2024 is soon passing its first quarter and we have already had a lot of activity in each project. So many events, we haven't even had a chance to tell you what an eventful year 2023 has been!
At Romanian events already with tradition in the Netherlands: Universal Day of Youth and National Day of Romania Hundreds of Romanians came to visit us, eager to remember the tastes of home brought by artisans and to admire the works of Romanian artists or to listen to music in the sweet Miori language. At both events we organized fairs of small Romanian entrepreneurs and artisans in the Netherlands, as well as workshops and other activities. Children enjoyed theatre plays and workshops on reading and drawing, face painting, and adults had interesting discussions with psychotherapist Dana Popa about well-being in the context of life in another country and with Janneke Klopp from Roamaniac about her passion for the Romanian mountains. There were many opportunities to socialise, laugh and dance. We were very happy to have visitors of different nationalities, curious to learn more about Romania.
ROMPRO Social
The ROMPRO Social project took place during 2023 by organizing 7 online seminars and also with physical presence, addressing topics of interest to the Romanian community: the Dutch tax system, accidents at work, domestic violence, police for everyone, social aid in the Netherlands, free legal insurance, labour market issues. You can review the recordings on our YouTube page.
Romanian School Amsterdam
Also in 2023, the Romanian School Amsterdam was present, Saturday after Saturday, at the workshops that it has been organizing for 7 years with a lot of dedication and love for children. This year the School had 3 thematic workshops: the Dwarf Workshop, the Romanian Language and Culture Workshop and the Personal Development Workshop for Pre-teens. In June, the children participated in a programming workshop where they discovered the digital world. On 14 October, the Romanian School celebrated Kinderboekenweek, or Children's Book Week. There we met authors Simona Epure and Ioana Chicet-Macoveiciuc. We ended the year celebrating Romania's National Day and then we waited for Santa Claus and Santa Claus with great joy. Read extended retrospective here.
Romanian Library Netherlands (Biebro)
The year 2023 was a year full of beautiful events at the Dutch Romanian Library! Here are some of them: The BiebROțeilor Workshop (weekly online meetings with the aim of helping children develop their Romanian vocabulary), The "Mă nomesc Curaj" Project (cultural education and creativity programme for children from Romania and the Romanian diaspora in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK, run by the Cultural Association); AIVI Media Hub Diaspora workshops: Netherlands (free online courses in journalism and social media); Painting workshop with Emanuela (Emi) Balint; Kinderboekenweek: Book Week 6th edition and "Travellers" Exhibition (in collaboration with the Illustrators' Club, which proposed an incursion into the world of 40 contemporary Romanian illustrators).
The BiebRO on Wheels project also continued in 2023, reaching 12 volunteer librarians. A total of 5 shifts took place, 50 package shipments took place, 120 books were rolled and over 550 loans were made. Read extended retrospective here.
Interconnections Online School
Last but not least, the Interconnections Online Language School continued its work with Romanian students eager to learn Dutch as well as with Dutch students interested in Romanian.
Thank you to all the volunteers who have made all these activities possible and we look forward to seeing what this year brings. If you would like to support us, you can do so by either volunteer, either through a donation to the foundation.
