Usa

excerpts  PROMISES  Those of us who looked after the severely ill, close to their end in hospitals or foster homes made a lot of promises to them. Some asked for the impossible, namely to save them from death, but most of them only wished not to die alone and, above all,

Abuse in the family. Abuse in the institutions. Poverty and the non-intervention of social services. The lack of mechanisms to enforce the law. In time, all this led to the increase of the number of children who live and work on the streets. According to statistics produced

Romanian Ornithological Society Area Manager, Tulcea Branch A few years ago I was the guide to the Danube Delta of a member of the British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. He had been to many reservations, not only in Europe, and at the end of the day, when we

excerpts Sulina – named after the chief of a Cossack horde – is the gateway to the Danube. Hereabouts, the grain went out and the gold came in. The key to this gateway passed during the course of time from one pocket to another, after endless battles, by arms and by

Today, Sulina is Romania's easternmost port. It is easy to find on any map of the world: one merely has to trace the course of the Danube to the point where it empties into the sea. There, at the river's end, on a spit of land, a group of people settled and prospered,

Trail no. 1TULCEA – THE MILE 35 CHANNEL – THE SIREASA DISTRIBUTARY – THE ŞONTEA DISTRIBUTARY – THE OLGUŢA CHANNEL – THE OLD DANUBE – MILE 23 VILLAGE – LEBĂDA – MALIUC – THE SULINA ARM – TULCEA The trail sets out from Tulcea, the main port of entry

Upon entering the narrow water thread, we are being gently rocked. It is quiet. The left and right side of our water path is bordered by high reed walls. Above them lies the blue, brilliant sky. Not one whisper, nothing. Only the ripple of water, which pats the thicket,

It is a wonder that the Danube, the only river in the world to cross seven countries and two important capitals, collects along its 2860 kilometers of erstwhile blue waters thousands upon thousands of tons of waste spilled out by a savage, destructive civilization, obstinately

excerpts THE DELTA ISLAND An island: the most spectacular and unusual part of Romania, neither water nor land. Isolated, lacustrine, villages, depending very much on nature and fishing, a labyrinth of lakes, canals, realms overflowing with wildlife. An extraordinarily

excerpts The wind is chilly and it is as though it has a taste, a taste of mulberries. The boat passes by a white poplar. Over the water hang scattered streaks of haze, whelps of mist. The boat leaves behind it a row of dwarf willows. What a bluish-black night, like ink!

I heard this story in Sulina one night, while waiting for a plate of golden herrings about to come out of the oven, as a boy about 10 years old was running towards us from the direction of the sea and shouting at the top of his lungs: “Rusalfa! Rusalfa! I’ve seen a rusalfa!”

excerpt Building materials, their textures and colors could also be the keys of an instrument on which the architect can play some cool music. Natural materials – earth, first of all, from clay to ceramic, but also stone, or wood – are here, waiting for us to come to