Romanians who traveled abroad have accomplished many things, have found good jobs, have invented apps, have taught in universities and have participated successfully in their communities. The largest communities of Romanians in Europe can be found in Italy, Spain, and the UK and so you probably don’t hear much about Romanians living in the Netherlands.
A group of Romanians living there have decided to make their stories known by publishing a book that is filled with positive and inspiring stories. The idea was born at the launching of the Romanians for Romanians foundation rompro.nl. Claudia Marcu, one of the creators of the project said that she noticed that people want to hear positive, inspiring news and so Claudia Marcu together with Alexandru Iosup thought of a concept: 52 interviews that would be published online on a weekly basis. The interviews have been published for over a year on a website they created.
What was their purpose?
They wanted to show that Romanians have a good life in the Netherlands and they love it there. They wanted to also show a different side of Romanians than the ones shown in the media as also the image of Romanians in the Netherlands media is a negative one. The “ New Roots” project thus is a credible source of information for the dutch. The interviews will be published in Romanian, English and also Dutch language. The first interview was already published last year and the last one will be published in December. The book will be finished in December 2018.
How did they find these Romanians and their positive stories?
Claudia Marcu, one of the founders of the project has been a correspondent for Radio Romania in the Netherlands for 15 years. She has met many Romanians and she has interviewed them so she was aware of some of these stories. She had certain criteria when she interviewed them:
-they had to know the language,
-love the Netherlands,
-to be active in their own community ( Romanian and Dutch),
-to be from different fields ( doctors, musicians, professors, psychologists, builders)
-to live in different areas of the Netherlands
– the reasons for why they moved here to be different
Why did they choose to interview only Romanians in the Netherlands?
The main reason is that the people behind the New Roots book live here. But they are hoping to extend their project and interview people from other countries too: Germany, France, Spain. However, they need money in order to do this. For 2 years they have worked with volunteers: authors, translators, editors, photographers, and designers. She noted that there is one thing that is more important than financing and that is to find people that want to help and that are interested in these communities, people who understand the concept and are willing to participate as consistency is important.
You can read positive stories about Romanians in the Netherlands here. Or you can donate money towards the publishing of the book here. Don’t feel like reading? Their interviews can be heard on Soundcloud.
positivenewsromania.com 
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