Santa’s for everyone

Blog post by Cora Motoc and Peter Thomas from the Political team in the British Embassy

As we all know Christmas is all about giving.  So for the second year running the British Embassy was very pleased to participate in the “Santa’s for everyone” campaign by collecting toys and clothes to donate to urban and rural Roma communities around Romania.  On Tuesday we had the pleasure of travelling to Mizil, 100 kms from Bucharest to visit a local school and Roma community, to deliver our gifts.

The school, whilst modest in size, caters to over 400 students in two shifts.  In spite of the limited resources available, one can see that the teachers and school staff have done their utmost to liven it up.  The walls are decorated with pictures, drawings and inspiring quotations. One of the arrangements on display presents the values behind a model student: hard-work, attention, order, forgiveness, generosity, sincerity, character, punctuality and respect. The attendance record for the early shift was a commendable 186 out of 220.  This was not due to the impending visit of Santa, the school has a creditable attendance record throughout the year.

Santa’s entrance was greeted with beaming smiles.  He spent an hour giving away presents, listening to poems and songs. Afterwards, we were invited to watch the Christmas production. They opened with a traditional song about the sad love story between a Roma girl and a Romanian man, and swiftly moved onto an energetic sequence of traditional Roma and Romanian dance. The energy of the children was contagious. The dances were followed by two short plays and a violin recital by a very talented 5th grader who plays with gusto from Beethoven to the Roma anthem. It was good to see Roma culture being celebrated and recognised in schools.