Rooted in memory

In Israel, there is the habit of planting trees in memory of the dead. In Britain, families can dedicate a memorial bench to a loved one who has died. Many families like the idea of placing a memorial bench in a public place, such as a spot the loved one or family has a special connection with. In Romania, a project dubbed “Rooted in memory”, developed by “Zi de bine” community centre has been initiated recently. Claudia Udrescu, who works for the centre, told us more about it: “Rooted in memory was born out of the need to speak openly about mourning. Melania Medeleanu, the founder of the community centre, once had a talk with a person who had lost her loved ones in a terrible car accident. That certain person tried to talk about the loss she suffered but the only answer she got was “it will pass”, “time heals all wounds”, “be strong”, “don’t cry”. In fact, all that she needed was to talk about her grief, to talk about those who died as a way of keeping their memory alive. She kept trying to talk about it until she couldn’t do it anymore because there was no one to listen to her. Nobody called her anymore. Then there was that idea in the film “Coco”, according to which we exist only as long as somebody remembers us. So we tried to find a way to make people live forever, somewhere. This is how the idea of the website came up, plantatiinamintire.ro, telling the story of the loved ones who died. There are very touching and beautiful stories. I invite you to read them. Then we had the idea of the tree, which is a symbol of life. A tree can even be hugged, so every tree tells the story of the person who died, with the help of a QR code attached to it.”

Thus, a first park with memories was created in early November. Claudia Udrescu: “We opened the first park of longing in Romania in Lugoj, on November 5. It is a park which, seen from above, has the shape of the infinity, and where 100 white birches tell their stories of longing. There is a Ginkgo Biloba in the middle, the symbol of life. There are 11 love birches in Lugoj, and as many stories. I was there with dozens of people who came to attach a tag with the QR code, and which connects, as I said, the tree to the story of the loved one who is no longer with us.  This brings the mourning persons comfort because the stories of the ones they lost are shared with others.”

”Rooted in memory” is a very special project for many, as Claudia Udrescu tells us: ”Due to  this park, sufferance and mourning are turned into life. People came from Brașov, Craiova, Timișoara, or București. One of theme even hugged the three, the birch of longing. People talk to each other, sitting on the memory benches; they call relatives and friends from abroad, because most of the people who arranged the planting are living abroad. I invite you to read the stories on the website, written with a lot of pain and also with love, because there is nothing stronger than the love these stories were written with, the love each word was chosen with. We know how hard it is to write them down and we are grateful for that.”

This was only the first stage of the project, as Claudia Udrescu tells us: ”What we want is to spread this memory root across the entire country. It is important to us that such project be conducted jointly with local authorities, because we come and plant the trees, but local authorities must take care of the park on the long term, keep it alive. This is not a regular park, it is a park where every tree means a person, someone who is no longer with us but who matters. Another two parks will soon be opened in Bucharest and Oradea. We will gladly go wherever local authorities are open to the idea, because we really need such project. We need such special, almost sacred place, if I dare say so, where to whisper our love and longing and have an echo.” (EE)