Fondazione Marista per la Solidarietà Internazionale

The 6th training session for Marist social ministries in Romania took place in Bucarest  March 4-8. Vicente Sossai Falchetto from the Geneva office of FMSI attended this event as the topic concerned the promotion and defense of the rights of children and the work that the Institute of the Marist brothers has carried out in this regard. The gathering included all the educators and those in charge of the two Marist projects in Romania “hearths of hope” (the St. Marcellin Center for the care and protection of street children) and the “daytime center” (available for mentoring and the recreational needs of socially and culturally disadvantaged children). The training program was conducted by the aforementioned Vicente, with the involvement of the Province’s FMSI link person and Professor Inma Maillo of the Cardinal Cisneros University – EUCC 

This activity was sanctioned in accordance with a formation program that the Ibérica Province(one of the Institute’s administrative units) has designed to promote certification and forums for educators and those in charge of the Province’s social ministries. For planning and implementation The Province relies on collaboration with Cardinal Cisneros University (run by the Province), especially those men and women professors who teach in the School of Social Education. The program has been in effect for more than two years now and it was thought that the time has come to make known the work that FMSI has done in this area and to provide a specific course for certifying educators, focusing on rights and their implications in the curricula these educators develop.

The work that took place was very intense and beneficial. In addition to the training given, there was the opportunity to visit the two centers, hold meetings with Romanian entities that are dedicated to promoting the rights of children, and give a conference at the Cervantes Institute, aiming to increase sensitivity concerning promoting the rights of children and to make known the work that FMSI is doing based on instruments that the United Nations has developed in this field.

These days were also ones of joyfully living together with both the educators at the centers and the Marist brothers in the two communities associated with it The participants were able to share their dreams and efforts concerning the education and holistic development of the children entrusted to their care and to see firsthand the difficult situation in which some of the children in Romania find themselves, lacking even guarantees of the most basic human rightsand trying so hard to build their young lives in the absence of adult supervision to guide them and provide them with emotional support and encouragement.

We consider these and other similar activities to be fundamental for joining forces in the difficult task of striving to make the world a better place for everyone, where all children can count on their rights being safeguarded and have the opportunity to envisage a future filled with hope, one in which they can achieve whatever they want and hope to attain.

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