There's a line of code that united Romania's villages. The Informal School of IT and Peter Hurley's map

The year of the Great Union Centennial, 2018. The mission to bring together rural communities across the whole country gets a name, when Peter from Ireland calls all the people on the same map to join the same round dance: „The United Villages of Romania”.

Peter is the "Irishman from Maramureș," as he likes to introduce himself, who arrived in Romania at 26, "stopped by and never left," because he dedicated his time, interest, energy and care to the vivid, moving picture of authentic rural life, so it wouldn't be lost.

<<Maybe we don't know "how," we don't know "where," but above all, we don't really know "what" – what it's about, why it matters, why we'll miss it so much when we lose it… because it's a living identity>>.

Starting from there, it's already been years since Peter has been taking small steps. He started the "Long Road to the Merry Cemetery" in 2010, a festival meant to stir emotion, attention and the desire to cherish traditional culture.  In 2016, he united the villages of Maramureș; in 2018, all of Romania's rural communities on the same map.

Peter Hurley's map and the Informal School of IT's Hackathon

Challenge Accepted!

4th edition, April 2018. The mission to change the world through technology gets a name, when a coding marathon is dedicated exclusively to the desire to solve needs seen around us in medicine, education and society: "Challenge Accepted."

The challenge launched by the Informal School of IT carried the tradition forward, through the fourth edition of the event, in an innovative format announcing 48 hours of continuous coding, meant to bring a huge positive impact to people's lives.

With all the makings of an informal gathering, the 80 participants at the Informal School of IT's hackathon, inspired people passionate about IT from across the country, ready to take on bold challenges, got to meet Peter. And Peter got to meet us.

"Maybe you can give us a nice wedding gift through your work. But whatever you choose to do today, may it be put to good use."

And so, the challenge was accepted. With dedication, one of the 10 cross-disciplinary teams at Challenge Accepted – Hackathon devoted their knowledge, expertise and passion to bringing the MVP to life in just 48 hours of coding. "Put to good use," and what followed.

"I feel like I graduated from the Informal School of IT too! I learned so much"

The lines of code from Early Work Club and the Village Gathering in Săpânța 

The line of code that reunites villages, July 2018. The Informal School of IT proudly announced the completion of the first project from its incubator for community initiatives, Early Work Club: The United Villages of Romania. The "Village Gathering" is being prepared in Săpânța, Maramureș.

"In the days following the hackathon, we sketched out the structure of the future platform, which we've been developing ever since, and here we are, we've reached the moment of launching a working product," Peter says, about the idea that became reality. "Attention, expertise, consulting, vision, hours of actual work," he lists, when talking about the involvement of the Informal School of IT's mentors, graduates, students and collaborators within Early Work Club. "Appreciation, respect, understanding," he adds. Developers, testers, business analysts, developers, coordinators and many lines of code fulfilled a dream "that otherwise simply wouldn't have been possible," because an unconventional project with a very small budget wouldn't have found a specialized firm to take it on, Peter is convinced. And we are proud and happy.

Săpânța, August 2018.  Where there are two… but where there are 2,000?

With a round dance that brought together more than 2,000 people from across the country, from Transcarpathia, Northern Bukovina and Vojvodina, that's how the story of the United Villages of Romania began. "A rehearsal for the December 1 gathering, in Alba Iulia," Peter says. In Săpânța, tradition and "living identity" speak of love for the country in the Centennial year, with faith in a better place.

And we joined the round dance too. Because there's a line of code that can make the world a better place.

Because, written with passion, the lines of code from Early Work Club reunited Romania's villages.