Gabriela Tanasan teaching Getutza how to shoot video.
When I was in Romania last September I had the distinct privilege of meeting Getutza, one of the bloggers trained as part of the Blogging the Dream project in Campulung Moldovenesc, a small town in the north of the country. Eddie profiled Getutza on Rising Voices earlier this week. In her words:
For me, the blog is an easier mode to communicate with people. My shyness sometimes prevents me from being able to say things with animation. When I post on the blog, it’s only me and the computer. A minimal audience! Yet, a big opportunity to make my thoughts, opinions, ideas, passions, joys and problems known; and allowing me to become closer to people more easily.
On why her blog is titled Singuratate, which means ‘loneliness’ in Romanian:
I gave this name because loneliness is the most profound feeling in which I have. I’m convinced that there are many people in the world with this feeling, people who live alone, isolated, without friends, without people nearby to open a door or to say an encouraging word. Through the title I wanted to suggest all of this. I think that whoever understands the meaning of this title and shares the same feeling will connect with me; so we can eliminate loneliness from our lives.
I haven’t been able to spend much time on Rising Voices lately as I’ve been pouring 12 hours a day into the research we’re doing at the Technology for Transparency Network, but Eddie and Rezwan are doing a far better job than I ever did documenting the work of the Rising Voices Grantee projects. I really like Eddie’s featured blogger series. Also worth checking out are Shinee Sukhbaatar from Mongolia, Nora Catalina Urquijo from Colombia, and Saki Golafale from Liberia. Also, learn about the Aymara-language blogosphere and Malagasy bloggers’ challenge to the increasingly authoritarian government in Madagascar,
David Sasaki is the Director of Rising Voices, a global citizen media outreach initiative of Global Voices Online.
He manages a portfolio of small-scale projects around the developing world that use citizen media to effect social change.
Prior to his current focus on outreach, he served as Global Voices’
Latin America Regional Editor, monitoring the Latin American blogosphere, highlighting key content and translating select posts from Spanish to English.
Sasaki transitioned into online journalism after working as a freelance
web developer and English instructor in Monterrey, Mexico. He now splits his time and residence between North and Latin America and writes frequently at Rising Voices, Online. He manages a portfolio of small-scale projects around the developing world that use citizen media to effect social change.
Prior to his current focus on outreach, he served as Global Voices’
Latin America Regional Editor, monitoring the Latin American blogosphere, highlighting key content and translating select posts from Spanish to English.
