Photo By Maj. Aimee Valles | U.S. Army Civil Affairs Team 1523, Bravo Company, 415th Civil Affairs Battalion and...... read more read more
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VASLUI, Romania – In a section of some Romanian libraries is a set of shelves holding various types of English language books sponsored by the U.S. Embassy program, American Corners and Shelves. U.S. Army Civil Affairs Team 1523, Bravo Company, 415th Civil Affairs Battalion and Romanian 1st Civil Military Cooperation Battalion (CIMIC) visited one of these libraries, the Nicolae Milescu Spatarul County Library in Vaslui, Romania on Aug. 5, 2021.
The American Corners program promotes cooperation between the United States and Romania through publications about the United States on various topics. The U.S. Embassy, in partnership with regional libraries, has provided books for an American collection of written materials developing stronger ties within Romanian communities.
Vaslui County’s library serves a population of about 120,000 people, many of which live in the more rural countryside towns. Voicu Bichinet, manager of the Vaslui County library, has been working at the library since before the inception of the American Corners partnership in 2018. The program in Vaslui County began when the U.S. ambassador to Romania visited the library and donated about 3,000 books, and continues to make donations every year.
“Most of the people in Romania are studying foreign languages,” Bichinet said. “Having books in a foreign language is an advantage for everybody. They have books at school, but they do not have novels. Having an American shelf is a gift because they can study a foreign language with books written by foreign writers in the native tongue of the country.”
U.S. Army Civil Affairs Team 1523, working in conjunction with the U.S. Embassy, donated the most up-to-date books on the U.S. as it pertains to culture, the English language and government as well as novels to the Vaslui County library during their visit.
The U.S. and Romanian soldiers also chaired a panel for a question and answer session with library patrons aged 14 to 20. They were asked questions that ranged from their experiences on combat deployments to the day-to-day life as a soldier. The conversation gave the children a more three-dimensional picture of what American service members are like and a broader perspective of their own military.
“The goal of the program is to increase understanding of U.S. Government and U.S. culture among Romanian citizens, especially the younger people,” said Capt. Andrew Gaydos, team chief for U.S. Army Civil Affairs Team 1523, Bravo Company, 415th Civil Affairs Battalion. “It is harder for disinformation to take hold if they have more positive information. This event will have a positive effect, especially because we had our Romanian counterparts come in with us, and it's just good for the public and especially the youth to see a positive, close relationship between the U.S. military and the Romanian military.”
The American Corners event and other public outreach activities help to strengthen the U.S. Army’s commitment to forging strong ties within the communities of our allied nations as well as the interoperability of our teams with NATO militaries.
| Date Taken: | 08.05.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2021 09:42 |
| Story ID: | 402737 |
| Location: | VASLUI, RO |
| Web Views: | 195 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, American Corners brings books, knowledge to Romanian community, by MAJ Aimee Valles, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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