Refugee celebrate the winter holidays

New Year and Christmas are two very important celebrations in the Republic of Moldova. Although many refugees coming from different parts of the world don't know much about these holidays, CCR always tries to bring them closer to the Moldavian traditions and make their life more enjoyable, as much as possible.

The celebration of the New Year and Christmas at CCR was not only one of the events we organized throughout 2013, but also a moment of reviewing our entire work carried out in 2013 and to analyze the refugee situation as a whole. Indeed, in 2013 the number of refugees and asylum seekers has largely increased, mostly as a result of the Syrian ongoing conflict. In this sense, of course CCR hopes to offer its maximum support to all the new comers, without forgetting the refugees that we already know for a long

time. Thus, this celebration was a perfect occasion to bring them all together in order to share with them our best wishes for the year to come. The Head of the UNHCR Office in Moldova, Mr. Octavian Mohorea, the Deputy Director of the Bureau for Migration and Asylum, Mrs. Ecaterina Silvestru, as well as representatives of other NGO partners and sponsors, joined us in the wishes of prosperity, good health and a smooth integration in Moldova addressed to the persons of concern. Along with that, CCR director thanked UNHCR for all its support in making this and all the other events possible. Some representatives of the refugee community also used this opportunity to thank UNHCR and BMA for helping them in whatever possible, in spite of the difficult times.

A raising awareness exhibition on the Human Rights day

Each year on 10^th of December, the world celebrates the Human Rights day. In the Republic of Moldova, this day is also celebrated through diverse events, the biggest of them all being the UN Human Rights Gala. The latter supposes an awarding ceremony in which different personalities are rewarded for their work in defending the human rights in Moldova and who can be considered role models in this domain.

Broadcast live by the public TV Moldova 1, Radio Moldova and Radio Moldova Youth, the UN Human Rights Gala of Awards brought together high officials, representatives of international organizations and diplomatic corps, civil society organizations and mass media.

Just as in previous years. CCR, as the UNHCR Implementing partner, joined in the celebration of this event by setting an exhibition of various posters and artwork.
This kind of exhibitions is very important for the Charity Centre for Refugees (CCR) and UNHCR, because they offer a great opportunity to raise the awareness of different categories of persons concerning the potential and benefits of getting the refugees and asylum seekers integrated into the Moldovan society.  This time, the CCR director, Mr. Paknehad Ahmad Djavid, had the opportunity to speak and lobby the interests of our persons of concern with the UN Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Moldova, Ms. Nicola Harrington, the President of the Moldova Parliament, Mr. Igor Corman, the current Minister of Culture, Mrs. Monica Babuc, and many others. In fact, with the latter state body, CCR is actively collaborating in order to show the refugees and asylum seekers a bit of the history and culture of their host country.

CCR will continue setting exhibitions within the UN Human Rights Gala event, since raising awareness and lobby are two very efficient ways to create a fair society where everyone, including refugees and asylum seekers, will be able to live in peace and understanding. 

Winter Charity Bazaar

In many countries, December is traditionally a month of celebrations. All around the world, different countries prepare the winter arrival and the season’s traditional holidays. Thus, each year in December in numerous places the street illuminations are being set, while in the main cities it is very common to organize winter bazaars, as a way of preparing for the upcoming joyous events and to spread the spirit of the holidays.

In Moldova, a certain type of bazaar, the Winter Charity Bazaar, initiated and promoted by the International Women’s Club (IWC), takes place every year since 1999. In fact the same year marked the start of our activities, as well as the start of our collaboration with IWC. The specificity of this bazaar is that different Embassies and International Organization gather together in other to support a chosen non-profit organization through the sale of local and international products and crafts. This year, Hippocrates Centre, an association that helps disabled children and their families, will receive the amount collected through the Winter Charity Bazaar.

On this occasion, as in previous years, the CCR participated in the Bazaar by representing the refugees and asylum seekers in Moldova through their works and handcrafts. CCR exposed for sale a series of Christmas tree ornaments, cups, bow ties and decorated bottles, all made by children and adults refugees from different countries during workshops. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to offer delicious shawarma that has been prepared by a young and promising Armenian refugee.

During the day, the CCR enjoyed the visit of its partners, including Mr. Octavian Mohorea, the Head of the UNHCR Office in Moldova, and Mrs. Ecaterina Silvestru, the Deputy Director of the Bureau for Migration and Asylum. Apart from that, other important figures passed by our booth, such as Mrs. Margareta Timofti, the wife of the current President of the Republic of Moldova, Ms. Nicola Harrington, the UN Resident Coordinator in Moldova, and Mr. Alexandru Tanase, the President of the Constitutional Court, the President of the Constitutional Court, as well as some representatives of embassies and international organizations based in Moldova.

We were glad to present all our products to visitors of the Bazaar, as it gave us a great opportunity to raise awareness about refugees problematic in Moldova and lobby the interests of our persons of concern. CCR will surely continue participating in this Bazaar and collaborating with the International Women’s Club because it’s a unique event of this type for bridging closer the refugee and local community in a common effort of solidarity in order to help other vulnerable people in Moldova.

Excursion to Pushkin Museum in the village of Dolna

Taking advantage of good weather, before the arrival of the winter season, the Charity Centre for Refugees (CCR), in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, offered its beneficiaries a special opportunity to visit the Pushkin Museum where the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin lived intermittently during his exile period (1820-1823) in Moldova, at that time being the Besarabia region of the Russian Empire.

           

On the 17^th of November, around 70 beneficiaries joined in to discover this museum, being one of numerous cultural and historical places of interest in Moldova. As the CCR is implementing partner UNHCR under the Local Integration Project, it organizes this kind of trips in order to promote local integration by raising the awareness of its persons of concern about the history and culture of their country of asylum.

The Pushkin Museum is a place worth visiting for different reasons. First of all, the rooms of the museum exhibit different belongings of Pushkin and the family that hosted the poet, which reflect the diversity of cultural influences on Moldova, mainly related to the Turkish and Russian Empires dominance. Apart from that, the beauty and tranquility of the park around by museum are truly inspiring, just as they were two centuries ago, when Alexander Pushkin was enchanted by the Moldova’s countryside.

In the two tour visits, one for Russian and another one for Romanian speakers, made by the guide for the CCR persons of concern, the latter received many interesting information on the life style of Pushkin and its hosting family in the XIX century.

Afterwards, the group could enjoy the autumn landscape all around the museum. Both children and adults were very pleased to have fun and walk around the vast park and its garden.

Of course, this excursion was also an opportunity for recent and established refugees in Moldova to get to know each other and to enlarge their acquaintances, which is really important for the new-comers in finding support for their integration.

CCR wants to express its gratitude for the Ministry of Culture’s support in organizing this excursion and for being open and helpful in their work for the benefit of refugees and asylum seekers.

Refugees and local population united by passion for football

A couple of years ago, the Charity Centre for Refugees (CCR), as the UNHCR implementing partner, organized a football competition, within the Grant programme for Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE). The mentioned competition was very important at that time, since it was aiming at building respect of 2 local communities, Mereni and Razeni villages, towards refugees and asylum seekers who were about to move in there to social houses, refurbished under the Local Integration Programme. In order for this innovative plan to be successful, UNHCR and CCR had to prepare the field and create a more welcoming environment for the beneficiaries, thus facilitating their integration in the rural areas.

This year, another NGO – Fatima organized, through the same Grant Programme, a similar football competition, in which 4 teams of children and 3 teams of adults gladly participated. CCR team was one of them, bringing together the best football players within our group of beneficiaries.  The competition was stiff, but our team managed to take the second prize.

This kind of sport competitions will always be supported by CCR, as they are helping build a common ground for people of different ethnicities, religions, skin colors, but with the same passion for sport. We believe that sport is the most valuable common language in a multicultural environment, as it forges the team spirit of the players and allows the people to interact while enjoying themselves.