"Thoughts on the anniversary of the foundation", message from Cătălina Negru, one of the founders of ROMPRO
Today is a double celebration: it is 7 years since we started the first "Romanians for Romanians" activities and 6 years since the legal establishment of ROMPRO Foundation.
For me personally needlesșt 7 years are very importantți, being the period in which I chose to get actively involved in the creation of a communityți puternice a românilor din Olanda. In this period I met thousands of Romanians șand I had over a hundred colleagues on my team. Toți am fost sprijiniți și encourageți de mulți alții. On this anniversary day mulțI thank everyone for every second they give șAnd for every effort made to contribute to what we have achieved together.
Acești 7 years can be așor summarizeți in 7 main points:
- Together we are better.
- We knowșhas șinteractivețion.
- We cultivate trust.
- We create spațiu for involvement.
- We respect ourselves. We respect our choices, our beliefsțhe și limits.
- We are organisingți.
- Șwe know where we're heading.
1. Together we are better
From the beginning it was all about cooperation. We started from the words of Johan Cruyff "alleen kun je niks, je moet het samen doen" i.e. in short "alone you can'tțand achieve anything, together is the solutionția". Every moment we searched the road together, identified ourselves șand explained the common values, we thought of projects șand we made decisions together. We have always created not only teams, but also bonds și parteneriate cu alte organizații, I upținut șand helped us, we listened to each otherți. The ROMPRO team, așas it looks today, is more than I ever imagined. A truly wonderful team.
Special moments: when at lastșit, I have reușit to get together for a group photo at the Romanian Vibes festival in 2019.
2. We knowșhas șinteractivețwe are
7 years ago it was quite difficult to findșyou know someone with more than 30 years of experience.ștințis of Romanian origin in the Netherlands. We are now talking about hundreds on a regular basis. We constantly create opportunities to meetșmutual trust, we presented thețcommunity, we publicized projects, facilitated spații de présentation. Nu fiecare inițiative or project went as well, și noi putem dire cu siguranțthat we have taken advantage of every opportunity at every stagețile to create these links, essentiallyțiale to achieve a community, but we have witnessed a growingșteri constant a relațiilor, we have seen how friendships have been created, some perhaps on lifeță. With each activity we have taken a big step forward, from the first Net-Pro (Netherlands Professionals of Romanian origin) meeting with my Romanian colleagues from ING on 1 March 2015, continued with the establishment of the Fundației Romani pentru Romani on 16 February 2016, every step was about knowingșmutual land șinteractivețiune.
Special moments: when we launched secțiunea românească at the Central Library Amsterdam, I realized that everyone knows each other.șyou already have with (almost) everyone!
3. Cultivating trust
I'm going back to 2015 again. The people I started working with rarely dared toșTell them in public your full name or personal details such as your home address or where you work.
Mistrust was present intă in various forms. In 7 years a lot has changed but we still face the perceivedții greșite related to voluntary work or other Fundație. I can assure you that we have a responsible teamăwhich șknow that the trust obținută hard must be keptă și cultivată further, că useșuse all financial resources exclusively for the proposed purposes, că respects the laws, that it does everything to maintainține or communicatețtransparent ie șand, last but not least, that it strictly respects the confidențiality of personal data.
None of the Board members are paid for their work, hundreds of volunteers have worked și travaillent sans pay au bénéfice public pour Fundație. Our financial reports are public șand can be consulted at any time.
Trust is very important și is a very valuable asset for building a communityand.
Special moments: when I met people who said "I've been in Holland for 20 years șand I had neither the need nor the desireța to knowșyou toți Romanians, but from today I want to get involved, saysți me how".
4. Create spațiu for involvement
Dozens of new colleagues join the team every year, starting withțiatives abound in creativity și empathy și contributețiile chacunruia atrag mai mulți people, who in turn come up with initiativesțnew initiatives și team creșyou. Fundația was și, I am convinced, will remain a generator of spațiu for involvement, a source of inspirationție, an incentive to do more șand better. Upținem always inițiatives in the community și împărtășim from experiencețours. Through everything we do we become promoters of the idea of involvement.
Empathy has been and will remain another common denominator. Together, we succeededșit to be with the victims of the fire at the Colectiv Club, a very important moment in our history. We continue to help in social cases through our team of volunteers, with the support of the communityții.
Special moments: when other bowsții sau organizații calls us șand ask us to help them grow or promote themselves. Or when those who have been helpingțand us in one way or another send us a message of mulțumire.
5. We respect. We respect our choices, beliefsțhe și limits.
In thisșyou șapte years I ținut much respect. We were joined by those who știon to respect, not to judge șand not to condemn, those who asked before giving an opinion, those who offered othersți spațiu to be who I am șhave respected their choices, believingțhe și limits.
I have always fought for recognitionșfor those with different choices, for diversity, for a combinationție ideal between the mother culture și culture țadoptive country.
Special moments: when I was selectedți for participating in "Pride Amsterdam" with the boatțROMPRO.
6. We are și rămânem organizați
We work in an organised way, we think together before doing something, we identify our limits, we set our rules șand discuss our values. OrganisețTake ROMPRO today with a new Governing Board șand with an executive team of project coordinators și activități from aboveținere, is the achievement of all those who contributed șand believed in the community și in the important role that organizațour company can have in its development. Mulțumim to all for your help, personally thank youțumber to all colleagues who helped at various stages. My role as a catalyst has gradually diminished lately, ensuring transția towards an organisational modelționally feasible.
Special moments: seați evening video meetings with my colleagues whenever the discussion heats up.țis a sign that we're on the right track!
7. Știm îWhere we are heading
ROMPRO has a new strategy, a strong team behind this strategy, absolutely fantastic people, full of dedication și de energie. ROMPRO has projects that are going well, others that need care și attentiveție suplimentare pentru a creșyou get big, șand especially has a community that supports itține.
For me, the time has come to move on to new personal projects. I remain with ROMPRO și de comunitate, but, in the period ahead, my role will gradually diminish și will be mainly concerned with consultanțe and topținere.
Personally, I have one outstanding promise: a presencețfabulous event at Pride Amsterdam, which I hope to realise together with the team șand our community. I will stand by my colleagues wheneverâwhenever necessary.
Special moments: all the moments to come, I'm sure we'll meet again șand we will stand by each otherții șand everything we've built together will flourish.
șand, as usual, I end with the question: Comețand join us?
We always need reliable, dedicated people who want to work as a team!
Happy birthday, ROMPRO - Români Pentru Români Netherlands!
Mulțumesc everyone,
Cătălina Negru
