Alexia Șerban is a young woman from Ferentari who tries to think with her mind and wise herself up from sources other than the formal framework of school and history textbooks. An innate curiosity only tempered by a neighborhood that did not spare her childhood from contact with various forms of discrimination.
Last August, together with her friend Vlad Roșianu (photographer), Alexia conducted an interview about the Roma Holocaust and contemporary racism with one of the representatives of the Elie Wiesel Institute. Conceived as part of the “Avdives, khetanes” project, the interview was later picked up by Vice magazine.
We discussed the need to assert one’s own identity with Alexia, who did not shy away from putting her finger on the many wounds of a complicated neighborhood. For Alexia, discrimination starts close to home and is proof of our own confusion. That she survived a turbulent childhood is an achievement in itself. Unfortunately, Alexia’s story sounds almost like a diagnosis.
Read the complete version here.
Creative teenagers and young adults who grew up in Ferentari neighborhood in Bucharest write articles about Roma culture, with editorial guidance, as part of “Avdives, Khetanes!” (translation “Today, together!”) project implemented by Amfiteatru Foundation.
“Avdives, Khetanes!” aims to increase inclusion and develop the premises for a better quality of life for Roma children in Belin commune, Covasna county and in Ferentari marginalized neighbourhood (Sector 5, Bucharest).
The project is implemented by Amfiteatru Foundation in partnership with Belin Community Development Association for Belin commune and by Amfiteatru Foundation in partnership with the City Hall of Sector 5 for Ferentari and benefits from a 856.678 euros grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the SEE and Norway Grants as part of the Local Development Program.