Kapitel 17 - Where does Africa begin, after the Pyrenees? Well, not any longer…

“Unhappy the land without heroes
Unhappy the land that needs heroes”
Berthold Brecht “Galileo”

I believe in the new Europe, I believe in the new European, I believe in the new European spirit. The new European that emerges is multilingual, is open-minded and believes in Europe and in its values. The European construction is very important. Our European Parliament is the only over regional institution on Planet Earth that works with 23 languages. And it works very well. The European Community has become the firs donor, when it comes to financial aid programmes for Africa or another poor region in the world. The European Community has started so many programmes, which aim to improve the standard of living of all Europeans, the quality of our food, the quality of our drinking water, the quality of our working conditions and many more. And this is only the beginning. I believe in a bright future for all Europeans and also for all people that come to settle down on our beautiful continent. The events that I have lived so far, made me believe in all that.
In one of my French courses that I do here in Karlsruhe, I have a couple formed of a Spanish man and a Turkish woman. They both work at Mercedes in Worth and speak English with each other. Amazingly they use German to learn French in my course, to communicate with their colleagues at work, or to come along here in Karlsruhe. It’s fantastic. This is for me the image of the new European: multilingual, first of all, capable of integrating himself and wanting to progress, to do more. These qualities should be promoted without interruption.
One evening, before the French election in May of 2007, I was watching the French channel “France 24”. A couple of European politicians gathered to discuss about the final participants in the race for the Élysée-Palace and also about the future European politics. What really opened my mind were the affirmations of a Spanish politician who said: “You know, about twenty years ago, the six founding members of the EU, France, West-Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg, were saying that Africa began after the Pyrenees. So for them Spain and Portugal were so poor so that they compared them with Africa”.
What about my home country Romania? Where was Romania 17 years ago? Where it is now? What has it done after it joined the EU? What can every Romanian do in order to improve its image, to contribute to a radical and quick change for good inside the country? These are basic questions for us. Not only for the Romanians living inside the country, but also for the one that live beyond its borders. If the situation inside the country is bad, it will also have an impact on us, the Romanians who live abroad.. But just take a look at Spain, were it was 20 years ago (part of Africa) and where is Spain now (part of modern Europe). Africa disappeared and it war replaced with a great country. Spain should become our role model, in order to be able to get a fantastic effect. People would be proud of us again. In one of my French courses there is a woman called Meyer Katharina. One week ago I found out that she was born in Banat. Unfortunately I couldn’t tell that because her German is perfect. She wanted to learn French, saw my name in the programme of the Volkshochschule Karlsruhe and registered for one of my French courses. As she revealed her origin, I noticed her pride of being one of us. That’s fantastic!
Last year on the 1 of December we celebrated the “Unirea României” at the Marktplatz in Karlsruhe. I invited all the German participants from my Romanian courses to drink a glass of “mould wine – vin fiert – Glühwein – vin chaud” with us. They liked it and enjoyed it very much. During this event I discussed with a girl named Stephanie. She was born here in Germany, but her parents emigrated from Romania because of the former regime and its stupid politics. At home, due to the fact that they were “Schwaben”, they spoke German. So Stephanie never got the chance to learn the language her parents spoke before leaving Romania. She confessed me that she discovered a Romanian side of her and that she is very proud of it. That’s fantastic!
As I told in a former chapter, every student from the “University of Education at Karlsruhe” has to do three short traineeships and two long ones. I did the last short one in English. Although I have never had the chance to improve my English in an English speaking country I managed to pass it rather easily. In the 5th class of the school where I taught English, I got to know one of the students, Lukas, who was also of Romanian origin. He saw my name and realized I was his country man. He told that to the teacher, Mrs. Dreißigacker, and then a week later he called my name at the end of the lesson and talked to me. We must rediscover the old Rumanian pride and to give it a new shape. We must believe in it and start to spread it. This kind of pride is very positive and at the same time very necessary. How were the Germans after the World War II? Were they proud? No. Why? Because of what happened till the end of the war. But during the World Cup 2006 the Germans rediscovered their pride. They hung the German flag at their cars, at their windows, at their balcony. They rediscovered a positive component; they expressed something they had been forced to hide, because it could have been interpreted falsely.
Also during one of my French courses, I got to know a German participant, about 50 years of age, who poured his soul in front of me. He told me: “I was sitting in a bar and was watching a football game between Italy and another team. When the Italian team marked a goal, the Italians from the bar jumped up of sheer joy and applauded. I wish I could rejoice the same way, but I forgot how to do it. I don’t even know how to do it”. What I have noticed so far, as a result of discussing with many Romanians, is that we have a tendency to think that our problems are unique. But this is not true. The problems that we face exist or existed somewhere else, too.
I am a proud and happy Romanian. I also believe that Romania will change into the country that so many of us dream of.
I am a proud and happy European. I also believe that Europe is on the brink of becoming a fantastic continent.
I have a dream. I close my eyes and I see a continent named Europe. Its citizens can travel from the north to the south, from the east to the west, without border controls. They can settle down where they want. On the 21st of December 2007 another piece of this dream became reality. Eight new EU-members joined the Schengen-zone. I believe in a bright future for all Europeans. The joy is overwhelming when I feel that my dream is about to come true completely.