It’s Saturday, in a cold beginning of October, and through the kitchen window I observe people passing by on the street. The unfriendly weather kind of invites you to stay in the house. Today, my mother is turning 49 years old. It is for the first time when we can celebrate someone’s birthday in peace.
My mother inspires me in many ways, but what amazes me every time is the way she can to go on in life despite all the hardships.
me Horvath Ilie Nicușor Gabriel Robert, is a 22 years old artist who grew up in Ferentari. He was on his own since he was just a child. Left only with two older sisters (minors too), he had to take care of himself, with no parents by his side. As a result, he did not get the encouragement any child would need to build confidence.
Ferentari has a big garbage problem! Disastrous waste management, including trash pickup, leads to a series of bad consequences: it affects residents’ health, attracts more junk, rats, and of course, another stereotype for the Ferentari neighborhood. Residents got used to the idea that no one is doing anything about it, and then they throw garbage directly out the window. We don’t know for how long, because soon enough “the waste will reach the 4th floor”.
Neluțu Petrache is a renowned musician, who built his career with a lot of passion and hard work. He started singing when he was 9 years old, when his mother bought his first guitar. At 18 he had his first “official” concert, how he likes to say. Even if he was gifted with a wonderful voice, Nelutu realized early that he had to put in a lot of work and make sacrifices to be seen as a musician, as he wanted. And that the instant success is an ephemeral one, more like a happening.
Ionut Oprea started in 2013 a small project: to form a small theater company with few schoolchildren from school no 136 in Ferentari. In short time Madalina Dorobantu joint him and they went forward.
Niko G became a successful rap singer, despite all the discourages she had, included from the family, that did not consider such a music could help her achieve something in life. But the call was there. Not only she did not give up the music, but she completed it with acting. She started in 2015 with PlayHood, in Ferentari, and now is part of Giuvlipen, the first independent Roma feminist theater company in Romania. From 2018 to present she has participated in several Erasmus+ affiliated programs and is a peer-trainer in the project “(Roma) heroes in Theater Education and Everyday Life”.
Julio Elvisey Pisică, born in 1999, is an interdisciplinary artist, third year student at the Faculty of Music and Theater in Timișoara. Passionate about poetry, theater and sound, his artistic career started when was still a teenager.
Creative teenagers and young adults who grew up in Ferentari neighborhood in Bucharest write articles about Roma culture, with editorial guidance, as part of “Avdives, Khetanes!” (translation “Today, together!”) project implemented by Amfiteatru Foundation.
Meetings in the two communities emphasized that unhealthy life style becomes a real problem for children and teenagers. Read more here.