The Other Children

Refused by the authorities and by a large part of society, children from two marginalized communities in Maramureș receive a chance from NGOs.

Text by Angela Sabău

Photos by Silviu Gheție

Ajungem la Ponorâta după un drum ce șerpuiește printre dealuri domoale, ce par pustii în decorul tomnatic al Țării Lăpușului din Maramureș. O clădire nouă, aflată dincolo de o poartă larg deschisă, apare de după o curbă. Este școala cu clasele I-IV din Ponorâta și câteva zeci de copii care învață aici se află acum în pauză și umplu curtea cu veselia lor asurzitoare.

The little ones welcome the representatives of the Reality Check association, who came together with a team of journalists, and the teachers are trying to keep them in check.

Privirile lor pătrunzătoare se ascund repede în pământ dacă încerci să vorbești cu ei. Unul mai curajos, a cărui chică roșcovană ne aduce aminte de un Nică din „Amintiri din copilărie” ale lui Creangă le răspunde jurnaliștilor, dar după câteva cuvinte se intimidează și își ascunde capul rușinat, după alți colegi. În sprijinul lui sar alții și îl ajută cu explicațiile. „E repetent”, justifică unul dintre copii, referindu-se la „Nică”.

Have big dreams

When asked about school, everyone likes it. One of the little girls wants to make herself a "doofress", another a policewoman, and a boy boasts that she likes mathematics. But the dialogue is short, because together, they mobilize each other and the larma begins again.

Cu greu reușesc învățătoarele să-i alinieze în fața intrării și să intre în sala de clasă în mod organizat. În ajutorul lor vine o mamă din comunitatea de romi din Ponorâta, dar și alte două membre care sunt acolo permanent. Știu că vor primi daruri, pentru că au venit doamnele Iolanda și Nadia „de la Asociație”. Așa că intră în clasă, unul câte unul. În câțiva ani, când vor încerca să iasă din mica lor bulă a comunității de romi din care fac parte, acești copii vor avea parte de un contact dur cu prejudecățile celor din jur.

Chance at education

For 10 years, the Reality Check Association has set out to give these children a chance and facilitate their access to education, the only thing that can change their lives. And their involvement is bearing fruit, slowly but surely.

They started in 2011, when they first came into contact with this community. The representatives of the association, Iolanda Burtea and Nadia Gavrilă, talk about the problems they have been fighting for 10 years in Ponorâta. "There are two types of problems that the association in general is facing. One is that of funding — which is related to us as a foundation and the problems we find in communities, at the "grassroots". We all believe that the big problem in poor communities is education, and that's where we need to start; to bring the children to school. In both communities where we work, and here (in Ponorâta, n.r.) and in Castelu (Constanta County), this is a challenge", says Nadia Gavrilă.

And the results are visible. If 10 years ago, the attendance at school was 10-15%, at present it has climbed up to 80%.

Food coupons, a reason to go to school

One of the methods by which they convinced parents to send their children to school was to offer food coupons, worth 50 lei per month. Although the amount seems small, in families with many children and very poor, this amount makes a difference.

Proiectul început inițial cu asociația OvidiuRo, care obținea și finanțările necesare de la diverse companii private, a ajuns să fie implementat prin lege în toată țara, după ce și-a dovedit utilitatea în peste 40 de comunități. Proiectul viza doar copiii de grădiniță. „Programul Ponorâta l-am pornit din 2012 și l-am început așa: OvidiuRo, din 2010, avea programul cu tichetele, care era un program public-privat între comunitate, ONG și primărie. ONG-ul venea cu tichetele sociale care erau condiționate de prezență – 50 de lei pe lună de copil, dacă venea zi de zi.

Through OvidiuRo there have always been private financing, from companies and individuals", reports Iolanda Burtea.

In contrast, the involvement of those in the vicinity of poor communities was non-existent. Especially because, at least at the time when they began to get involved, conflicts with the rest of the community were quite frequent, especially during the harvest period, when the harvests tempted the most needy. "That's when you're used to surviving from one day to the next and you see the potato there... On the one hand, I try to understand them. On the other hand, to change things in a community like this, where there are hundreds of illiterate people, it takes time. You can't overnight," she says.

Small but definite progress

Lucrurile s-au mai schimbat între timp. „Am făcut grădini, i-am învățat să-și cultive singuri. Am pornit de la 15 grădini și am ajuns la vreo 80 acum. Pe terenul pe care-l au, le dăm semințe să-și pună ei în grădini”, mai spune ea. Și schimbările se văd, nu doar aici. „În primul an în care am dat cadouri de Crăciun, a doua zi majoritatea erau prin sat să vândă ce-au primit. După al doilea sau al treilea an am văzut copiii jucându-se cu ce au primit. Mai sunt și acum care mai vând, dar nu la același nivel. Există progres, dar nu ai cum să-i schimbi pe toți, nu dintr-o dată”, mai arată ea.

Asociația derulează acum un program cu fonduri norvegiene, prin ACF (Active Citizens Fund). „Proiectul cu Norvegia se numește «Împreună pentru un viitor mai bun în Coroieni». Echipa locală lucrează integrat: adică asistentul social, cu asistentul medical comunitar, cu mediatorul școlar. Avem în vizor 30 de familii pe care le urmărim mai îndeaproape, dar o masă caldă primesc toți copiii care vin la școală. Tichetele sociale sunt oferite acum și pe criterii de performanță școlară, nu doar pe prezență”, mai arată Iolanda Burtea.

Progress is small and other generations need to come to see major changes.

Pyrite, the place with invisible children. Not registered anywhere

Locul numit „Pirita” din Baia Mare înseamnă același lucru pentru băimăreni, ca și Ponorâta pentru cei din Coroieni. Un loc pe care să-l ocolești, dacă poți.

Perimetrul acum plin de iarbă nu mai amintește de sursa numelui său. Aici însă a fost un depozit de pirită – deșeu minier pe care o companie a reușit în cele din urmă să o exploateze și să ecologizeze zona. Conform normelor, sunt interzise construcțiile sau plantarea copacilor, deoarece acestea ar străpunge stratul impermeabil din adâncime și ar permite solului poluat cu metale grele să pătrundă în stratul de la suprafață. Dar când singura ta grijă este să supraviețuiești și mâine, grija unui pericol pe care nu-l vezi pălește. Așa că, odată zona ecologizată, în scurt timp a fost populată. S-a creat o comunitate defavorizată, caracterizată de sărăcie extremă, lipsită de acces la educație. Colibele lor au fost demolate după câțiva ani și oamenii au fost mutați de acolo, însă după un timp au venit din nou și și-au făcut alte colibe.

Claudia Costea, who worked until a few years ago at Child Protection, now says that the first contact with this community had a very big impact on her, so she began to get involved, as much as she could, to help them. Initially, as a volunteer, because the state, through the institution he worked for, did not have resources. So, after several years of volunteering, I was able to make an NGO that deals with this community.

Programs for parents and children

La fel ca și la Ponorâta, principalul obiectiv este educația celor mici. La urma urmei, de aici pornește totul. Asociația Pirita Children are grijă de familiile de la Pirita de aproximativ șase ani. Se preocupă ca acești copii, dar și tinerele lor mame (uneori, și ele niște copii) să primească educația necesară și, de multe ori, cele trebuincioase.

At the headquarters of the association, which is located near their area, the little ones, along with adults, have all kinds of programs. From after school, to parenting or mother and child, or gardening. They all have the role of bringing a little light into their lives.

The children here were integrated into nearby schools. In fact, the president of the association, Claudia Costea, says that this was one of the big problems she struggled with, besides that of financing.

In the end, the children were welcomed to a school, and when you see them all in the benches, it seems that their life goes naturally, according to an ordinary social pattern. At school they get a hot meal, are in a clean environment and receive education. They seem clean and much quieter and less rowdy than those at Ponorâta. But that's also because there are fewer of them and can be better trained.

But after they leave the classroom, their lives return to a different normality. One that is only theirs and little known to those outside their community.

Small but steady funding

Claudia Costea's story in Pirita began long before the foundation of the association. She approached the community and began volunteering, offering a helping hand to families and children. She had the support of a network of supporters, professionals or donors, both at home and abroad, and the association was founded to ensure that she could gather as many resources as possible for Piritea's children.

A group of supporters in Belgium donated a way in which the association now operates, near Pirite. It is the very place where we meet with the president of the association and try to have a dialogue. However, we are constantly interrupted by children, who come up with various problems. A 12-year-old girl says she didn't get to school, saying she felt unwell. Two other children enter the room with a fairly high frequency. They come in and out, they ask questions, they accuse each other and eventually they are invited to take an apple from the crate that is next to the door and wait outside. In fact, they are interested in "grains" for dogs, which they saw at a nearby dog shelter. After they are promised that they will also receive for their dogs, things calm down. They are just children who need attention, the warmth of a home and to show them someone a little confidence.

Children "invisible" to society

"The hardest work was before setting up this association, because I thought it was very important to do something and it was clear that the priority was the children and their access to school. That's what we started with," she explains. The community counts around 130 children, aged from 0 to 16 years. "After 16 years they are considered young, but they behave like adults," says Claudia Costea. In fact, many of the girls of this age become mothers.

The first problem he faced from the beginning was that the parents did not have an address on the bulletin. That is why, until a few years ago, these children were never enrolled in school.

"The strange thing is that no one noticed this, neither the parents nor the authorities. But going to school is the most complicated thing in the world, if you live at Pirita. The first hindrance is that you don't have a file. Most families do not have a ID card with an address. They have a provisional id," she says. And for enrollment in school, this is elementary. "Schools do a census every year with children living on the streets assigned to that school. But as a community such as Pirita is illegal, from the start it is not assigned to any school. So, no one counts in advance the children from Pirita", says the president of the association.

The first enrolled in the school are those with all the documents in order and who are assigned to that school. "At the second registration round, late files are solved, but still by address. It's only at the third stage that files like this are solved, but then it's very easy for a school to say it doesn't have any more places. Or, 'if we get the children, we put them all together.' And that's how segregated classes are formed, which are very dangerous," she explains.

No "warm receptions" at school

On the other hand, even so, they are not well received at school. "The schools, the headmistresses, the teachers, when they hear that children are coming from Pirita, begin to invoke all kinds of imaginary problems: that the other parents will take their children to take them elsewhere, that those from Pirita will get problems, they will come with lice, with aggressive behaviors. Of course there is this possibility, but this is how they keep postponing their registration and it cannot be done naturally," she complains.

Beyond that, a hindrance comes from their own parents, who do not understand the importance of education, as they are uneducated, in turn. "They grew up begging on the landfill and became parents being mostly children, so they mature with their children", says Claudia Costea.

Then there is extreme poverty. "This means that if a parent does not understand the importance of education, he will not change his habits over the day, to take care of preparing the child for school. Which means to go to bed on time, to make sure that there are clean clothes, to have something to eat for breakfast, to put food at school, to have a watch to wake up at 7.00 and all this does not happen naturally in the mind of a parent who does not understand the role of school. And then somebody has to take that responsibility. That's what we did," she explains.