Now we are in this together, Romanians and Ukrainians

As far as Anca Mușat is concerned, the desire for community involvement and the interest in volunteering and working with young people were not brought on by the onset of the refugee crisis. She is a founding member of the ETC Association - Education, Traditions and Community, an NGO that provides education and integration support to children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

The association holds weekly workshops for children, offering a wide range of extra-curricular activities for children of all ages. In addition to relaxation and socialisation, these activities combine education with play, having both a therapeutic and remedial role for those children who have difficulties at school. The ultimate aim is to prevent children from disadvantaged backgrounds from dropping out of school. They achieve this by combining play, education and music. By playing, children learn Romanian, maths, geography and painting. 

Since 2016, the ETC Association has also had a music school, Anca tells me: the children have formed a band. "The music school is attended by children from all backgrounds: there are institutionalized children, children from families who cannot afford to pay for music classes - as you know, it is not exactly cheap to study music. That has been the key to keeping them closer to school and away from the street and other activities that are not exactly healthy. I repeat: we don't only do this for institutionalised children, but also for those who have other problems: financial problems, single-parent families, families in which the parents, for various reasons, cannot take very good care of their children", explains Anca Mușat. 

Obviously, we try to provide them with all the material support they need: school supplies, clothing, shoes, we collaborate with DGSACP District 2.  We also organize festivities, shows - so that they can be the main actors. When school festivities are held, there aren't always roles for children who don't do very well academically or don't recite well. There aren’t always roles for them, but we try to put them on stage and show them that they can achieve great things too. And they have! They've been to different concerts, but the most high-profile one was at the Romanian Athenaeum. They also performed in the University Square, at the Summer Symphonies, they performed in several concerts in the commune of Cornetu. They love it! And in this way we keep them close to us and close to school." 

For almost a year now, Ukrainian children from the families Anca has been helping have started to participate in the ETC's activities: "Now we are in this together, Romanians and Ukrainians," she tells me smiling. 

I ask her how Ukrainian children have integrated, how they are feeling among Romanians. She tells me that integration is much easier for the little ones: "It's much easier for the children, they don't even notice this communication and language barrier. Children colour the same in all languages, play the same in all languages, sing the same, have the same interests. It's going very well for all parties involved," she confirms. 

Anca's children are also involved in this project, on Saturdays they come to the association's workshops, volunteer and socialize: "Ṣtefan is also into music, he plays guitar and drums. Bianca helps me organise the workshops, she volunteers, and Vlad is always around the other children, he is part of the band," Anca proudly tells me. 

Over time, she managed to enlist the help of some of her friends and acquaintances: "They ask me what they can do to help, they collect packages, let me know when they have something to donate. They somehow came to think of me as hub, ever since the fundraising and donation activities for the ETC Association, my friends knew about it. Whenever there were holidays, they would bring sweets for the kids, children’s clothes, school supplies." 

Apart from family and friends, she tells me that has she received help from UNICEF and local authorities, especially DGSACP District 2. Without their help, many of the activities she undertakes with, and for, the children would not be possible. She is grateful to them for what they have done for the children involved in the association, but also for the support they have provided during the refugee crisis.