Association of the Romanian Community of South Australia Incorporated Annual Report 2007

2007 Association of the Romanian Community of South Australia Incorporated Annual Report 2007

Message from the President Highlights of the activities Members Financial report Goals for the next year Thirteen months have passed since the previous Annual General Me eting and I am proud to report that is has been a year full of activities and a chievements. Although our Association is only in its second year of existence, it has already made an impact on our community and its members.

Among the most important activities and events our Association w as involved in, it is worth mentioning the Australia Day Parade (with over 100 Roma nians attending), The World Police and Fire Games (the biggest ever international event hosted by Adelaide) and, more recently, the first Romanian Art & Craft Exh ibition held in the South Australian Capital.

A word The Association of the Romanian Community of South Australia (AR CSA) has been awarded three grants in less than 18 months which is a clear ind ication of the from the maturity and stability of our young organisation. These grants h ave allowed us to purchase the necessary basic office equipment and prepare a professional website. At the same time some of these funds have enabled ARCSA to use t he art skills of President many Romanian artists living in Adelaide to initiate and complet e a community based cultural project with the results to be displayed in an ar t exhibition in November 2007.

In the last year ’s annual report we listed some long term objectives for our Association and only a short year later we can see that we are o n our way to meet many of them much quicker than expected. The Association ’s newsletter is already at issue number 7, the website is up and running and, following the successful relationship with the German Association whose club hosted many of ARCSA’s activities, we are now looking to establish a permanent base.

Our Association is already known both in Australia and Romania f ollowing two radio interviews on Radio SBS and Radio Romania International. Our reg ular newsletter in distributed in a number of countries including Australia, Rom ania, Spain, Italy, Canada and the United States, among local Romanian communities.

The main objective of the next 12 months is to create a Romanian club, to find a place of our own that will become our permanent “home”. This has always been the dream of all Adelaide -based Romanians and it is our Association ’s chance and desire to meet this goal.

The second Annual General Meeting will host elections for the Ma nagement Committee. I wish the new Committee good luck in its mission to continue the activity and achievements of the Associations and fulfil the mem bers’ dreams and objectives.

I wish you all the best and a successful and safe 2008!

Tibi Stoian President

Annual Report 2007

2 Parade on Australia Day: first participation after many years Around 100 Romanian people took part in the annual parade organised by the Adelaide City Council and Multicultural SA on the 26th January 2007 to celebrate Australia Day. It was a great day for everybody and this was the first time when so many Big events Romanians joined the multicultural march along King William Street to in Adelaide the Elder Park. Thank you to all Romanian participants to the parade. Special thanks to all who helped with organising this event, including the Priest Viorel Stoica from the Romanian Orthodox Church "Saint Nicholas" who provided Romanian national costumes.

2007 World Police and Fire Games Organized for the first time in Adelaide, Police and Fire games is an international competition with the participants being athletes that are employed by the governments in police, fire, customs, and correctional institutions. Romania was represented by a team of seven athletes. Members of the Romanian local community were directly involved in helping the Romanian athletes to find information related with transport, accommodation, food, competition related issues. Not only while they were here but even from before when they had to organize some arrangements from Romania. Liliana was a liaison volunteer between the athletes and the officials and helped finding accommodation for nearly a half of the team. She accompanied the athletes at different competitions like shooting and archery. Together with Annual Report Raluca and Vlad they went and welcome the athletes from the airport and show 2007 them around and help them understand and enjoy the wonderful Adelaide. Vlad was also involved in volunteer work at the stadium and other venues. We received messages with wonderful words from participants, sharing photos and memories. For sure they will remember 3 the Games for ever. Artwork Exhibition at the Adelaide Town Hall The Artshow Exhibition at the Town Hall, Adelaide, open between 29th August 2007 to 2nd October 2007, is the latest big project initiated by the Association. For the first time, five Romanian born artists ( Amalia Alpareanu, Adrian Dragomirescu, Mihaela Cheva, Dorina Michas and Diana Strenc) are exhibiting their paintings. On display are also Romanian folk tr aditional costumes and artefacts showing part of our culture, history and traditions. The Opening Ceremony was hosted at the Adelaide Town Hall on 5th Sep tember 2007. The guest speaker was Lt Governor Mr Hieu Van Le, Chairman of Multicultural SA. The exhibition was open by Lord Mayor Mr Micha el Harbison and Mr Tibi Stoian, President of the Association. Around 200 peo ple, both Highlights Romanians and other nationalities, attended the Opening Ceremony , amongst guests being Hon Michael Atkinson, Attorney General, Mr Simon Fo rrest, Executive Director Multicultural SA, Mrs Viv Szekeres, Director Migration of the Museum, other distinguished guests from State Library, Artlab, Immigration Department, Primary Industries and Resources of South Australia and other activities departmental agencies.

Irene Krastev Award The Award was presented at the International Women's Day Luncheo n, Sunday, 4th March 2007, at the Stamford Grand Hotel, Glenelg. Barbora Schneider was amongst the five finalists chosen for this award, which was given to a woman from a non -English speaking background who has made a significant contribution to the community and to the participati on of women in the social, economic and educational life in South Australia. Fo r the first time a Romanian woman was selected in the final and we would like to co ngratulate Barbora for all her community work and involvement during the years. Recording Community Histories Seminar The South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission hosted a seminar and series of workshops on recording community histories. Held in partnership with the Migration Museum, the History Trust of South Australia, the State Library and Artlab, the seminar and workshops provided valuable information Annual Report about recording oral histories, preserving community artefacts and preparing community exhibits. Few Romanians 2007 attended the seminar and workshops. This will help the Romanian community to dig back into the history of migration to Australia and find out interesting facts from people being in this country for many years. 4 1st December - National Day of Romania For all Romanians 1st December is one of the most important day, is the celebration of the National Day of Romania. Importantly, it was the last celebration outside of the European Union. The Romanian Community from South Australia gath ered together at the Gilles Street Primary School on 2nd December, where the h istory teacher Madalina Moise presented the historical significance of this day for the Roman ian people. For the Romanian people the year 1918 represents the triumph of the national ideal after a long time of fights and human and material sacrifices fo r achieving the national unitary state. This historical process developed on the entire Romanian area scored important marks in 1784, 1821, 1848 -49, the unification of Moldova with Muntenia in 1859, the Proclamation of the Absolute Independence after th e 1877-78 Highlights war and the representative meetings democratically selected of the Romanians living under foreign domination in Chisinau, Cernauti and Alba Iulia in 1918. of the Organised in political separate states, always threaten by the p owerful neighbours, with parts of the territory –Transilvania, Banat, Bucovina, Basarabia, Dobrogea- annexed to the three big empires, Ottoman, Habsburgic (since 1867 Austrian - activities Hungarian) and Russian, the Romanians always preserved the philo sophy of being part of the same people and having the same genesis. This philosophy of the unity of the nation was permanently strengthen by political, military, ec onomic and cultural relationships between the Romanian Kingdoms along the centuries. The day continued with a presentation of the trip and the charit y work done in Romania by Mircea Ilas. He delivered the basic needs to the peop le affected by flooding in 2006. Many of the victims were elderly people and ch ildren, with houses destroyed by the floods. The Association initiated a fund raisin g charity program in order to help people in needs. Romanian traditional food and mus ic concluded the celebration.

Celebration of Christmas and New Year Christmas was celebrated with joy by thousand of people across the country. All Romanian churches from Adelaide prepared a special program for Christmas. Carols and other religious songs were interepreted by chorus and the orchestra at the Pentecostal Church, while at the Bapstist Church children played a drama with the born of Jesus. At Romanian orthodox Church "Saint Nicholas" Santa Claus was present with gifts for all children. This very special day of the year brings happiness in every house. The Association organised a BBQ in Bonython Park with traditional Romanian Christmas food and gifts for all children present there. An excellent day for sport activities and gathering together. New Year ’s Eve was celebrated at the German Club. Around 30 people were present and the atmosphere was terrific, with great music and food. The night between two years is a special one Annual Report and in Romania there are very specific customs like Plugusorul and Sorcova, where children are 2007 going from house to house during the night, singing and spreading the news that a new year is coming. The songs wish good luck, happiness and success. 5 Celebration of one year since the Association was formed On 23rd February 2007 the Association of the Romanian Community of South Australia Inc celebrated one year since was formed. The German C lub was the host for a great night where over 100 people attended the meetin g followed by music, movie and a great party. The Association invited Mr Simon Forrest, Executive Director of Multicultural SA, Mr Peter Lewis, former m ember in the local government and Mr Ian Harmstorf, the President of the German Association, to attend the event. After a short presentation and highlights of the activities of t he Association during 2006, the President of the Romanian Association, Mr Tibi Stoian, acknowledged some members of the Romanian community for their commitment, voluntary work, community spirit, dedication, partic ipation and Highlights promotion of the association in Australia and overseas. Around 6 0 people received certificate of achievements and merit for their importa nt role and involvement in our community. of the Several guests were invited to speak and one of them was Mr Miron Maxemniuc, the pastor from the Romanian Pentecostal Church, who expressed his wish to collaborate and support the Romanian Association. Mr Ovidiu activities Apostol did a short presentation of his charity mission in Moldova Repu blic early this year. The night continuied with a musical program and we include here the participation of the famous Romanian pianist Mr Florin Radulescu, tenor Petre Vetan, soprano Simona Bondor, mezzosoprano Barbara Heidrich, the pop singer Chloe Moldovan and the children ’s choir from the Romanian Baptist Church accompanied by Gratian Stoici, Alois Schneider and Kristine Schneider. At the end of the night the Romanian Short Screen Movie "La revedere" was presented , movie directed by Andrada Tudor who received the Best Producer Award at the Flinders University in 2006.

LA REVEDERE-Short Screen Romanian Movie Andrada Tudor is a honour student at the Flinders University, the Film Faculty, Adelaide. She is a young and talented producer, already receiving prices in the past with her short screen movies at the Adelaide Film Festival. The LA REVEDERE movie is a comedy involving two cultures: Romanian and Australian. The action was filmed in Adelaide during August 2006, on a farm on Norton Summit Road near Lobethal. The actors are all amateurs and also members of the Romanian community from South Australia. For everybody it was a great fun and enjoyment to participate in the movie. The film was presented at the Flinders University in November 2006, Andrada obtaining the award for the best producer. The movie was also presented at the Short Screen Festival Movie hosted in Adelaide Annual Report in February 2007. Liliana Stoian was nominated for the Best Performance 2007 Actress for the role she played in the movie. It was a great achievement for the Romanian community and a good opportunity to highlight the local talent. We congratulate all actors and the producer, Andrada Tudor, for this achievement, it was a team work and it was rewarding. 6 Romanian Traditional Foods Cooking Lessons : Mucenici Traditional Cuisine is something that we are all proud and like to talk and share recipes with others. The community met regularly to show people how to cook and prepare Romanian traditional dishes. Some of the food that w e showed to the world are “sarmale”, “strudel”, “ciorba de perisoare”. But the most successful lesson was related with the coming of Spring when Romanians are preparing what are called “Mucenici”. A kind of sweet bread covered in honey and nuts. The session was organized in the Baptist Church. A record crowd was present especially children who learned and help preparing different types of “mucenici”, specific to each region of Romania. Like the “Moldovenesti” or the well -known “soup”. Everybody was happy and enjoyed each moment of the wonderful moments spent together in the community. Highlights of the activities

The Colour of South Cultural Project Sponsored by ART SA, the cultural project "Colour of South" was coordinated by Simina Comanescu, an accredited artist, and involved landscape paintings over seven workshops hosted by the German Club. Twelve people fr om Romanian community participated at this project and their paintings are going to be exhibit in November 2007 at the Parks Community Centre. Th e project was complex and it was adhered to the healthy life principles such as physical activity combined with observing the nature and painting. One of the workshops was dedicated to bushwalking at Deep Creek National Pa rk in search of inspiring landscapes. On this occasion participants wo re promotional T-shirts and had bottles of water. On the other hand, during the consultation session there were discussions exploring subjects s uch as: break down isolation, increase feelings of connection and belong ing and how to contribute to healthy lifestyle such as healthy food, fitness and bushwalking. As major achievements and successes was the interes t by the participants and their beautiful paintings as well as all the ob jectives of the health promotion according to the ones written in the applicatio n, such as bush walking, healthy lifestyle such as healthy food and combat isolation. There were some unexpected outcomes such as participation of mor e people from the community at bushwalking activities as well as receivin g interest from new participants during the project.

Annual Report 2007

7 Children’s Day Romania celebrates the Children's Day each year on 1st June. Las t year the Association celebrated this day and it was a real success. In 2007 the Children's Day was celebrated at the Gilles Street Primary School on 11th J une (it was also a Public Holiday). Numerous children and adults participate d and they had fun. The children prepared an artistic program with songs and po ems. Following this the children played different games in two teams and everyb ody had fun. We would like to thank to all people who helped organising this event and especially JC&Sons for the donations of presents for children.

Highlights of the activities

Mother’s Day Mothers Day was celebrated in a great fashion by all Romanian ch urches from Adelaide. A special program was prepared by children for their m ums, with songs and poems, flowers and tears, with smiles and happiness. A beautiful day all mothers will remember. Everybody remembered their mother , from early childhood until present day, with all memories going back to the first day at school, with the first word each child will probably say it: mama. The message given to all of us by the churches was to love our mothe rs and to remember them for ever.

Annual Report 2007

8 The Romanian Evangelic Christian Youth of Australia Festival For the past ten years The Romanian Christian Youth Festival is held every year in January, hosted by different capital cities of Australia, and its purpose is to bring the youth together in faith, to celebrate and share own Ch ristian experience. The festival is open to all age groups, it is a spir itual joy for everybody involved in singing to the Lord and Jesus. This year t he festival was hosted in Adelaide between 11 to 14 January, at the Golden Grove Recreation Centre. It was a great occasion for many people to come along an d not only to attend the religious topics, but also to play sport (soccer, bas ketball, volleyball, table tennis, tennis) and met other Romanians from interstate. M any people helped with catering side, cooking and baking for around 300 par ticipants daily. The organiser was the Romanian Baptist Church from Mile End, and a great Highlights credit goes to Alois and Tatiana Schneider, Barbora Schneider, Dana Ilas, Atena and Petrica Albu, Simina and Gratian Stoici, Luminita and Vasile Spiridon, Lidia and Ionel Gheorghe, Flora and Traian Hrelescu, Tina Sabou, Matei Nicoli, of the Adrian Dragomirescu, just to mention few names. The festival was a great success and it will be hosted in 2008 in Sydney. activities

Excursion with pensioners at Hahndorf and Monarto Zoo One day excursion to Hahndorf and Monarto Zoo was organised by the Association for the pensioners in November 2006. Two microbuses were rented from Multicultural SA and around 20 people participated i n excursion. Monarto Zoo is a 1,000 hectare open-range sanctuary undertaking a major role nationally and internationally in breeding programs for rare and endangered species. The Zoo is located 45 minutes (70 kms) from Adelaide and is the gateway to the picturesque Murraylands region. This unique adventure features the only drive through Cheetah habitat in Australia, So uth Australia's first ever Southern White Rhinoceros, Australia's largest Giraff e herd and the largest revegetation project of it's kind in South Australia's h istory. Visiting the Monarto Zoo was great, the tour was provided with the buses and it was a great opportunity for everybody to learn more about the behaviou r of different African animals and to see them in a safe environment. The day was great and everybody was looking for another opportunity to get out of Adel aide and visit other interesting places.

Annual Report 2007

9 Sport , fitness, a healthy lifestyle promoted within the members of Romanian community Since its foundation in 2006, ARCSA has been deeply involved in promoting sports and fitness activities throughout the Romanian Community. During 2006 ARCSA organised a number of picnics at various parks around Adelaide such as Bonython Park and Belair Park, where various sports were played. One of the most popular sports was soccer, especially amongst th e Community’s youth, together with badminton. Volleyball started being play ed by many of the ARCSA members, and has become one of the most pop ular sports played especially in the adult demographic. Due to volleyball becoming very popular, ARCSA has bought this year a volleyball kit set, w hich is brought to any activities/ picnics in the park. Other sporting a ctivities which Highlights took place were table tennis (played indoors) and basketball (al so indoors). More recently, in 2007, ARCSA has started a Fitness and Sports a ctivity held once every couple of weeks on Saturday afternoons, with a progra m of of the aerobics, body attack, new body with hand weights followed on by basketball, and ending with volleyball, all taking place indoors. For the im mediate future, activities ARCSA will not only continue with its current sport and fitness activities, but it will try to expand and diversify, in order to attract more membe rs to join and play a range of sporting activities.

Newsletter ARIPI Romanesti The Newsletter ARIPI Romanesti increased in popularity during last year. More and more people were keen and happy to contribute with articles, stories, sharing their experience as migrants in Australia. The articles and stories are of general interest including wide range of information (from taxat ion to home loans, fitness and all about venomous snakes from Australia), in terviews with the artists living in Adelaide and some Church leaders, stories about migration to Australia, poems and all activities organised by the associat ion including celebrating Children Day, Easter, Christmas, New Year Eve, parad e on Australia Day, fund rising and charity missions in Australia and Romania just to enumerate few of them. Collaborators from Western Australia and Canada also contributed to the newsletter. Four numbers of the newsletter been edited during last 12 months, containing 24 -28 pages with relevant articles of general interest for the community members. It is a constant approach by the Asso ciation and the Editor, Liliana Stoian, to promote the Romanian language amo ngst the members of the community, and good feedbacks were received from some Romanian Editors, " Cartea Sonora", or from TVR International, a Romanian broadcast TV program. ARIPI Romanesti is distributed to Romanian Embassy from Canberra, to other Romanian associations from Australia and to other Romanians livi ng in other parts of the world as pdf file, electronically, or as hard copy at a cost of $3 for members and $5 for non-members of the Association.

Annual Report 2007

10 Creating a new website for the Association of the Romanian Community of South Australia Is not possible these days with out a website, so the community decided to have one to help spread the word about us and to have a common place where everyone could find information, pictures, and articles about co mmunity’s life. At the beginning we didn’t know how to organize such a thing. Some of us knew a bit more about the construction of a website. So we started with a basic one (first picture). After a while we realized that it is possible to have a free one. So we gave it a try with this new l ook (second picture). Our confidence grew each day so we started adding more and more to this new look of our world. Website In the meantime we applied for a grant from the government, spec ially designed for these kind of needs of a community. And we have been success ful. We obtained a grant of $1,500 that could be used for creating and maintaing a new web site. Having this money in hand we decided to ask services o f skilled people to help us create and published the new website. The mone y will be used to pay for the storage, the transfer of database and other software that we need. Also the website will have both Romanian and an English versions. The new website is under construction and it contains informatio n about the Romanian community and Association, with links to other governme nt agencies. Some files will be available for downloading including the elect ronic version of our newsletter ”ARIPI Romanesti”, the membership form and the constitution of the Association. Each member of the Association can have a logon ID and an e- mail address. Some information will be available only for the members, including the minutes of the board committee meetings.

The new website address is: http://www.arcsa.org.au/

Annual Report 2007

New website-under construction 11 Members of the Association of the Romanian Community of South Australia Inc

At the end of the financial year 2006-2007 Association has a total number of 165 members. Thirty five members joined the Association between July 2006 and June 2007. Nine members of the Association moved interstate and/or overseas and they are not anymore part of the Romanian community of South Australia. T hey request their membership to terminate.

Eight members failed to pay the membership fee for the financial year 2006-2007 and their membership also terminated. Members The Secretary of the Association sent several e -mails and letters to remind and everybody about paying the membership fee. Also during September - December 2006 the members of the board committee of the Association were present at the German Club every Saturday t o collect the Financial membership fee. It was proved that this approach was not success ful, only few members paid the membership fee at the German Club. Report There will be more strictly rules in place about paying membersh ip fee and penalties should apply for those who are making late payments.

Final number of active members of the Association at the end of June 2007 is 148.

Financial Report

The membership fee of the Association of the Romanian Community of South Australia is $20 per person per financial year, and $10 for pens ioners, students, people with disabilities and health care card holders.

Income received from various sources are as follows Balance brought forward from financial year 2005-2006 $630.00 From membership fees the total at the end of June 2007 $5,054.70 From donations $343.00 The Government Grant for Office Equipment $1,500.00 The Government Grant for the Romanian Association Art Project $5,000.00 Miscellaneous $3,52.00

Total received $12,531.22

There were expenses associated with activities organised by the Association since July 2006. The major expenses are mentioned individually and the rest are shown as a group.

Art Project related expenses $4985.17 Hall Hire for sports and other activities at Gilles Street Primary School $576.00 Sports Equipment $198.00 Bus Hire for the pensioners excursion $110.00 Annual Report Laptop and printer $1,500.00 Printing newsletters $449.00 2007 Bank Charges $21.50

Total paid $7,839.67

At the end of the financial year 2006/2007 the bank balance was $4690.36 12 Goals 2007-2008

The new Management Committee which will be elected for the next two years must continue to promote the Association of the Romanian Communi ty from South Australia internally and also overseas. Already establishe d good relations with Multicultural SA, Immigration SA, other associations and et hnic groups must continue and improve. Promotion needs to continue through the new website and the News letter as well as other interesting activities. Seeking support from local government for different projects, applying for government grants, involving more members of the Goals Romanian community to take part in activities, especially the y oung generation to become more active and have initiatives are only few aims to achieve. Promoting Romanian language and culture is the main focus of the Association, as well as continuing the collaboration with all Romanian churches from Adelaide.

Other activities to be carried out during the second half of 200 7, with the arrangements already made by the current Management Committee, include:

A Romanian art exhibition at the Parks Community Centre which is the “Colour of South “ project sponsored by Art SA. Paintings of the participants to the project will be on display and the Opening Ceremony is on 8 th November 2007. The exhibition will stay open until 18 th January 2008.

A Romanian folk costume exhibition and focusing on Christmas and New Year traditions at the Migration Museum. This exhibition will have an educational purpose and will involv e staff from Migration Museum to explain to all visitors about Romanian custo ms and traditions. The exhibition will be open to the public from 29 th October 2007 and will be on display until mid January 2008. An Opening Ceremony will take place at the Migration Museum on 1 st December 2007 when is the celebration of Romania Day. It will be a great occasion to celebrate the Romania Day at the Migration Museum and visit the exhibition, followed by traditional Romanian food.

We hope that more interesting activities will took place during next year and we invite everybody to participate in the Association's activities.

The current Management Committee of the Association wishes good luck to the new Committee which will be elected and hope that Association wi ll continue to grow and get involved in more interesting activities and projects in the future.

Annual Report 2007

Members of the current Committee are: Tibi Stoian, Florin Oprea, Liliana Stoian, Mariana Tudor, PO BOX 70, Kilkenny, SA, 5009 Vlad Baclagian, Razvan Petrescu and Traian Hrelescu. 13 E-mail: [email protected]