The Easter
Holidays are over (for everyone) and we are very grateful to everyone who sent
us Easter greetings and cards. We still got a lot of them at the office this
last two weeks, and we would like to mention just a few.
Hans Verner
Lollike (Denmark) sent us an Easter greeting, also enclosing the photo below.
It is a tablecloth and Horezu set he bought from Romania while on his tour of
Govora.
This week as
well we received messages from long time listeners. One of them was Nicolas
Beaney-Weaver (England). Here is an excerpt from his message:
When I first started my hobby of Dxing at
the very young age of 14, I remember hearing your station on shortwave way way
back in the 1980s, that was when it was called Radio Bucharest. In fact that
was one of the very first shortwave radio stations I heard way back then - I
was using a very old pre second world war radio that had valves in it, with a
long aerial made of wire that I got from my father's shed. We put up the aerial
with a pole that was attached to a piece of trellis in the garden, it was about
50 feet long and about 12 feet high, with the wire going directly into the
bottom of the window in my bedroom. I sent in a Reception Report to Radio
Bucharest, a few weeks later received a programme schedule, a lovely QSL card
and some stamps - my very first QSL card that I received, so that made it extra
special!!!
Richard Langley
(Canada) also recalled his first contact with Radio Bucharest back in the '60s.
By
the way, I likely first heard RRI's predecessor Radio Bucharest in 1964 on the
SW radio I built from a kit as a teenager. I have a couple of QSL cards from
Radio Bucharest from the mid-1960s in my collection. These are B&W
postcards showing Brancusi's Endless Column and The Rumanian
People's Republic Palace Square.
Thanks for the
trip down memory lane, Nicolas & Richard. It sure made our day! ***
The
cherry-blossom season is in full swing in Romania, but in Japan this
spectacular event is at its zenith. Sakae Onozawa (Japan) delighted us with
these pictures.
***
Siddhartha
Bhattacharjee (India) has sent us his regular reports these weeks, also asking
if Romania celebrated World Health Day on April 7 and if there are any health
schemes addressing senior citizens. To answer your first question, Romania does
observe World Health Day by means of various events, in particular held at the
level of medical doctors' associations and employers. Medical staff are given a
day off on this particular day, with the exception of emergencies and on-call
staff. On April 7, the Romanian Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila, delivered
the following message: The motto for World Health Day 2023 is 'Health for
All!' To be able to achieve that in Romania, we need to do a few things. First
of all, we need sufficient and properly trained medical staff, capable to
responding the patients' needs with professionalism and empathy. We need
investments in healthcare, hospitals, expert clinics and family physicians' practices.
We also need the people to confide in the healthcare system. As to your second
question, there are no other additional health schemes addressing senior
citizens in Romania other than the subsidized healthcare scheme all taxpayers
benefit from. A senior citizen with lifelong contributions to this schemes
benefits from medical costs covered by the state for any investigation,
hospital admission or consultations performed in state hospitals. Additionally,
citizens are free to contract private medical insurance to cover additional
medical costs if they so desire.
***
As the end of
the Ramadan was drawing near, many Muslim listeners of RRI sent us messages and
best wishes to mark this special occasion for them. Bidhan Chandra Sanyal
(India) sent us this interesting message, detailing customs and traditions
related to Eid-ul-Fitr.
Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of the holy
Islamic month of Ramadan and the beginning of the month of Shawwal. Muslims celebrate this day with great joy
after fasting for a long month. 'Eid'
means festival of joy, Eid means that which returns again and again. 'Fitr' means breaking the fast or breaking
the fast. It is called 'Eid-ul-Fitr'
because this Eid comes at the end of Ramadan fasting. It is also known as Eid of fasting.
Everyone wears new clothes on this day. Feasts are organized from house to
house. Relatives, neighbors also share
in this joy. Muslims pray two rakats of
Eid on this day. Exchange of
pleasantries with relatives and everyone greets, greets and greets everyone
irrespective of rich and poor.
Eid is the biggest religious festival of Muslims. According to Islam, Eid comes twice a
year. First is Eid-ul-Fitr, the festival
of giving. Then Eid-ul-Azha, the
festival of renunciation. The
celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr started after the migration of the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) to Madinah.
According to some historical accounts, the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) came to Madinah and saw that the people of Madinah were
rejoicing on two days a year. He asked,
what are these two days? They said,
Nowroz and Mihirjan. Nowroz festival is
celebrated on autumn full moon, and Mihirjan festival is celebrated on spring
full moon. Then Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
said, Allah has given you two better days instead of these two days, that
is the day of Eid-ul-Azha and Eid-ul-Fitr. At the end of the month of Ramadan,
Eid-ul-Fitr is celebrated together with joy.
Eid-ul-Fitr has great importance for Muslims.
Ramadan is believed to be a very holy month. In this month, good deeds, spreading
brotherhood among people and patience are encouraged and all evil thoughts and
habits are banished. And, this
Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.
According to some ancient scriptures and historical
stories, Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated even before the advent of Islam in the Arab
region.
On this day, Muslims around the world share joy with
their loved ones and spread the message of love and brotherhood.
They all pray together in the mosque and hug each
other and give happy messages. The idea
behind greeting Eid Mubarak by hugging each other is to spread compassion and
love in the society.
A variety of delicacies are prepared on this day. Among them semai is the most common
dish. Also prepared biryani, kebabs and
many more. Family and friends are all
eaten together.
People express gratitude and love by sending greetings
and gifts to each other. On this day
everyone forgets anger and violence and pulls each other closer.
Clothes, money and food are distributed among those who
are poor or needy. Charity distributed
among the poor and needy on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr is called Zakatul Fitr
and is of great importance to Muslims.
May Almighty Allah open the door of happiness for all
and fulfill all dreams of all. Happy Eid-ul-Fitr
to all the staff, staff and listeners of RRI and their families.
We also received
a greeting from Sutomo Huang (Indonesia), who also sent us the card below,
adding: May this year grant you good
health, wealth and happiness this Eid.
We are grateful
to all of you for sharing this celebration with us, and on behalf of everyone
here at RRI we wish you Eid Mubarak!
***
A big thanks to
everyone who took the time to write to us, share their impression and comments
and many other beautiful things. Our gratitude thus goes to Mark Wallace
(Canada), Mikio Kohara (Japan), Richard Cook (UK), Toshiki Tsuboi (Japan), Joandric
Ávila Fernández (Costa Rica), Teruhiko Kachi (Japan), Cyril MacDonald (Canada),
Guido Panebianco (Italy), Reginaldo Anunciaçäo (Brasil), Malik Allah Bachaya
(Pakistan), Norihiko Ide (Japan), Vendel Boree (USA), Muhammad Shamim (India), Rob
den Boer (the Netherlands), Mohd Saiful Izham (Malays