The exhibition '25 Years of Mihai Eminescu Trust Activity' opened on Thursday in the courtyard of the Fortified Church in Viscri, an event included in the Haferland Week Festival.

Caroline Fernolend, president of the MET Foundation, said it was very difficult to choose 25 representative projects out of more than 1,300 implemented.

'I just want to say that we are a very small team, myself and four young people, and in 25 years we have managed to implement more than 1,300 projects. (...) Here you will see 25 projects that we selected from the more than 1,300 we implemented. It was hard to choose the most representative ones. Each member of the team made a list of the 25 most important projects in their view, and then we put them together and saw what came out. But I believe the most important project for us is the people in the 45 villages where we worked, and I believe that in these 25 years we have changed the lives of many people. Many families were able to send their children to school and have a better life here, at home. That is our purpose and our goal, alongside preserving and showcasing the heritage sites, the fortified churches, the houses built by our ancestors,' Fernolend said.

At the opening event, Fernolend also offered practical advice for those who want to restore old houses, stressing the importance of traditional materials.

'In every village we started the first project with a lime pit. When you begin restoring a house, use 60 percent sand, 30 percent slaked lime and 10 percent additives. This is healthy for our houses built by our ancestors,' the MET president explained.

She said the foundation's most important impact is on people - on the families who took part in the projects.

'Now we dream of opening a school in the parish house in Bunesti, and I hope that next year, at Haferland, we will hold the opening. We are still looking for funding, but I hope we will manage to open this school in the autumn,' she said.

Fernolend also recalled the reforestation actions carried out over the 25 years, during which 3.5 million saplings were planted. 'I believe it is our duty, each of us, to plant at least one tree in our lifetime. We planted more.'

The MET Foundation president also noted that some projects have received international recognition.

'For the restoration project of the Fortified Church in Alma Vii we received three Europa Nostra awards in 2024, a major recognition. After these awards we received funding for a project from the Ministry of Culture. (...) Now we have been selected by the New European Bauhaus and will receive an award for the ecological wastewater treatment station we built in Viscri,' Caroline Fernolend concluded. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Petronius Craiu; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)