Hi.
I’m Teodora Diana Paul and I am the President of Students for Life Bucharest, Romania. Yesterday took place the March for Life 2023 in Bucharest and the association was involved in the organisation team.
If you haven’t seen the pictures yet, do an exercise of imagination – imagine 2500 people, volunteers with branded T-shirts, colourful balloon, flags, banners, young people, parents, children. And then go to the Facebook pages of March for Life Romania and the Republic of Moldova, March for Life Bucharest and Students for Life Bucharest to see how close you came to reality.
I had a pretty good view, since I had the joy of presenting the ”Live for Life” Concert which took place at the end of the March for Life.
Before I get to the subject of this live, I once again feel the need to thank those who made it a great day for the 2,500 attendees in Bucharest.
And, in particular, thank you, on behalf of the organisers, to Iustina Irimia-Cenusa, who gave a heartfelt recital that included a personal testimony about adoption,
to those who gave their testimonies, very moving – you can find them in the march live, but we have also transcribed them on the Students for Life web page: studentipentruviata.ro
to Wincero, who designed the visual identity and offered it free of charge to us in Bucharest, and to all the local organisers who wanted to use it .
to Ioana Revnic, from ”Spune-mi o poveste pentru suflet” (”Tell me a story for the soul”), and the writer Veronica Iani, who organised – for the first time – a space for children where they did activities throughout the concert and the testimonies.
If this was a first in Bucharest, there was something quite exceptional, a first at the national level: the number of more than 1,100 places in Romania and the Republic of Moldova where marches for life and pro-life activities were organised in March.
All of this is even more exceptional because the local organisers are different.
The fact that in over 1,100 places hundreds of thousands of people felt like taking part in a pro-life activity is a sign that we are on the right track.
We have always wanted change – from denying the life and identity of the unborn child and ignoring the extremely difficult situations that women in crisis pregnancies find themselves in, to recognising the humanity of the unborn child and supporting pregnant women with everything they need – we have always wanted and still want this change to happen freely and from the heart. Not forced, because what is forced does not last.
The fact that more and more people are responding affirmative to these activities shows us that this change is welcomed in the hearts of more and more people. Now I remember – there have been marches for life and pro-life activities in Romanian communities in the diaspora too!
As a personal thought, today I was thinking about yesterday and I remember that there were so many familiar faces in the audience, so many young people I knew or there people I have only seen once at events that I participated to – and I have only recently moved to Bucharest; and then I realized how important it is when you find people with whom you can build good things together, wherever you are, and that it is a search that is not necessarily easy, but worth the effort.
I will also answer here a question that we are sometimes asked: how does the March for Life help a pregnant woman who is in a very difficult situation and how does it help to save the life of her child? In particular, there are regular testimonies from women who say how their participation or that of an acquaintance in the March for Life, or following a testimony on the web to a March, has given them strength or directed them to someone who has helped them and helped them overcome their pregnancy crisis. But in general, the March for Life is just the civic component of pro-life involvement.
Alongside it we do educational activities, as much as we can – and surely more is needed. And, very importantly, at the forefront of concrete support for pregnant women are specialised centres – there are not many, but at least some are.
Through all this, with God’s help, we will continue our support until every child lives in a world where they are met with care and love, not fear, hostility and violence – perhaps that will be after this generation has passed, but history shows us that good things are built over generations!!!
It is a chance for us today to polish our souls through pro-life activities. I say this because our behaviour towards the most vulnerable and those most in need of care is the measure of our humanity, our dignity and our souls.
Finally, I would like to remind you that next year’s March for Life, 2024, will take place on Saturday 30 March 2024.
God help us!