The Romanian Educational Center in the United Arab Emirates ends the second year of activity

The Romanian Educational Center in the United Arab Emirates was established in 2022 with the funding of The Department for Romanians Abroad, being the first with this profile in an Arab country. We are proud of this success and of the activities carried out for the benefit of the Romanian community, which grows from year to year, and in this way we have the opportunity to preserve traditions and language even if we are far from home.

Our project consisted in 2023 of over 20 physical and online activities with a total of over 800 participants. For the first time for children, we concluded the affiliation agreement with The Whipsters Library network, and starting in 2024 we will carry out activities with children regularly, we will increase the book fund and we will bring to the community’s attention new types of activities that have not taken place before.

The innovative character of our project is given by the action itself of creating and consolidating a Romanian Educational Center in the Islamic world, a landmark of culture and traditional customs for the Romanian community. In nil 2023 we proposed an integrated project, with a wide and diverse range of educational activities throughout the year, so as to cover a target group as varied as possible and a temporal space as large as possible. Taking into account the fact that in the previous project we had a massive participation of the community, but also people who wanted to come and could not be present for various reasons, this year we organized part of the activities both physically and online to address us to as many people as possible.

The needs identified among the Romanian community to which the fixed objectives respond were the following:

1. The need for rhythmicity of activities, to create the routine of assimilating Romanian education and culture and interaction with other Romanians in the community. The structure of our community is as follows: families of Romanians who left the country with children, mixed families made up of a Romanian and an expat and mixed families made up of a Romanian (lady) and a local, in which case the lady has also acquired citizenship Emirati and converted to the Muslim religion. All Romanians have this need to preserve and remember their traditions from the country, and some have even created mini-groups that meet on various occasions.
2. Participating in a constructive activity of debating the situations that arise many times in the life of each community and finding solutions or facilitating mutual help in the community. If for the children in the community there were certain cultural or linguistic activities in Romanian before, for adults the first events were held in 2022, and these are necessary to strengthen the feeling of belonging to the group,
3. The need for educational materials in Romanian related to Romania. The materials on the Internet do not have the same impact as the written ones, because the latter remain close to the family and are read by several members.
4. Among adults, the need for communication in Romanian was identified, but also for strengthening the capacities of understanding and connection. Taking into account that all communication is done in English, for those who have been abroad for a long time, the ability to communicate and express themselves in their mother tongue diminishes with the passage of time. Thus, the examples given to new generations no longer have the same power. Communication in the Romanian language during these meetings will facilitate the interest in the Romanian language and in the customs and traditions that must be known by the young woman, but also for the personal and professional development of the adults in the community. Among children, it is necessary to connect them through games, technology and the specific age, and for this reason, the educational-entertaining application in Romanian will have an important role in propagating habits of speaking Romanian and using Romanian materials.
5. Carrying out seminars or courses on topics of interest related to Romania, the possibility of returning home or opening businesses, accessing European funds or collaborating internationally is one of the options subscribed to by the majority of those who completed the survey.
6. The realization of some activities for the first time for Romanian children in the United Arab Emirates, such as excursions, practical lessons, contests with prizes, etc. will revolutionize the community and the way in which the participation of increasingly numerous groups is viewed.

In 2024, we will continue to stimulate interest in studies in the Romanian language through informal actions of this type and by continuing the project for both adults and children, as well as the presentation of successful Romanians. Our events have been very successful with the participation of an increasing number of community members. Our joy is to have at each seminar or meeting new people who have not been to the previous ones, which means that the interest in the center’s activities is growing.

The project manager, Cristina Sofronia, together with the local partner, Ioana Albada, ensured an organization and an expansion of the influence of the Romanian Educational Center in the United Arab Emirates through sustained posts in all groups on social networks, in order to promote the events and the financier.

We would like to thank the Department for Romanians Everywhere for the support given in the realization of this project! We are convinced that in the coming years we will succeed in better and better coalition of the community to be united and achieve beautiful things together.