Videos

Videos from the Each Child in Kindergarten (Fiecare Copil în Grădiniță) campaign, which calls for public action to offer the chance of early education to children from poor families. The campaign is promoted by the Ovidiu Rom Association. Policy Center for Roma and Minorities has supported this initiative financially within the framework of the REACT project, which was financed by the European Commission.

Damian Drăghici with the children from the Alternative Education Club singing at a multicultural show in Bucharest

The famous musician Damian Drăghici with the children at the Alternative Education Club. Starting with September 2011 Damian Drăghici is coordinating a music workshop for the children at 136 Elementary School.

Parents meeting at the Alternative Education Club

At the beginning of August seven children from the Alternative Education Club, enrolled in the street-dance programme coordinated by the famous dance school Troublw Crew, took part in a summer school at Poiana Velicanului, near Râşnov (Braşov county). The children participated to educational and street dance activities and to interactive games.

The first contest of the children at the Alternative Education Club, enrolled in the street-dance programme.

On July, 27, Policy Center for Roma and Minorities and the British Embassy staff in Bucharest chose to celebrate ‘one year to go’ to the London Olympics with the Roma community in Ferentari, one of the most deprived districts of Bucharest. The community faces significant problems from discrimination, unemployment, crime and drug addiction, but has turned to sport in response.

A story full of life lessons, fun characters, color, emotions and a lot of dedication. This could sum up in a few words the play “The Naughty Prince and the Wise Old Man”, staged by more than 15 children enrolled in the theater classes at the Alternative Education Club. The play is an adaptation developed by Sorin Sandu after a story by Anton Pann.

On a sunny day of Sunday, May 29, over 400 children, parents and volunteers took part in the International Children’s Day event organized by Policy Center for Roma and Minorities in collaboration with the District 5 Mayoralty, in the ghetto area on Livezilor Street in Bucharest. The event was dedicated to the children in the Ferentari area and in particular to the pupils from the Elementary School no.136 where Policy Center for Roma and Minorities launched in October 2010 the Alternative Educational Club with the financial support of the Netherlands Embassy in Romania, the Soros Foundation in Romania, the European Commission and the Roma Education Fund. Also, pupils from the Elementary School no.147 were involved in the event, as we plan to open a new club at this school.

The “Mass Football Day” Cup event, held on May 25, was a great opportunity for the two football teams from the Alternative Education Club from the Elementary School no. 136 in Ferentari to show what they learned during their weekly soccer practice. The activity is coordinated by ex-professional football player (junior league), Laurenţiu Gheorghe who used to play for one of Romania’s most notorious football clubs, Dinamo București. Policy Center for Roma and Minorities strongly promotes the idea that sport is a powerful instrument that can convey anti-racist messages for the general audiences. At the same time, this is an efficient tool for the social integration of children who come from disadvantaged communities.

The children from the Alternative Education Club at School no. 136 in Ferentari, Bucharest, learn to dance with the famous dance school Trouble Crew. This video is produced by Trouble Crew in collaboration with Policy Center for Roma and Minorities.

During June 2010, Policy Center for Roma and Minorities and director Alexander Nanau accompanied a CNN team to document and capture the situation of very poor Roma communities in Romania. These images were shoot in Ferentari and in Ocolna (a Roma inhabited village near Craiova in the south of Romania) where people struggle to make a living on less than one dollar per day. Depicting tragic life stories of these people, the clip on living conditions raises serious concerns regarding the public authorities failure to efficiently tackle Roma marginalization.

Policy Center for Roma and Minorities together with the Romanian Football Federation organized on November 13th , 2010, their bi-annual football competition for children in Bucharest in which 23 teams with more than 250 children aged between 9 and 11 participated. This was the 9th tournament our organization and the Romanian Football Federation organized in the last years, focused on curbing violence and racism on football stadiums. Two football teams from the Ferentari ghetto trained by the Young Roma Professional and professional football player Laurentiu Gheorghe took part in the tournament. On November 17th, the same banner against racism was held by the Romanian and Italian national football teams during a friendly match.

Halloween Charity Ball 2010 – The Award Ceremony. Policy Center for Roma and Minorities offered a series of awards on the occasion the Social Inclusion Gala for people who supported social inclusion in the past year