Students help children, deprived of parental care

published on 1/24/12 1:15 PM

Photo: BGNES

The town of Roman, situated 120 km to the northeast from the capital Sofia is not an attractive tourist destination. The level of unemployment there is high and the birthrate – low… Young people leave the town on a large scale, looking for better job and lifestyle opportunities. Then why has a group of students traveled to Roman many times over the past months? The answer is: Adventure of Life Project, supporting the children from the local home for social care. Its inhabitants are aged 4-18 and each of them has his or her unique destiny. Some of the kids are orphans; others have been abandoned by their parents. The common thing is that they all need friends, love and skills for coping with life outside the institution. This all made a group of young people from the Bulgarian Christian Student Union /BCSU/ create a project for support, social integration and personal development of children. They applied with this project under the Youth in Action EU Programme and won a funding of EUR 4,900. “The goal of this project is to give hope to those kids, along with possibilities to find their place in the society after leaving the social institution,” Mrs. Magdalina Koicheva, head of the project says.

“We aimed mainly at the development of practical skills that the children could use in their future life, after the social institution”, Mrs. Koicheva explains. “We decided to create clubs in interests that had to enlighten each kid’s talents. Different workshops were organized too, with the idea to teach them to computers and foreign languages mainly. Experts taught the children under a special program in each of the clubs. The cooking one taught them how to prepare their own meal, they learnt recipes for salads, soups, main courses and deserts.”

Girls are especially attracted by the clubs in hairdressing, manicure and cosmetics that give them the chance to visit renowned hairdresser’s, meet the professionals working there and even try to help them a bit. The art club, where children draw, model, arrange flowers etc. is also very successful. The one in professional guidance teaches young boys and girls how to apply for a job, where to look for legal and social assistance, what their civic rights are… Students conduct training interviews with them, they do psychological tests, in order for the right career to be determined according to their character and attitude.

“We also never forgot that these were kids that needed fun and games,” Martin Raichinov from BCSU says. “We had some sport activities, we watched and discussed movies, and we tried to make them think. Many of the children aged 14 and up already have their idea on what they want to do with their future life and what job to choose. Some of them want to go to university. Many of the kids are ready to attend additional classes with the idea of better career opportunities. Their social skills are important too, we have discussed money issues, monthly budget etc. They are unaware of such things and are about to face them… We have to do a lot of work from now on, but we have the basics and we think that more projects of this kind will take place in such institutions that are being reformed right now. This initiative is coming towards its end, but we are convinced that our relations with the children will persist.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

По публикацията работи: Diana Hristakieva

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Students help children, deprived of parental care

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