RoRec Projects
In a historical town, young people could make history...
By Cătălin Paraschiv
I know it sounds ‘high-flown’, but it’s the truth, because the volunteers in Târgovişte are more than ready to make a change.
I met these children who strongly believe in what they do, who are professional and very loyal. They believe in thoroughness and efficiency. In addition, they are modest. Being permanently aware that their actions are needed, they set an example for people of all ages.
Maybe it is the contrast that helps us become aware of what the volunteers do and who they really are. We can only thank them and encourage them to follow on the path they have chosen. I am sure they will continue to work in the same way they have done until now.
Our mission has undoubtedly been easier as we worked together with these CITIZEN-children. Too bad that the citizens for whom they walked miles and whom they tried to convince to give up old equipment and habits behaved like children…
However, we still have the joy they put in our shared work, their lively spirit and earnestness, which are more important than anything else.
We have to start somewhere, and so we begin our story in the town of Târgovişte, on a bright Thursday morning. The meeting with the volunteers is set for 10 o’clock. Although it’s not the first time when I do this, I’m slightly nervous, firstly because I’m a bit late and secondly because I know that more children and teenagers are joining us this time.
I rush from the hotel along streets that are being repaired (does it sound familiar?) towards the RoRec tent in Parcul Chindiei. I feel guilty, I’m sure some of them will greet me with reproachful glances for being late, but there’s a surprise in store for me… I see a few children wearing the white RoRec T-shirts and handing out leaflets. My first thought is to go to talk to them, but I realise I’d be ridiculous… they don’t know me, so I walk on to tent. I pass by a high-school in a hurry.
My attention is drawn to the hubbub in the schoolyard. Children are playing, shouting, some parents are carrying their kids’ backpacks and … surprise… MORE volunteers are putting up large ‘INVITATION TO RECYCLING’ posters. Curious children and parents gather around them. I leave the schoolyard noise behind and go on. I reach the park and find at the RoRec tent the team members and only two or three volunteers. One of them comes to me and asks me in a rather timid voice:
‘Hello, could I ask you a few questions, please?’
‘Sure,’ I answer, pretending not to know what this is all about.
She starts to tell me how important it is to recycle WEEE, asks if I have recycled old equipment, if I know about our campaign and so on. I interrupt her once and make a ‘correction’. I tell her that WEEE means Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment… She hesitates and looks back to Oana and Ioana (the girls in our team), who are splitting their sides with laughter... Looking and sounding guilty, I tell the volunteer:
‘I’m really sorry, it’s me you were supposed to meet at 10 o’clock… but I’m late, it’s really my fault…’
‘Really? No problem,’ she says airily. ‘My colleagues have already left, but I don’t think you’ll still find them nearby. We have already formed teams and…’
There’s nothing I can say, except for ‘Thank you’.
Ten minutes later, two more girls show up saying that they have run out of leaflets. OK, we go to put up posters then.
There are few people in the streets of Târgovişte, but they are very curious. I ask the volunteers to put up posters only where this is allowed and they look at me as if they were saying: ‘We know… Sir... you’d better mind your coffee’… Or maybe I’m wrong? Anyway, within one hour there are posters in the entire town.
When we’re finished, the girls come to me and ask if they can leave.
I try to put up a ‘tough’ face.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To school. We have classes at 2 o’clock.’
‘I see…’ I answer, but I’m simply amazed. ‘So these children woke up at 9 o’clock, came to the meeting for which I was late at 10, got into the RoRec T-shirts, made up teams, ‘covered’ the town in posters and now they’re going to school???’
When I was their age, there was no way I’d go to school if I managed to get involved in activities like this. And yet, they’re off to class… these are really mature children….
We decide to meet on the next day and they go away, leaving me bewildered and lost in this town where they are sure to make history.
It may not be the same kind of history that Vlad the Impaler or Radu the Great wrote, but it is certain that their parents, their brothers and sisters, their children will ‘feel’ the results of their actions… because thanks to them Târgovişte, the 15th town that accepts the ‘INVITATION TO RECYCLING’, will be cleaner, greener, less polluted…
Congratulations to the volunteers from Târgovişte who did a great job!
Denisa-Elena Pasalan
Marin Cristian Moise
Ramona Elena Albu
Sorina Neaga
Simona Maria Ispas
Stefania Matache
Marina Biciusca
Alina-Ioana Paduraru
Teodora Tuca
Robert Toma
Maria-Alice Stroescu
Bianca Andra Oprea
Roxana-Elena Mocanu
Teodor Tabirca
Lavinia Toma
Maria-Cristina Dinu
Alin Florin Simionescu
Ioana Iordache
Nicolae Petre
Elena Adriana Covei
Alexandra Maria Stan
Britia-Georgiana Tolea
Mihaela Oproiu
Maria-Mandruta Andreescu
Ioana Ispir
Cassandra Ioana Oprea
Eric Constantin Moise
Alexandra-Mihaela Oprescu
Iulia-Mihaela Badea
Maria Antonia Bunoiu
Remember these names! Congratulations and thank you once again!
Tags: weee collection center , targoviste , volunteers
