A grandmother raises a family with many hardships.
In the centre of Iași, in a building shaken by earthquakes, burnt by the summer sun, as a palace with an aged respect, there are two bunches of people who measure their fate day by day. They smile sincerely in search of good, although other souls would get older in such a situation, would grow only disappointment that wouldn’t have equal chances and respect. Violeta Pașa is a woman of 53 years old, with a diploma for a souls raised from among the ruins of the endured fights, of the moments in which she hid her face against her husband’s anger. Violeta’s husband died at the age of 45 years old, due to the excess of alcohol, and Violeta succeeded in raising and educating her children alone, and after that her nephews.
Little, fragile, weak, of 1 meter and something, having her hands clean, has 11 souls which she caresses with a strong voice, invigorating, to whom she is a guide, mother, grandmother and a roof against bad things. When she finds a rest, you can see her on a bench, frequently together with her niece, Alexandra. The little girl has an angelical face, big eyes covered in a coffee-tinted colour. Alexandra, a thoughtful look, an intact destiny, at only 11 years old endures criticism, classmates who push her and many times they exclude her socially. The girl wants to study music, to be appreciated by the people for the talent which swarms through all her pores. In the meantime, she goes to „Mihai Codreanu” No. 28 School from Iasi every day, she helps her grandmother, her parents, and she speaks slowly, sensitively. At home, she listens to the rhythms of the songs and she moves her body as the notes placed precisely on the staff. Alexandra sings in order to grab smiles from the faces, music being a relief for her and an atypical world.
Every time someone asks her: „What would you say if you could go to a school of art?” The shy girl beds her shoulders a little, she does not open her lips, but she points her big eyes towards you, a sign that she smiles at the idea. She is not the only child of the family, rolled by school through the mud of the humiliating words: „hey gypsy, you filthy, you don’t know anything, you ugly thing, you are useless”. She has two more brothers: Fernando and Nico who study at School no. 28. The other three cousins live under the same patronage of the fate. Daria Ștefana Feraru is 7 years old and she goes to School no. 30 from Iaşi, Alex is 5 years old and he doesn’t go to the kindergarten, not having financial possibilities, and the youngest of the family is Ioana of 3 years old. They dream and they want to become either doctor, taxi driver, dancer, driver, or singers.
These children are poor, but rich in kindness, the purity of their soul, and of their home as well, the children fight and succeed in putting their schoolbags on the back and start every morning towards school, although many times they can’t afford taking a food package or their thoughts are crossed by the words which they endured a day before, cried before sleep.
„They call me the blue arrow – everywhere I go, everybody is amazed where my so much energy comes from”, says Violeta, who fights not only for the rights and small gates which are opened for the little ones of the family, but she is a leader of gypsies.
All the minors go to school, they still have some problems with their classmates, but when they come home crying or aggressed, grandmother tries to talk to the teacher. He often says that everything is very good, the child is guilty, and he wasn’t attentive & obedient.
Violeta says about her nephew, Fernando, that he is ‘’slyer”, she frequently draws his attention that he goes to school to learn for him, not for someone else. A drop of happiness in the eyes fortified by the lens of the glasses is caught sight of when he talks about the courses that he wants to do, to help his family more and more.
This lady has a son with a disability: Ciubotariu Vasile of whom she cares for with a great delicacy, this also taking the courses of a specialized school, in the 10th grade. Since he was little, had the bad luck to suffer a car accident, consequently being broken a leg. He can walk only by help of a prosthesis. He did not give up school, although it is very difficult for him, not only from the material point of view, because he managed with a pension of attendant and disability. Violeta, takes care of him daily, guides him and advises him, by helping him to go to courses.
In Pașa family, on every child’s birthday they dance, and Violeta although she stays aside, feels among them: „We have a life, if we sink all the time in pain and troubles where shall we get?”
This article can also be read here: https://inspireyourhands.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/viata-unei-familii-invingatoare/.
