On Dignity and Endurance

I think that disabled people endure injustice day by day. Maybe we all do. However, we are not stuck to a wheelchair, nor to painful therapy, due to medical error, or accident, or birth. For such people, the most common obstacles are sidewalks and schools lacking ramps.

They are stubborn to write, to become PhD-s in arts, to organize awareness events and to save the lives of other disabled people. Many times, they bring a new wave, authenticity, and it is just as their disability makes them see the world in a different light, a light we forgot about. As one of them says, "my philosophy is that, even if I am stuck to a wheelchair, I can enjoy life and what it offers me."

We have a lot to learn from such people. Maybe, to enjoy life, our health, the power we have onto others. I do not know why, but I think that, the more special you become by what you cannot do, due to a disease, or medical error, or having the misfortune of growing up in a bloody institution - the more you can resonate with the essential things in your life: the way you leave a trace on those around you, the way you help them.

On Monday night, there is the Gala of the Disabled People, organised by Motivation Romania and ActiveWatch. I have read about 47 very special people, who carry their suffering with a sort of a peace which is possible only by reaching revelations transcending the everyday life. Their stories are extraordinary. And they made me see my own life in a different light. It may sound pathetic. But I am bloody lucky. And so are you, who have the chance of enjoying two hands you can move and two legs you can use, because you are healthy.

We should better use this capacity to generate more well being around us. We could start with our families and colleagues.

The Social Investment of Private Companies in NGOs

Every year, around Euro 200 million are lost, as the private companies in our country hardly use the fiscal facility of allocating 20% of their tax on profit to NGOs. Some, like Arval BNP Paribas, B&B Collection, Vodafone, BRD Societe Generale, Pirelli, Porsche, Romstal or Baker Tilly Klitou do use this lever to make social transformation and fund social responsibility programmes.It is them we thanked on Friday night, at the HHC Romania Gala, where we gave them awards and also we told them how we invested their money. I am thinking of how much one could do with the Euro 200 million which are being lost annually in our country, due to the lack of action in CSR programmes. It is up to the good will of companies to make a huge difference in the lives of people they live around, and in the society they are part of. I hope that the example of the companies I mentioned above be taken by as many companies as possible.

Marian-Petrisor Daogaru Runs 1,000 Km for HHC

Marian-Petrisor Dăogaru chose to run for HHC Romania in the 1000km Balkan Charity Challenge. This is a sports event where a person with the right kind of physical condition can run for an organisation included in the competition. There are 12 such Romanian organisations and 6 Bulgarian ones. The total run is 1,050 km long, and it is the Bucharest - Bulgaria and back distance. Only those included in the Super Human category (like Marian) can do the whole run.

Marian chose to support the Viseu de Sus Day Centre, through which we want to help children and their families stay together. He is 25 and a graduate of Engineering, with a golden heart.

Unicredit created a donation page for each participant, sharing it into two categories of donors: Unicredit employees, and others. Employees" donations will be matched in the end by Unicredit.

Thank you, Marian, for the more than Euro 700 you have raised so far!

"Finding Family", a film by Oggy Tomic, is launched today by HHC in London. Meanwhile, children are being abused in institutions

The film is about the life of a youngster growing up in institutions. Actually, it is Oggy"s story, director and producer of the film, who grew up in institutions in Bosnia. An exceptional talent, Oggy exposed his story in this film, which is to be launched tonight in London. The film will attract attention on the trauma and anxiety children live in institutions.

I cannot avoid linking this to the latest news coming from the Centre for Judicial Resorces, which investigated the abuse upon children in an institution in Bihor county. I think that realities like those exposed by Georgiana Pascu and her colleagues in CRJ are daily events, just that there are very few those who bring them to light and they are very little investigated.

The solution is not to find scape goats. This is but a temporary way of sorting out the problem. Instead of them, others come to proceed in exactly the same way. It is the system to blame, and the way it is conceived: with 14,000 posts unoccupied, it is but a matter of time until all sorts of abuse come to light, in institutions, and not only in institutions. When there is nobody to look after the children, only tragedies can take place.

We got used to closing our eyes, turning our heads another way, and saying this is it. There is nothing we can do. And those we talk to, who are in ministries, blame the IMF and the World Bank. Maybe our actions should get to IMF and to World Bank. Then, something might happen. Until such a time, I think this horror film counting of abuses upon children will continue, either in silence, or vocally. Around us, with our tacit agreement, and with some shrugging of shoulders.

Argumentation for allocating structural funds to develop the network of family-based residential services

We sent to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration an argumentation for the allocation of structural funds to develop the network of family and community based residential services. It is only in this way that the deinstitutionalisation process can be completed, because the most difficult part of financing DI projects is related to the capital and infrastructure costs. You have the material in the atașament.