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On 09.03.2011 we departed for Romania. Our destination – Sibiu, is located 800 kilometers and two borders-crossings away from our home and in a country none of us had visited before. We were heading for Transylvania, Romanian region know to us only as the residence of Count Dracula.

A Romanian student currently residing in Maribor had previously reassured us that the vampires are creatures from local myths, invented to scare the children. The story became popular worldwide with the book "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, and the numerous movie adaptations have further popularized the myth.

After several minor difficulties with the navigation, due to poorly visible or misleading road signs, and the desperate condition of Romanian roads (they don’t need speed bumps, as the holes in the road are big enough to swallow a truck, not just a car – surprisingly this doesn’t seem to deter Romanian drivers from speeding) we arrived at our destination, only to find out that Romania has a different time zone, and our sleep will be even shorter than planned.

On Thursday, 10.3.2011 I met Luminita Mihai Cioabã, President of Rromani Socio-Cultural Foundation "Ion Cioaba”, which is involved in many art and cultural projects in Romania and Hungary. Luminita is a renowned Romanian poet who has published severalbooks of poetry in the Romany language, and is a member of IRWA - International RomaniWriters' Association and The Writers' Union of Romania. She graduated from The College of Popular Arts, majoring in Acting and Direction, and wrote two theatre plays. Among her significant achievements in the preservation of the Romany language is the publication oftwomanuals for learning the Romany, and her participation in the project The RromanoUniverse, whose purpose is to teach the Romanian Roma children their ancestral language. These children forgot the Romay due to assimilation into the Romanian society, or never even used it. The project is co-funded by the Open Society Institute.

Luminita and I worked out a plan and the details of the activities for that day and subsequent days of our visit and met with other participants of the meeting and we presented them a plan for this day.

First on our list of activities was the visit of a Roma settlement Brateiu, located near the town of Mediash, 60 kilometers from Sibiu. Madam Luminita accompanied us in our car and she turned up to be a gifted storyteller. She vividly presented one of her stories – about the unhappy love between a Roma girl and a Romanian boy.

Visit of Roma settlement in Brateiu:

The Roma inhabitants of the village were waiting for us dressed in their traditional costumes. They presented a traditional craft, typical of this area - hand crafted copper products. They produce everything from small coffee pots to the large brandy boilers.

Copper products from Roma craftsmen

Nehru and Minavera talking in Romani with Luminita Cioaba and inhabitants of Brateiu

We were pleased that Nehru Demirovski was able to communicate with the Roma from Brateiu and with Luminita Cioaba in Romani. He could not understand certain words, because the Roma of Berovo speak Kovački Romani Dialect, and the Roma of Sibiu speak Kalderash Romani Dialect. Back in Slovenia, we noticed several versions / dialects of the Romanilanguage, with considerable differences, and we were not sure if will the Roma from Sibiu will be able to communicate with the Roma from Berovo.

Minavera, a representative of the younger generation of Roma was able to understand the majority of what was being said, but she herself preferred to use English. The children had communication problems, but these were resolved by Nehru. By playing on Tapan he has shown that the music truly is a universal language: the children stared dancing and the adults were tapping to the rhythm.


Children liked Nehru's drum, some of them wanted to learn playing tapan


Roma children in Roma settlement of Bratei

Little violin player

After a while it was time to say goodbye to the friendly inhabitants of the village Brateiu. On the way back to Sibiu we stopped for a traditional Romanian soup, which turned up to be a sort of a tripe soup. Not my favorite, but I was feeling very hungry and now I can say I’ve tasted a Romanian ‘delicacy’.

After lunch, we discussed the origin of the Roma as a people and focused on the question of differences between various dialects and their origin. We explored the possibility of a copper products exhibition at the Festival of Roma Culture Romano Čhon in 2012.

When we returned to Sibiu it was already dark but we still found energy for a short evening stroll through the main town square and a group picture on the "bridge of liars”.

Friday, 11.3.2011:

Theatre play Vis de Primavera (Spring Dream), written by Luminita Cioaba, performed by students of “Onisifor Ghibu” School. The play presents an unhappy love story between a Roma girl and a Romanian boy who secretly get married despite the opposition from both families.