Whether through donations or volunteer work, Romanians are becoming more and more involved in charity campaigns.
Many young people in Romania who want things to improve and who cannot wait for the state to get involved have started to create their own charities. One such example is the Beard Brothers of Cluj, a group of bearded and tattooed bikers who wanted to turn their atypical image into a brand name. Cornel Hoza, a member of the group, told us what that has achieved:
"We set up the group in November 2013. We have grand plans, we want to be involved in society and help as many people as possible. So far we've organised seven large scale charity campaigns, and a lot of other events and satellite campaigns. We get involved in any kind of action, we don't have a pattern. If we feel that we have to get involved in something, we do it. So far we put a few pennies aside for a kid with cancer and got a hold of a minibus for a special needs kindergarten."
The Beard Brothers have run more campaigns, such as cleaning up party places and collecting waste, as well as gathering donations for a few needy families. We asked Cornel Hoza if their non-conformity helped them:
"It definitely counted. When you see a huge guy with a beard and tattoos selling cookies in the central park in Cluj... that has an impact. In addition, we had campaigns for which we shaved our heads in the centre of the town to raise funds. We are trying to do all this in a different way. It all started with a group of nine friends, but as we developed we drew in all kinds of people, from all walks of life. However, we share a wish to help others. We don't have any personal benefits, this is exclusively voluntary work."
The beards, the tattoos, the bikes, but mostly their empathy, brought in the largest number of members into the Beard Brothers group. The association now has 29 male members and 30 female in the group's so-called "sisterhood" division. The passion for travelling also worked in favour of charitable causes, especially combined with their non-conformity. Iulian Angheluta, one of the members, told us about the beginnings of the organisation, in 2012:
"We started cleaning up beaches and gathering clothing and shoes for the needy. Our biggest achievement was the trip we took to Mongolia, with an old school Dacia car, in the summer of 2012. This was a humanitarian rally. The challenge was to take the car all the way over there, and then donate it to a Mongolian NGO, which auctioned it out alongside all the other cars in the rally. The project was meant to bring computers to Mongolia, where the population is mostly nomadic. The idea was to supply people with tablets or other digital platforms to provide education in spite of their nomadic lifestyle."
When they came back from Mongolia, where they donated their car, Iulian Angheluta and the other volunteers started focusing on bringing electricity to villages in Romania that have none. Having no electric power affects people in ways you may not have thought of:
"According to data from the 2011 census, Romania has 248,000 homes without electricity. This is the official figure. Of these homes, maybe 100,000 are not inhabited, but what matters is the number of people living there. These are impoverished people, one home without electricity can house as many as five to ten people."
The campaign to bring electricity to villages started in Ursici, a village in Hunedoara county, and continued in four other counties. Volunteers brought in solar panels bought from donations. Slowly but surely, these isolated communities started feeling the benefits of electric power generated by solar panels. Here is Iulian Angheluta with details:
"This is in line with our organisation's environmental purpose. Costs are lowers, we haven't cut down a single tree and have not drawn a single wire from the grid. The sun is free of charge. The equipment entails some costs, but that is ok. Until this spring, we have brought electricity to four schools the Ministry of Education didn't even know they had no electricity. We continued our field research to see how many people are deprived of electricity. We had sponsors to persuade, but the hardest thing is to convince the public authorities. The state has made commitments towards the European Union, and they also have a moral commitment towards the citizens. In my estimation, tens of thousands of people live in the dark, using candles and gas lamps. Thousands of families are cut off from information for lack of power. There are health issues too, given that kids do their homework by candlelight, and their sight is affected."
The problems are compounded by poverty, because usually families who live in homes without power could not afford a monthly electricity bill to begin with. The good news is that Iulian Angheluta and his peers do not expect anything in return for their efforts, all it takes is their continued commitment.
Useful Links
Copyright © . All rights reserved