house came to install a shelving unit in the bathroom and some dust was left behind after using the drill. It is common for the language barrier to cause misunderstanding and so I wrongly handed the man a cleaning brush to sweep-off the dirt. “No, no! Boys strong, girls clean” -he said with his rudimentary English skills. My facial expression instantly showcased confusion and my feminist side fired up when I answered back: “No, no! Boys strong, girls strong, boys clean, girls clean”.

 Expectations were reinforced during an experiment conducted with a 12-year-old boy and girl from the Liceul Teoretic Petőfi Sándor Elméleti Líceum in an attempt to establish whether the gender cleavage had already defined their identity. Having been given the options Girl, Boy and Both I asked the following questions: Who is smarter? Who is better at cooking? Who is better at fixing cars? Who likes pink? Who can be an engineer when they grow up? Even though they seemed dubious when facing some of these questions, they strongly agreed in that girls are better cooks, boys are better at fixing cars and that pink is a girly color. 

While watching a scientific documentary on the TV, a 10 years old girl asked her parents with a bewildered tone in her voice: “If above the clouds there is the space, where does God live? Where is heaven?”. As the time passed, Imola figured out that God lives amongst us and following the steps of her presbyter father decided to devote her live to the Lord by becoming a priest. Her chosen career path stroked me as a revelation given that in my short life span, I have neither met nor seen a female priest. Even though this fact might sound unearthly to those faithful members of the Protestant church, readers need to acknowledge that for most people around the globe this is a unimageable and distant achievement because most religious institutions still do not allow women to opt for leadership roles. However, this seemed not to have been and an obstacle for Imola Tokar who is currently exercising her duties as an assistant priest for the Protestant church of Săcueni. 

 Is student segregation the best solution? 

The fact that the parents of Roma children do not enroll them in the education system until they are 6 to 7 years old, seems to be perpetuating the existing intercultural tension between the distinct ethnicities coexisting in Săcueni. Our interviewee stated that in the past, several projects were implemented at schools with the aim of integrating Roma children into the educational sphere. However, mixed classes have so far turned out to be a struggle for certain members of the community given that 1^st grade Romas do not have the learning aptitudes that their Hungarian classmates acquired during kindergarten.  

 It was their limited knowledge of the Hungarian language, coupled with their inability to hold a pencil or write properly what sparked a feeling of frustration and unsuccessfulness amongst the teaching staff. The school average score ended up decreasing because teachers were unable to neither go at the desire paste with the study programme, nor tackle the specific needs of Roma children.  

The Erhangja Association is organizing a youth exchange in the town of Săcueni – this time working to raise awareness on volunteering.  The one week program entitled “Volunteering for Today, volunteering for tomorrow” will be organized in September 2019 in Săcueni, with the participation of 30 young people from Lithuania, Latvia, Greece, Romania and Hungary.

It will aim to know the volunteering habits of young people in the participating countries, the situation of volunteering in the EU, the problems it faces (not sufficiently recognized). Young people will also reflect on how countries, local administrative-territorial units and the EU should support this kind of activity. Participants will become familiar with the benefits of volunteering on their personal, social, and even professional life. In the youth exchange, we want to include young people facing social and economic barriers that will realize that this activity can serve as a working experience that can help them get a job easier.