Life in the provinces
There are some clichés about life in the provincial towns . They say that, far away from Bucharest, time elapses much slower and that the countryside is paralysed because of the irremediable loss sustained by and the bankruptcy of the industry imposed by the communists on the small towns of Romania . They also say that true business is not made in the country but in Bucharest, where laws are being written. Bucharesters say that provincials confine themselves to their little towns and cling to obsolete ways of life, far from the spirit of the Capital. But what do provincials say about themselves and what they think of Bucharest? How difficult is it to live in a town away from the Capital? These are only a few questions we will try to answer in the following minutes. We chose a county in north-eastern Romania, Suceava. Our first stop is in Gura Humorului, a small town of 17 thousand people, most of them working as miners until recently. We say until recently, because the mines were shut down or are to be preserved. The massive lay- offs of 1997 were a sheer disaster for most of the miners. Money compensations may have soothed their bitterness for a while, but now, after almost five years, they have very low chances to find something to work. Still, there are two categories of people in Gura Humorului: the ones who have started their own business and those who have not found a suitable professional re-training programme. Our first interlocutor is Ina Petreanu, who runs some successful businesses together with her husband: electronics trade, a small four star hotel and a glass factory exporting 75% of its products. We asked Ina Petreanu what is the biggest problem for a private entrepreneur in a small town:
“The problem we all face is the labor force. The well-trained people go abroad as they are better paid. But we hope they will learn more there and then come back with new ideas about work, and maybe we’ll be able to do something. There are plenty of available people who don’t go abroad and want to improve their living standard through their work. One cannot have a reasonable living standard without work. We try to qualify personnel in various domains. For instance, this spring I wanted to send children to Bucharest to be trained as waiters, because this is one of the problems we have in tourism. The terms were: young high-school graduates with three to five years experience in a job. I wanted to send them for further improvement, but I found none willing to go. This is probably because a work record implies additional taxes, so young people didn’t manage to get hired. They graduate but have no training to satisfy an employer, no one hired them on the basis of legal documents, so we can’t find the necessary personnel whom we want to train. We’ve tried to qualify personnel for the Falticeni glass factory, there are difficult jobs there. We organised a course. After a month, no one had remained of the 40 kids that initially applied. Today’s youth chose the easiest work, they prefer to sell in a market or they dream of leaving the country. We wish them luck, but nowhere will they manage to lead a normal life without work. We wanted to open a glass factory here in Gura Humorului. My husband, being a local, wanted to do something for his home town. It’s very true that a good glass-worker is formed in at least five years, and that only if he is dedicated to this job.”
Despite unsuccessful attempts, the story of the Petreanu’s is a good example of adjustment to the market economy. Last year their companies had a net profit of 7 billion lei (over 230.000 euros). We asked Ina Petreanu what made her stay in the province.
“It is not difficult to have the parent-company in Suceava and 11 branches in the country. It is not difficult at all to run your business from Suceava. We have access to the Internet, to e-mail so we do manage…We are from Bucowina, we don’t like Bucharest, we hate crowded places. I wouldn’t be able to do anything there. I like working in peace and quiet.
In most cases, talented young people leave their native town to go to university. Few people come back home because Bucharest, the crowded, colourful and noisy metropolis has its charm especially when you’re young. There are, however, rare cases of people who used to live in Bucharest and then chose the province. Ileana Cocisiu graduated from the Foreign Trade Faculty within the Academy of Economic Studies in 1977. When the graduates had to choose a town for their first three years of work, Ileana chose Suceava. Here are her reasons.
“I chose Suceava because my parents have always lived there, they are from Bucowina and they told me that I was also from Bucowina. I myself have always felt that I belong to those places. I have never had the feeling that I was coming from the province. This word has never been used in our home and we haven’t perceived it the way someone from Bucharest does. At the beginning, in my first year of study, I did have that complex of not having been able to find work with a company specialised in foreign trade, because that was what I had in mind when I passed my entrance examination. But I have gradually realised that I am in a place that suits me.
Today, Ileana Cocisiu is secretary general of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Suceava. If you ask her how long she has been in Suceava, she smiles and says: for ages. It seems that not only people in Bucharest like the air of Bucowina. Simion Botezatu, sociologist and deputy mayor of Suceava, says that life in the big city can be both exhausting and challenging at the same time. “For me, the noise and crowded places are sources of relaxation. This is what I missed in Suceava…I mean, I had a hard time sleeping the first few nights because of the silence. I think that a bustling city suits me much better, but I have a family and my wife likes peace and quiet…so I’ve started getting used to it myself. You usually feel much better in the suburbs, there are green areas, it’s different, we start enjoying the pleasures of life. I have a car, a house, friends, and I can go to Bucharest any time I want. It depends very much on your personality: you can feel much better in the country than in Bucharest. I think people in Bucharest are missing out on the possibility of having peace and quiet, of looking at their inner selves.”
We spent some wonderful days among people who proved that any problem has its solutions, that the distance from the centre is not a burden when you control the technology; on the contrary, it can turn into the advantage of a healthy life.
“The problem we all face is the labor force. The well-trained people go abroad as they are better paid. But we hope they will learn more there and then come back with new ideas about work, and maybe we’ll be able to do something. There are plenty of available people who don’t go abroad and want to improve their living standard through their work. One cannot have a reasonable living standard without work. We try to qualify personnel in various domains. For instance, this spring I wanted to send children to Bucharest to be trained as waiters, because this is one of the problems we have in tourism. The terms were: young high-school graduates with three to five years experience in a job. I wanted to send them for further improvement, but I found none willing to go. This is probably because a work record implies additional taxes, so young people didn’t manage to get hired. They graduate but have no training to satisfy an employer, no one hired them on the basis of legal documents, so we can’t find the necessary personnel whom we want to train. We’ve tried to qualify personnel for the Falticeni glass factory, there are difficult jobs there. We organised a course. After a month, no one had remained of the 40 kids that initially applied. Today’s youth chose the easiest work, they prefer to sell in a market or they dream of leaving the country. We wish them luck, but nowhere will they manage to lead a normal life without work. We wanted to open a glass factory here in Gura Humorului. My husband, being a local, wanted to do something for his home town. It’s very true that a good glass-worker is formed in at least five years, and that only if he is dedicated to this job.”
Despite unsuccessful attempts, the story of the Petreanu’s is a good example of adjustment to the market economy. Last year their companies had a net profit of 7 billion lei (over 230.000 euros). We asked Ina Petreanu what made her stay in the province.
“It is not difficult to have the parent-company in Suceava and 11 branches in the country. It is not difficult at all to run your business from Suceava. We have access to the Internet, to e-mail so we do manage…We are from Bucowina, we don’t like Bucharest, we hate crowded places. I wouldn’t be able to do anything there. I like working in peace and quiet.
In most cases, talented young people leave their native town to go to university. Few people come back home because Bucharest, the crowded, colourful and noisy metropolis has its charm especially when you’re young. There are, however, rare cases of people who used to live in Bucharest and then chose the province. Ileana Cocisiu graduated from the Foreign Trade Faculty within the Academy of Economic Studies in 1977. When the graduates had to choose a town for their first three years of work, Ileana chose Suceava. Here are her reasons.
“I chose Suceava because my parents have always lived there, they are from Bucowina and they told me that I was also from Bucowina. I myself have always felt that I belong to those places. I have never had the feeling that I was coming from the province. This word has never been used in our home and we haven’t perceived it the way someone from Bucharest does. At the beginning, in my first year of study, I did have that complex of not having been able to find work with a company specialised in foreign trade, because that was what I had in mind when I passed my entrance examination. But I have gradually realised that I am in a place that suits me.
Today, Ileana Cocisiu is secretary general of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Suceava. If you ask her how long she has been in Suceava, she smiles and says: for ages. It seems that not only people in Bucharest like the air of Bucowina. Simion Botezatu, sociologist and deputy mayor of Suceava, says that life in the big city can be both exhausting and challenging at the same time. “For me, the noise and crowded places are sources of relaxation. This is what I missed in Suceava…I mean, I had a hard time sleeping the first few nights because of the silence. I think that a bustling city suits me much better, but I have a family and my wife likes peace and quiet…so I’ve started getting used to it myself. You usually feel much better in the suburbs, there are green areas, it’s different, we start enjoying the pleasures of life. I have a car, a house, friends, and I can go to Bucharest any time I want. It depends very much on your personality: you can feel much better in the country than in Bucharest. I think people in Bucharest are missing out on the possibility of having peace and quiet, of looking at their inner selves.”
We spent some wonderful days among people who proved that any problem has its solutions, that the distance from the centre is not a burden when you control the technology; on the contrary, it can turn into the advantage of a healthy life.
posted by Andreea Demirgian at
4:31 AM
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