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Hello hello, Maria Vives Requena here! I am so glad to be introducing myself to you. I cannot wait to become a Sacuenian for the next four months. The world can be an overwhelming place, I was born in Barcelona 23 years ago and I've had the chance to travel to many places.

The Importance of Celebrating Roma Culture

Sacueni has a community of a little over three thousand Roma, spread in eight different settlements. The usual approach towards this ethnicity has been generally one of otherness, racism and discrimination. However, not many people have stopped and given some thought or interest in the culture of Roma people. Cultures have a need for stability. The Roma community has it quite difficult due to the fact that stability is precisely what they lack. There is no complete integration to society making them unable to set roots and harmonize, adding to it the absence of territorial or political representation.

This is just a reminder of how difficult life is for the Roma, a population that over the years have suffered endless hardship based on stereotypes about their culture. It is of utmost importance to understand and consider the origins of Roma. According to historians, linguistics and experts, the Roma community can be traced back many centuries, establishing their location of origin in Northern India.

The Importance of Quality Opportunities

It has not been easy. For the past few years economic depression has featured the day to day lives of people worldwide. There is a particular age group that has seen their chances reduced to scraps and have witnessed how their dreams were shattered in the face of difficult contexts. Youngsters are the clear victims of this worrying situation. The lack of good opportunities is stalling their search for a decent future.

This is an issue that, unfortunately, affects young people on a global scale. It results in little or no vision for a better life because of the mentioned lack of conveniences. If one takes a closer look, Sacueni does not have it simple either. At the moment, there are little to none opportunities for young people in the city. It seems as if Sacueni was stuck in time and remains oblivious to the change and development that takes place in the world. That only adds more and more negative inputs to the lives of young Sacuenians who would wish to settle down in the town while improving their livelihoods.

The Importance of Empowering Women

Gender inequality in Romania is a worrying issue. In 2019, the country ranked 25th on the Gender Equality Index in Europe. With a score much lower than the European Union’s average, it is time to address a topic that has crippled women all across Romania, taking a special toll on women who live in rural areas, such as Sacueni. In terms of inequality, the situation is highly aggravated when it comes to women’s economic empowerment. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, the gender gaps in participation and segregation in the labour market endure, and women still earn 5% less compared to men.

Opportunities of employment and gender roles are still a problem that need to be taken care of. Sacueni is no exception. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an urgent push for action for all countries, consider the fight for Gender Equality a must in the current context.

Administration and community leaders should take some pages out of the United Nations’s SDGs and start working towards the completion of this goal. By doing so, Sacueni would not just be developing its social fabric but it would be fostering economic development.

The Importance of Promoting the Wine Industry

Sacueni’s scenery has a clear common denominator: croplands. This spreads throughout the country. Agriculture currently accounts for 4.3 percent of Romania’s GDP, considerably lower than the 22 percent that it used to represent thirty years ago (World Bank, 2020). The appearance of new industries and sources of economic development have shifted investment away from crop production. However, many Romanians still rely on agriculture as their way of living. Diversification is a great opportunity for farmers to increase revenue on an individual level. Sacueni has the advantage of enjoying good and fertile soil, allowing it to grow a great variety of crops. Many opportunities arise from such characteristics. It is the moment to invest in something that will create direct and indirect benefits for not only the producer but the community as a whole. Viticulture has the capacity to become the perfect booster to put Sacueni on the map and become a referent in the winegrowing world.

The city would not be starting from zero. Wine culture has been very much tied to the region for centuries. In fact, during the 18th century, wine was the main source of income in the area. It was not always easy, phylloxera took a toll on grapevines across Europe, especially in Romania, where many took it as a sign to switch production to other crops due to the unprofitability and instability of the business. The last nail in the coffin that put a stop to wine production was the arrival of the Communist Regime and the push towards the industrialization of the economy. However, ten years ago there was a change of spirits. The attention shifted back to the potential that the wine industry has.

The Importance of Belonging

“You need to hold the foil as if you were using it to paint a picture”. This phrase stands by one of the many basic steps of fencing and reflects the elegance of the sport. It might have escaped your attention, but Sacueni has a Fencing Club, brought to life by the one and only Csilla Rupárcsics. She is the instructor of the sessions, which take place in the local Sports Centre, three times per week.

For now, around ten children are lucky enough to experience the fabulous sport that is fencing. As anything else in this world, the task of conducting training sessions and maintaining the club alive and well is really complex. Starting with the fact that fencing is a sport that requires a lot of equipment, Csilla depends on private donations to keep the activities going. Her determination is astonishing, if it was not for her devotion and perseverance Sacueni would not have this invaluable asset. Recognition and focus need to be put in such activities as they help the community in countless ways.

The Importance of the Town Hall

Complex. If one had to define the work of Sacueni’s town hall in one word it would be “complex”. Many forget the difficulty of running a city that comprises and administers five other villages: Cadea, Ciocaia, Cubulcut, Olosig and Sânicolau du Munte. Add also the intricacy of the town being located seven kilometers away from the Hunagrian border. Which explains the Hungarian ethnic majority in the city, and points out the ethnic and religious diversity, adding yet another layer of challenge for town representatives.

It is not easy to take care of such varied realities by just one institution. Generally, local governments are the ones in charge of providing law enforcement, fire protection response, public schooling at the elementary and secondary levels, maintaining roads and buildings, equipping towns with adequate venues, ensuring the supply of key utilities such as electricity water and sewage services, regulating local businesses and serving as a first response to its citizens.

The Importance of a Helping Others

When you talk to someone about their profession and you see that their eyes are constantly shining, you can confirm that their passion and devotion towards what they do is absolute. This is precisely the case of Andrea Toth, the House Leader of Child Jesus Home orphanage in Sacueni. For almost a couple of hours, she shared her experiences, worries, thoughts, reflections and, basically, the in and outs of her job.

Hospitality was one of the first impressions that could be perceived instantly after meeting her. Andrea talked about the journey that brought her to Sacueni and how she has chosen to willingly give up most of her private life to dedicate her time to helping children in need. It is not easy to renounce certain commodities, such as free weekends or the chance to sit down one afternoon with a cup of coffee and watch your favourite tv show without being disturbed. Nonetheless, she has been doing precisely that for the last few years. Admiration towards her immediately rushed in.

The Importance of Community Involvement and Intercultural Exchange

Bringing people together and sharing culture. That has been the utmost goal of the first event organized by the European Solidarity Corps Volunteers staying in Sacueni, which took place on October 3rd. Under the title “Express yourself: Embracing Spanish Culture”, the participants learned about the maximum exponents of Spanish and Catalan painting, sculpture, literature and architecture, drawing a general idea of what the Iberic country has to offer in terms of art.

Furthermore, they took part in the various activities designed to express themselves in a variety of ways. Community involvement and culture are the key elements of, not just the already mentioned event, but the remaining ones that have been planned to be set during the upcoming weeks. Understanding that from cultural exchange the local community can thrive is as relevant as any other happening.

The Importance of Cultural Diversity

A town is usually identified by its sites, architecture or region. Sacueni is a municipality located in Northern Romania, roughly twenty kilometers away from the Hungarian border. History has seen the place evolve from the Roman times in the 1st century BC, to the migration waves of Goths, Huns, Avars, Slavs, Bulgars and Magyars in the Middle Ages; the Turk invasion in the 16th century which established Transylvannia as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire; the later rule of the Habsburg in 1687, to the defeat of Austria-Hungary in 1918 which signified the formation of modern Romania, leading to WWII featured by the regime’s ties with the Nazis; and the 25-year dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, plagued by corruption and malpractice.

Until 2007, when the country finally found a certain sense of stability allowing it to join the European Union. Since then Romania and its peoples have enjoyed relative cohesion despite the economic and social difficulties. All the mentioned hardships have shaped and molded Sacueni, a town that not only stands out by its natural beauty, but for the richness of its community and the diversity that upholds it. This article is going to focus on the cultural aspect of the town, highlighting its most distinctive asset: cultural diversity, and picturing a general idea of Sacuenian uniqueness. At this point, it is important to comment that, according to the last municipal census, Sacueni’s population, around eleven thousand citizens, is formed by three main ethnicities: Hungarians, Romas (gypsies) and Romanians.