Pupaza Din Tei Iasi

The "Pupaza Din Tei" paper is the only paper in Romania(and probably in the world) entirely written and managed(run) by children between the ages of 8 and 15. The publishing of the "Pupaza Din tei" paper is not a goal of its own. It is a project of the "Pupaza Din Tei" Association, used as a mean of mediating actions and projects made by children. The editorial staff of the paper is formed as a contact and social dialogue group, which operates a real group therapy through meetings and playful actions, through training using learning by experience (Training Opportunity Associates) and the immediate work with specific instruments for the editing of a paper (tape recorder, professional photo camera, computer, etc.) through themselves, for themselves and the community. In this group any children's initiative could be brought to life. Children can express freely their ideas and points of view which cling to their intimate resources, specific for childhood. This way, a creation and workshop "lab" takes place, which contributes to prepare children for life. Children can achieve (in terms of their abilities and desires) a rank in the Association to reflect their own options: leading and representative positions, inclusion in one of the departments of the Association: marketing, ecological, social, sports, cultural, artistic orentertainment. In the editorial staff, they develop their communication abilities, absolutely essential in the human relations, but also abilities and knowledge demanded by their professional orientation: media(press, radio, TV etc.), marketing - advertising, informatics(working with computers, editing, programming, etc.), public relations. Also, the paper is a useful guide to teachers and parents, who can find in it the children's points of view which they do not dare to speak out straight-forward. The history of the "Pupaza Din tei" paper: first print has seen the light of day in Iasi, in October 1999, and has been produced by a collective of 80 children, students from different schools, who have been previously approached and trained by volunteers (journalists, psychologists, sociologists, managers) in techniques of media and management. As local celebrity was not enough for them, as of March 2000, the staff of this paper began a campaign for founding derived editorial staffs in other Romanian counties. For 10 months they succeeded, by scouring the counties of the country in weekends and holidays, sometimes on their own expenses, sometimes with money out of the sale of the paper, with efforts which only passion may determinate you to do them! They managed to gather contributors/co-workers through corespondance in: Bacau, Brasoc, Botosani, Vrancea, Neamt, Suceava, Vaslui and Bucharest. Because the paper could not have afforded returns, it has been distributed only by children from the editorial staff and the volunteering colaborators. This is also because the "live" selling has been conceived as a mean to make the paper popular, in the lack of a budget for advertising. The "Pupaza Din Tei" association is, therefore, a success out of the passion to override any obstacles of any kind: financial, sentimental or moral. The paper has not benefit of any financing, the exceptions consisting in the modest ammounts offered by the Iasi County Council and the Youth And Sports County Department(DJTS). The children have beared through the sentimental blackmailing of parents' words such as: "I won't let you go to the 'Pupaza', unless you have only A marks", or "If you don't (...), you have no place at the paper!", but also of their teachers: "So the school magazine isn't good enough for you?!". In the beginning, the paper stunned many with the number of 2000 copies, grew up to 20 000 nowadays and proposed itself that by november 2005 to have 30 000 copies, marking 6 years of existence, distributed all over the country. Starting with October 21st the magazine moved its main headquarters in Bucharest, sector 1, followed, by the end of 2004, by opening offices in every sector. In December 2000 the French edition has been released in 10 000 copies, which has been republished in september 2004 and we proposed ourselves to release soon other editions in English, German, Spanish. We already met with the first collaborators from outside the borders of our country. In the 2000-2001 winter holiday we've been the little ambassadors of Romania in Austria, France and Belgium, where we met our first collaborators.