Scoala Te Face Mare: Invest in the education of our children, July 2009Dear Friends, We are proud to inform you about our current efforts to provide Romania’s most disadvantaged children with greater and earlier access to education and to share with you the cover story in Romania’s TV guide Oblique which is distributed to over 100,000 homes. Remarkably, this article concludes with the following admonishment to its readers: “So think twice before you become angry while waiting at the stoplight or make a comment that this country is full of child beggars. Realize that you can make a difference for them – you have the power to give them a chance. They say that intelligent people find solutions. Solutions exist, but there has to be goodwill on our part.” Here is the rest of the article: Scoala Te Face Mare: Invest in the education of our children
[ “Scoala Te Face Mare” means literally: “School Makes You Big”; and figuratively, "School helps make you a Big Shot"]. “Scoala Te Face Mare” is a public awareness campaign initiated by Ovidiu Rom and Telefonul Copilului. The public service announcements that are currently on television were directed pro-bono by Cristian Mungiu [Cannes winner for 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days] and Radu Muntean [The Paper Will Be Blue]. This series of 30-second spots star Andreea Marin, Dana Deac, Cabral Ibacka, Damian Draghici and Dan Bittman. “Scoala Te Face Mare” informs the public about the consequences of school abandonment and the rights and responsibilities of each of us with regard to educating Romania’s youth. Oblique TV Magazine supports this project. We ask that you, our readers, do not become insensitive to the problem of school abandonment, a major problem in Romanian society. We have much admiration for Leslie Hawke (the President of Ovidiu Rom), who has been living in Romania since 2000, and who works to give a helping hand to those who truly need one. As the mother of the actor Ethan Hawke explained, “it is a well-established fact that early childhood education helps children succeed in school. Therefore it is especially important for disadvantaged children. The Telefonul Copilului hotline gives poor parents a way to find out their legal rights and practical options. Already several children have called to express concern about their friends who weren’t in school.”
Since this edition of our magazine is special for summer vacation, we want to give you something to think about and we hope with all our hearts that you too will support this campaign. You can obtain additional information by calling 116 111. You can also use the number to report any individual problems you confront as a parent when trying to register your child in school. It is a free service offered by Romtelecom and Cosmote. Below, we have included personal quotes from the public figures that support “Scoala Te Face Mare”: Andreea Marin Banica (TV star and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador): “I support the ‘Scoala Te Face Mare’ campaign because in the last few years I have traveled to many diverse and remote places in Romania, and I learned firsthand about the realities there and I know that school can make the difference not only in the life of a child, but also in the lives of their entire family”
Dana Deac (Director of TVR [National Television]): “I chose to join ‘Scoala Te Face Mare’ because I have always wanted to support those who care and from whose work is born a better world.”
Cabral Ibacka (TV mini-series star): “When a child does not attend school, as is currently the case for many children, they begin life with an immense handicap. I also became involved in this campaign because every time Ovidiu Rom has begun something, they do it very well.”
Dan Bittman (Leader of Holograf, well known Romanian band): “I became involved in this campaign for a simple reason: I like the idea.”
Damian Draghici (Composer, Roma activist, and leader of the Roma band “Damian & Brothers”):
“I am the first person in my family to go beyond the fifth grade. By luck, there was someone in my life who pushed me to go on in school and eventually I went to a music conservatory in Greece, and then to Berklee College of Music in Boston.”
The 30 second spots are running on some 20 television channels all summer long. (And yes, even the poorest of the poor has a tv.) In August we will run a series of “info-cartoons” in the country’s largest tabloid. We are also spreading our message online to young adults via the Ovidiu Rom YouTube channel, a website in both Romanian and English, and a Facebook page that already has over 1000 followers.
This campaign was created out of the extraodinarily generous contributions of individual Romanians (both public figures and private citizens), production companies, and media organizations (both print and TV) who truly believe in its message that “every child in school is everyone’s responsibility”.
To ensure that public awareness translates into real changes demands ongoing efforts to galvanize policy-makers and model effective educational practices. A grant from the J.M. Kaplan Fund allowed us to train an additional 20 teachers this spring. Throughout the summer, 1800 children will participate in summer programs made possible by Ovidiu Rom and The Alex Fund, helping children adjust from home environments of extreme poverty to a culture of learning. Best regards, Leslie Hawke & Maria Gheorghiu |
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