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,