PARI project in partnership with the Sibiu School Inspectorate and the Studia Oecumenica Association organizes the essay contest dedicated to Roma children and their friends entitled “Childhood, faith and hope” 2nd edition.
The contest is based on a fundamental right of children stipulated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – Freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Thus we want to give a voice to Roma children, but also to their friends, i.e. any children who love and interact with people of Roma ethnicity, on the occasion of World Children’s Rights Day celebrated annually on November 20th. We want to find out how children feel about the Christian faith, how it intertwines in their lives and what hopes it instills in them.
“How do you feel that faith in God helps you in your daily life?” is the question students must answer in their essays. We want to find out their life stories or how they see the role of God in their children’s lives, how they feel that hope and trust in divinity helps them in their relationships with friends, family, environment, society.
Essays of a maximum of 3 A4 pages, Word format, written in Times New Roman, 12, with diacritics, 1.5 spacing, Justify are accepted for the competition. Papers must be sent by November 18, 2022 to the e-mail address ioanaandradabruma@gmail.com, mentioning the name of the student, the coordinating teacher, the class, the school and the city. Secondary and high school students from Sibiu County can participate in the competition.
The works will be made public on the project website (www.participatory.ro) and on its Facebook page (PARI project).
The contest prizes are awarded by the Oecumenical Studies Association as follows: First Place 400 lei, Second Place 300 lei, Third Place 200 lei, Mention I, II, III each 100 lei.
The competition is organized within the research project “The role of religion and religious actors in the social inclusion of Roma: towards a participatory approach” – acronym PARI – project of the “Lucian Blaga” University in Sibiu and the VID University in Norway, financed by the Norway program Grants 2014-2021 and administered by UEFISCDI through contract no. 38/2021. The project initiates, stimulates and supports Romanian and Norwegian research on the inclusion of the Roma population, focusing on the (potential) role of religion and religious actors in relation to the inclusion/exclusion of Roma. The project combines sociological, theological and historical research.
“We are convinced that those who have the best ideas, the most beautiful dreams, the most important say in our society are children. This competition wants to give visibility to these main actors for our future”, declares the project manager Prof. Univ. Dr. Stefan Tobler.