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Traduction by Ádám Gerencsér, Ágnes Fülöp, Angela Gyulveszy, Roland Hönsch, Katalin Lengyel, Márton Máté, Miklós Paulovits, László Botos and Tímea Kosztándi
Copyright © AMCM, 2004-2008
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Hungarian language schoolroom in the elementary school of Leszped
The story began in 2003, when 69 brave little boy enrolled in Hungarian language classes. They did not have an easy time, as the classes began thrice weekly at 7 am, which was still dark in the winter time. Sometimes I had a feeling the the weather is with us, covering us. Sometime it was also question for the little students: should they come to the language classes or go to the early morning Mass. They had to come to he Hungarian classes, because the Director of the School dropped in at 7:50 and started a headcunt. If there were too many that was a problem, if too few then she complained that the kids don't come to my class. As the time passed more end more kids participated and it became accepted that some kids are studying Hungarian at school and by the end of the first half of the 2007-2007 school year I had already 46 students to evaluate. Because of the increased workload and acceptance I no longer had to use the back door to enter the school but soon became one of the colleagues to the Romanian staff so we could ensure the proper education for the students. We have also received a sofar unused stock room to use as a classroom it was not pretty but it had a few windows. The cleaning ladies emptied the room from the kids and started to bring in some desks that at least had legs to stand on. The older kids were cleaning the windows two three times, the little ones were playing with the brooms. I started to feel pretty good in the still stuffy smelling room as the sun was shining in. I felt as though we did not need anything more but the laughter of the children, and the classroom is full of life. The parents of the children also contributed in the beautifying the classroom. They brought covers for the benches, wall hangings and folk decorations together with the tools of helping the children learn the HUngarian language. We have completed all the work during
the Easter vacation; the floors were oiled, the walls covered with
pictures and we hung curtains for the windows. I felt that the official
opening day has arrived and invited all the teaching colleagues for
a little snacking and talking. Everybody who is anybody , showed up.
They were very impresszed by what they saw (the children already whispered
to me that this is the prettiest classroom far and wide), while we
enjoyed our snacks. Everyone had a great time. I hope that we can
always have this advantage that our classroom is the nicest, best
equipped and full of values and the children. Here we are now learning how to read
and write, dance and sing; also here we are preparing our little surprizes
for the holidays. While we sharpen our intellect, I am thinking that
it would be good to increase the number of lamps from one to four
so I would not have to work with little owls in a few years. The windows
need attention too so when the fall comes the wind can not enter.
Also it would be nice to tame the dancing desks so they can stand
on all fours!
Well, thats all!
Owing to the activity of our Association, in the past period of time new petitions arrived to the directorates of schools in Csango villages, asking for teaching Hungarian language at schools. Unfortunately, the great number of applications made by parents lead to new scandals, and caused resistance at the local governmental organisations. Especially at two of our new places, in Lujzikalagor and Gajdár the words ran so high, that both students and teachers were threatened, and parents are encouraged to withdraw their petition. During discussions, the school directorate council in Lujzikalagor made it clear for us, that they object every form of educating Hungarian language at school, and in particular they can not even imagine to fit Hungarian lessons to the timetable as a mother-tongue. The director of the school, most of the teachers and the representative of the local council promised to work as long as they make all parents withdraw their petition, in writing. Some day ago, a number of children was shamed in class, more over, two ten-year-old boys were drag into the directors' room and in the presence of 15 adults (among them was the association's representative) they said that they were visiting Hungarian lessons after school until now, but they do not want to go there anymore, because "these are so bad". In Kalagor even a village assembly was said to be organised, where the people could clearly desist from this "attmept of Hungarianisation" and where the name of the 16 parents could be read in public, who dared to ask for Hungarian lessons. In Gajdár the school directorates tried to prove the inability to teach Hungarian as mother tongue at school, saying there are neither Hungarians or Hungarian native speakers in the village ('only' the whole village speaks Hungarian, even in the streets). After having mentioned all arguments based on official regulations (exceeding the maximum number of lessons, lack of classroom, etc.) the school director has queried the genuineness of the petitions and said that before making any decision he needs to explain people the dangers of this action. They said they are afraid that the students' scholastic record will fall and the present teachers might lose their jobs, as according to their interpretation the introduction of the Hungarian mother-tongue shall cause the exclusion of the Romanian language. We could not persuade them of the opposite, even not by reading the exact words of the law. On 9th May the Mayor of the village visited the place of the Hungarian lessons held outside the school (evidently unexpectedly), and in the face of the children he threatened their teachers (Endre Ferencz Farkas and Gabriella) by warning them to prove the legitimacy of their activity by Monday, otherwise he will make the Hungarian activities liquidated by force. Expectedly in Gajdár after the Sunday mass the Mayor will make a speach to the people of the village about this question. Despite of the above, we hope that the education of the Hungarian language will be started from the beginning of the coming school year in these two villages, too, as in 14 schools of County Bákó the Hungarian lessons are already included in the official timetables. According to the operative Romanian laws and regulations, parents may make their petitions until the end of May. According to the number of applicants, schools and school-inspectors taking notice of these, are bound to organise the classes or groups for the Hungarian education starting from September. The broadcast of Kárpát Express on video is available. The second half of the 25-minute-long programme deals with the difficulties of introducing Csángó-Hungarian education in Lujzikalagor and Gajdár.
The Children's House in Lábnyik has been sanctified 6th May 2007
Young and old, students and adults celebrated together on Sunday in Lábnyik, on the occasion of the sanctification of the "Hungarian School". Just like at wake, the church, the new house and the new and old wooden crosses in the front of it has been decorated with homespuns and flowers. In the court of the building and altar has been set up for the Hungarian mass. Celebration started Sunday morning, the court of the new house was filled with guest arriving from the village and abroad, parents, god-parents and the supporters of the building. Mr Attila Hegyeli, who is in charge of the educational program of the Association of Moldavian Csango Hungarians, welcomed the participants, briefly introduced the function of the "Children's House" and the process of building. He emphasized that first of all the support of private persons, the donation of the hundreds of god-parents has to be thanked, who were enthusiastic enough despite of their low salary. He entrusted the house to the children and parents and asked them to cater it as their second home. Following the welcome speech, Father József Salamon from Gyimesbükk held a Hungarian mass. Despite his promise, the parish priest of Lábnyik unfortunately did not take part in the liturgy. The mass started with the song of Miss Maricsika Lackó, prize winner of the 3rd Szeret Folksong Competition. Father Salamon reassured the people of Lábnyik with the words of John Paul II: "Don't fear!" The acolytes read from the Bible in Hungarian, during the common pray the "Our Father" of the group of children sounded loud. After that the cross with Hungarian scripts, then the building and the classroom were sanctified by the Father. The supporting foundations, representatives of associations, just as private persons came here and their presence had graced the new "school" of the students in this tiny csango village. Mrs Ferko, Réka Pávai, secretary of the Association of Godparents and our ex-colleague from Somoska said some words on behalf of the godparents and Mr Sándor Bálint, our supporter from Balatonalmádi. Her speech was followed by Mr ImreVarga, representative of the Chemark Foundation, one of the greatest supporters. The "New Spring" Civic Circle of Gödöllő contributed much during the first steps. On their behalf, Mr Tamás Raj spoke to the public. Mr Gabor Hardy, lawyer from Budapest held a brief speech too, after that the message of Mr Ferenc Horváth, the planner of the building was read to the public. The children living in Lábnyik thanked the efforts to build the Cildren’s House with three of their favorite songs. Participants could go and see the photo exhibition in the thema of education in Lábnyik. Celebration ended with a common supper and an evening lasting amusument. We hope, that among the walls of this building Csango-Hungarian songs will intone in 2-300 years too and there will be Csango-Hungarian and Hungarian speaking children in Lábnyik. That is the reason, why the Association of the Moldavian Csango-Hungrians has built this house.
The President of MCSMSZ and the deputy for religious affairs go to Rome
The pilgrimage of Mr. Zoltan Ferko
on bicycle for the Mass in Hungarian language in Moldova had became
an international news; Zoli in the meantime, has crossed the Hungarian
border on the way to the west. Unfortunately, no answer was received
from the Vatican to our letter sent weeks ago, thus we do not know
if anyone will meet the delegation of the Csango Hungarians from the
Church. We have received verbal promise though that a meeting may
take place.
The
"Mikes Kelemen" Hungarian language and grammar competition
The "Mikes Kelemen" Hungarian language and grammar competition's country section was held on Nagyvarad between April 10-14 April 2007. The grand opening was held in the "Bartok Bela" room of the Philharmonics of Nagyvarad, where after the opening greetings the "Filharmonia" folkdance ensemble performed songs and dances for their audience. The student also participated in different programs during the festivities. A member of the Organizational Committee remarked that "the best of the youth" is participating in such an events, therefore it is exceptional pleasure to work with them and see their enthusiasm. We are hoping that this enthusiasm will not wane in the future either. (Source: house magazine of the olympics) The theme of the competition was a line from a poem by Ady: "You are the inheritance and the reward". It was a very appropriate sentence of encouragement for the team from the County of Bako, and their teacher Melania Kovacs. It was also a proof for the teachers Kamilla Balint of Magyarfalu and Krisztina Matyas of Pusztina that teaching Hungarian in Moldova is rewarding. Altough one can see the traces of the assimilation in the use of the language of the children, it is useful to teach the Hungarian language in Changoland. It is possible to base the teaching on the grandparents dialects which could possibly result in competitive language knowledge provided the children can participate in Hungarian classes for the coming years. This can be proven by the knowledge shown in country competitions. We ae proud of Kamilla and Krisztina!
It was like this on Varad (Kamilla Balint, 8th Grade, Magyarfalu)
I could not stay at home this Easter
with my family and relatives but a trip to Varad was very nice too. Tuesday, after we arrived we got our rooms in the "Ady Endre" Lyceum, then we went to the grand room to see a production and meet the other children. Wednesday we wrote our exam, which seemed pretty difficult for me, but I did the best I could. Afterwards, we had some free time and in the evening we saw a theater piece "Indul a Bakterhaz". I really liked it. Thursday after breakfast we left by bus to see the Bear Caves. The trip wa slong but it was worth it as the Cave was fantastic. From here we continued to Nagyszalonta where we visited the downtown and we saw a lot of interesting things. In the evening we could go to the theater again. This night they shown "Totek" ami better than the other play. After the theater there was a disco but I was too tired to go. I was told afterwards that it was fun. Friday morning we got back the test
results. I did not get the best grade but I was satisfied because
I was competing against the best in the country, and I am studying
Hungarian for only 4 years. Afterwards we met with the grading teachers
to discuss our results: what we did right and what we missed. In the
afternoon I went shopping and the others could go visit the town.
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