Loredana Pop-Bertișan - Father's Daughter People of Justice 2023 Bucharest
Loredana Bertisan-Pop spoke at People of Justice '23 about how we can change the country at a pace and how the world becomes a better place when sometimes people don't stay where they think they belong, but where they are needed. With a story about reinvention, ignoring the labels put on us by others, and the power of "together," Loredana left us with a thought: "if we put our hearts in the right place, each in our own Suceava, we have a chance to prevail". Loredana runs ARTViitor in Suceava, teaches journalism in Suceava and is about to finish law in Iași.
Author: Loredana Pop-Bertișan
To stay with yourself and tear yourself apart until you find yourself truly is incredibly hard. Admitting that you don't belong anywhere might seem like a failure. What have we learned? That we really, really need to rebuild the world that we're spinning out of "bricks" that are right in the head and soul, not out of improvised pieces. Maybe sometimes, people don't have to be where they think they belong, but where they are needed.
Up to 14 years old I was my father's daughter. I grew up in a village in Suceava, and my father is an important man there. Former stationmaster, the first to make a bigger guesthouse in the area after the Romanian Revolution. Me, his daughter. Whatever I did at school, no matter how much I learned and no matter how many Olympiads I'd won, I always heard around me that I was succeeding... because I am Bertisan's. Children, or even adults, were saying it around the corners.
In elementary school I was working a lot, more than was necessary for a 10, and at times, I was doing this just to show my colleagues that I don't get anything for my name, but for who I am. That's all I knew then. I didn't hear much about how the only competition, if we want one, has to be with yourself, that you're your own hero. That {\i1}to demonstrate{\i0} is done only in the math class. Do you remember those requirements with: Demonstrate that in any right prism the bases are included in parallel planes? In Math, not in life.
I couldn't wait to leave to high school in the city, where I was still Loredana Bertisan, but a girl like any other. 70 kilometers away from home, the name no longer meant nothing to anyone. Then, I finished high school and chose to go to the Faculty of Journalism in Cluj.
I often wrote articles about injustices: about how some kids in a village near Cluj were walking for miles to school, and back home had no electricity, about what children with parents working abroad feel, about those who struggle not just with cancer, but also with totally unprepared hospitals. I loved this profession, but at some point I realized that I'm not able to stay away from the subject, to write objectively about issues, about people and let the solution to those who could take action. I knew from my own experience that it's rare that anyone does. I wanted to do more and together Saul, my husband now, we started doing charity projects. We call ourselves ArtViitor and we're trying to change Romania step by step.
We donated our university merit scholarships to implement Chirstmas charity compaigns for village children, we mobilized hundreds of people to renovate and furnish a day centre, we have built a library, we gave wings to photography, drawing or music enthusiasts.
I reinvented myself from journalist into a NGO activist out of the strong belief that we are what we leave behind. I subsequently started the Faculty of Law and, also at that time, I saw for myself how often the law exists, but is enforced crookedly. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when school was online, some of the children we were working with told us that they were on vacation. You guessed it: they didn't have any good smartphones for class, nor tablets. Others, of different ages, were sitting four, five in the same room, without headphones. They heard more lessons at the same time. Others got the tablets from the authorities, but without SIM cards with mobile data, and at home they had no wifi. We had regulations, but the so-called fix stopped there. I realized that: the existence of laws is not enough. That we have to shake the dust off that waste paper and see if they apply. To howl when they're absurd.
It's true: up to 27 years I walked a lot of paths. All of them with hard work as if the day would have more than 24 hours. To stay with yourself and tear yourself apart until you find yourself truly is incredibly hard. Admitting that you don't belong anywhere might seem like a failure. That's what it felt like when I quit the press. But why should it be? It's a win-win for you, and for others, to be there where you feel you can move mountains. No unnecessary labels.
What have I learned? That we have great, great need to rebuild the world in our proximity out of "bricks" that are right in the head and soul, not out of improvised pieces. I read in a book that in today's context it is not enough to do better what we did before, but we need to think everything through from scratch. How can we heal of injustice if not by justice itself?
And maybe that's exactly why, a year ago I moved from Cluj-Napoca to Suceava. I ask myself every day if I did the right thing. It wasn't easy to come back near the foot of those mountains that I thought I had conquered. And I can't lie: in the Northeast of the country everything is different. But maybe sometimes, people don't have to be where they think they belong, but where they are needed.
I reinvented myself out of Bertisan's, in a journalism student, a pushy reporter, the reckless NGO worker, the professor and future lawyer and finally, into something that came out of nowhere... Before we decided to move, my mother called me to tell me what she heard while she was sweeping the yard.
We have in front of the gate a big billboard, an ad for another guesthouse my father built. It's called {\i1}Casa Loredana{\i0}. Two little boys, coming out of school, were talking about it. One asked intrigued: Which Loredana? and the other replied: Which one, man?Loredana who brings presents to children.He saw me on ProTV.
After 27 years, for the community where I was born I'm my father's daughter, but from a different perspective: my father's daughter, the one who brings presents to the children. And, from my little piece of world, this is exactly how the mountains move. And that's where I wish to make a community hub, with various activities, to bring in a rural area the educational standards and range of activities from an urban area. And the village children really need that. A place to put my heart and my mission, as I understand it, without absurd regulations with things that look good, but which are lacking substance.
As for me... the fact is I'm still searching for myself to find answers, but I know that if we put our hearts in the right place, we have a chance to succeed. If we don't get caught in "nothing can change" And if we pull together more foolish optimists, as I like to do to say, each in his own Suceava, we have a chance.
