Those who have been lucky enough to have a teacher who inspired by his/her nature and by the way he/she related to the people around us, know that the way Gheorghiță Dragoș Jigău chooses to live as war rages on in Ukraine will spark off an impact on many students.
In the summer you can find him volunteering to move school furniture and getting everything ready for the autumn. In the winter you’ll see him caroling with students at homes for the elderly to ease their loneliness or donating toys at local children’s shelters. He also runs marathons to raise money for the children’s education in Săcele. “Small stuff, little things that keep us alive,” he explains.
“I like helping people around me”, plainly states the English and French teacher at the “Ioan Lupaș” Technological High School in Săliște. “Since the beginning of the war I have tried to explain to the students what was going on. I always teach them not to hate and that it is important that we help the Ukrainian refugees as best we can. Let us not add fuel to the flames. I want to be a role model for them.”
Gheorghiță learned from the media about a Facebook group called “United for Ukraine”. Curiosity pushed him into joining the group and he saw how “solidarity worked miracles”.
Since then, his wife has often asked him if he’d moved out of the house and if he ever takes a break. But in the meantime, people have passed through the Jigău family’s life whom they will never forget, fragments of brotherhood and friendship in the middle of a war.
One day, tagging along with his son to a football practice in Sub Arini Park, the teacher met Mika, a talented footballer who had joined the team since leaving Ukraine. Because he had learned Russian as a child in the village of Valea lui Ion, Bacău county, Gheorghiță just got into conversation with the Asrian family and they soon felt a close connection between them.
Karen Asrian told him it was the second time he was fleeing the war with his wife, this time with his two children – Mika (8) and David (3) – and his mother-in-law. The first time had been in 2003, when they left their native Armenia due to conflicts with Azerbaijan. They then settled in Kyiv and later still in Dnipro. In time, they set up a rotisserie and a pastry shop. Husband was in charge of the grill and shawarma, and wife was managing the sweets. Karen also worked as an accordion and percussion teacher at the Armenian Community Music School in Dnipro. They had a quiet and peaceful life.
This year, on March 18, the shelling of Dnipro went on and on. The Asrians packed what they could into two suitcases as quickly as possible and left for Romania.
After meeting them, Gheorghiță posted in the Help Group and started collecting clothing, school supplies and food – everything that didn’t fit in the two small suitcases. On hearing that “brother” Karen can play, the teacher has also asked around for help with finding him an accordion, so that music could take his mind off his troubles. An accordion was donated by man from Brașov, and Karen invited Gheorghiță to the apartment in Sibiu where they were staying for an afternoon of songs, tea and syrup-soaked baklavas.
Together they walked through the Șopa forest in Șelimbăr, listening to the sounds of nature while picking mushrooms for a Romanian stew
The sparks of goodwill didn’t stop there. A Sibiu based journalist helped them find a kitchen and tools to cook baklava and the Turkish sujuk, which they then sold to the neighborhood locals. At Easter time, Marine prepared 300 Armenian baklavas for 15 Sibiu families. The coach of Interstar Sibiu took an interest in Mika, his footballer son, to help him continue his training in Romania. Also, with the help of the group members, the teacher raised 3400 lei for the dental treatment Karen needed.
“My role has been, in all modesty, to post on forums, to find people willing to provide support, to understand their situation,” explains professor Gheorghiță. And fortunately, every time he sought help, he heard back the echoes. This showed him that Romanians are capable of quite a bit of empathy.
It was painful for him that he could not convince his “brother” to stay in Sibiu longer. In mid-June, the Asrians went back to Ukraine, thinking of their brother-in-law who had stayed behind and their small businesses. Gheorghiță keeps in touch with them constantly making sure they are all right.
Because the Ukrainians grew to trust him in the Help Group, the teacher often receives messages asking for his support. He is always trying, step by step, to connect them with as many people as possible who can assist them in leaving Ukraine or finding accommodation in Romania.
“Unconditionally gifting someone a little of your time, of your daily bread, is nothing more than charity towards fellow human beings”, believes Gheorghe Jigău and this is what he wishes to pass on to his students – whether it is the vulnerable people next to us, or those who are now fleeing from the war.
“Whenever I’m on a school trip with the class of students where I’m the homeroom teacher, I always teach them to share their sandwiches, pizza, whatever snacks they get. I know children so poor that on their last trip they couldn’t even afford to have a jam sandwich with them!”
Story collected by Ana-Maria Ciobanu for the Museum of Abandonment, as part of the Suitcases of Abandonment campaign. Project funded by CARE through the Sera Foundation, Care France and FONPC.
