Name of the project: My Place Integration
Association: Asociatia JRS Romania
As the Novapolis association partner of Renaissance Institute in Romania, we visited the JRS (Jesuit Refugee Services) Romania association at their headquarters for the sake of the association’s work. While we had the opportunity to examine the works of the association, we got detailed information about an important organization they worked for. The work of the JRS Romania association, which organizes the activities of the project titled My Place Integration in Romania, is on people in need and migration problems. They work in their centers with people who have immigrated to Romania for certain reasons and are in need of help. The main purpose of the My Place Integration project is to integrate into society foreigners and people in need of protection who have legal residence in Romania. In 2017, this project started its activities in Romania. JRS Romania association has been carrying out activities within the scope of this project for the last 3 years. And they carry out their activities legally in cooperation with the government. This project serves both adults and children. Helping people in need, 350 of whom are Ukrainians, 1,000 people in total. One of the most important problems that Ukrainian immigrants face in Romania is to enroll their children in schools. Even if they can enroll, it becomes difficult for children to understand these lessons because the lessons are taught in Romanian during the education period. Romanian learning classes for school-going children are opening in schools. But that’s not enough as needed. As part of the My Place Integration project, daily language classes are given at the center of the association for children who have migrated. In fact, since immigrant children do not understand their schoolwork due to language problems, the association also gives them lessons in its own center. Apart from the language training given to children, language training is also given to adults. In this way, the language problem is eliminated for adult immigrants who want to work in Romania after a certain period of time. And one contribution of this is that families have a place where they can leave their children while they are working.
In addition to their language education, they also help children who are disabled or sick. For example, they provide all the help related to the health problem to the child with epilepsy coming from Syria. One of the solutions found especially for Syrian adult immigrants is to find a place for them to work. Usually, restaurants and ports are chosen to employ these adult immigrants. Since these jobs are usually arranged when the summer season starts, the working duration continue from May to September.
Thanks to Asociate JRS Romania for sharing their work with us.
Muhammet TURGUT
Civil Engineer Candidate