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A dream to work with children became reality for a Roma woman

Growing up in one of the poorest regions in Bulgaria, it might seem that there are only a few directions one’s life could take. Marrying young, having children, staying in a small town, and being close to the family, is where life usually takes you. Moving away from this pattern is hard, and requires great support from one’s family, peers, teachers or from the community. This is a story of a young Roma woman, who grew up being told what her life would look like, but never gave up on her dreams, despite all difficulties she had to face.

For Radostina Kamenova from the town of Montana in Bulgaria, life did not look much different than that pre-set path. Since childhood, she would always dream about what life could be like.

©️ Photo: Raycho Chaprazov

“Being a schoolgirl, I dreamed of working with children. In my teenage years, I danced in the Roma folk ensemble “Sham” and imagined how my little students and I would sing together and learn the rhythms and how I would read them fairy tales”, she shares. “The tradition that exists among the Roma population sets the path for the girls to marry young and become mothers and housewives. This is also how my adult life started”.

After graduating from high school, getting married and having a child, Radostina never gave up on her dream of working with young children.

“At first, my husband and my family did not fully support me, as they thought I am not able to study at the university or work and continue with my duties as a mother, wife and housewife at the same time”, says young Roma woman.

Six years ago Radostina started working at a Family-Consultation Center in Montana. Seeing that work does not interfere with her day-to-day tasks, but mostly realizing how important education is for a person’s growth, Radostina’s husband and family encouraged her to apply to university.

“I admit that four years of university were not easy for me”, she shares. “I had to combine my studies with work and take care of children, but I never gave up on my dream, thanks to my family who supported me the whole time.”

Last year, the representative of a local NGO “Association Stars”, Orlin Orlinov told Radostina Kamenova about the REYN Internships, and that they are a great opportunity for young people from various fields of study. Having this possibility would mean completing an internship in a kindergarten to gain practical experience in the field.

With Orlin’s help, Radostina applied for the internship and got it. She participated in the Program in the summer of 2022 at the kindergarten “Sun” in Montana. Its principal, Natalia Tsvetanova, welcomed two additional interns simultaneously and shared that she was very happy with the opportunity to work with young, motivated people who were amazing role models for the children. In 2022 Radostina Kamenova graduated from the university with a Bachelor in Preschool Pedagogy in English degree and was hired by Ms Tsvetanova as an English teacher, after successfully completing the internship.

The REYN Internship program is an initiative of REYN Bulgaria, hosted by the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation. The program aims to give an opportunity to Roma university students from different fields of study to gain practical experience in working in kindergartens and working with disadvantaged children. The length of the internships is usually between 20 and 50 working days, and they are conducted as a triparty agreement between REYN Bulgaria, a local NGO that supports the interns locally, and a kindergarten that hosts the interns for the duration of the internship. 

One year of the war in Ukraine: REYN Ukraine’s work with children

Converting a child center into a shelter and serving the needs of internally displaced persons, this has been the main work of Transcarpathian Regional Charitable Foundation “Blaho” (the host organization of REYN in Ukraine), for the last year. Today, 24 February 2023, marking one year of war in Ukraine, we ask the head of Blaho, Eleonora Kulchar, how their work has changed and what are they doing differently now, after a year living under the war conditions.

Since February 2022, Blaho has worked to develop a Station of Hope by converting their early learning center for Roma children in Uzhhorod (in Western Ukraine) into a shelter. Many people fled from the east of Ukraine in search of a safe environment and found refuge at the Station of Hope, where Blaho builds community and creates a sense of normalcy for children and their families.

Photography: Michael Jessurun, Untold Stories 

“We provide support for Roma children and their families, as well as for non-Roma people, affected by war,” tells us Eleonora Kulchar. “Now there are about 80 internally displaced persons in the shelter, including about 20 children. In the shelter we can host 155 people maximum, and there were times when we reached that number.”

ISSA training on psychological aid

The shelter operated within the child center’s building until May 2022, and then, after the need for renovations, it was turned back into a learning center. Now two age groups of Roma children aged from two to six, and from six to 10 are getting ready for school through a preschool program at the center. In addition, the current war context has required Blaho to add a psychosocial support component to the services they provide both for the learning center and for the shelter.

“Before the war we provided educational and social assistance to Roma children, and now, in addition, we also have psychological support. We also work with children in the shelter as they continue their education with the teacher and get art therapy from a psychologists. If needed, all children from the shelter can have individual classes with the teacher,” says Eleonora Kulchar. “The training of trainers on psychological first aid and trauma-informed practices we at Blaho received from ISSA last year showed us practical steps on how to deal with stressful situations and how to help children. It was great that materials were translated into Ukrainian so that we could use them in our work the right away. Our psychologist and art-therapist use some parts of what we received from ISSA.”

Roma children before and during the war

During the last year, Blaho monitors of the situation of Roma children and families in Ukraine, analyzing their needs and conditions in the times of the war. They have recently complied a 70-page report covering eight Ukrainian regions. A similar study was conducted before the war, when the REYN Early Childhood Research was investigating the status and needs of young Roma children and their parents throughout Europe. The study on Ukraine can be found here. The report presenting findings during the war will soon be made available in English.

Photography: Michael Jessurun, Untold Stories 

“We can see that availability and inclusiveness of Early Childhood Development (ECD) services welcoming Roma children is very low,” says Blaho’s director. “We will present the results of the study conducted during the war during several round tables and invite representatives of the Ministry of Education so that they can also work with the results.”

Roma and non-Roma together

A shelter for internally displaced persons that Blaho runs is now located in a separate building. Renting it now, Eleonora Kulchar dreams they can soon buy the premises and ensure that people who stay there can receive proper, stable, and continuous assistance.

Photography: Michael Jessurun, Untold Stories 

The shelter provides complex support to the families that live there. People are receiving three meals per day and hygienic products for free. Teachers work with children, and psychologists provide support to those in need. Medical and legal support is also provided. Roma families live in the shelter together with non-Roma families, building up an inclusive community and adjusting to the needs of children together. A Station of Hope is a place that nurtures a sense of community and promotes diversity and inclusion, paving the road toward peace and unity.

The photos in this article show the Blaho center and are Courtesy of War Child

How to support young children and families in Ukraine

Since the first day of the war in Ukraine, the ISSA Network has mobilized to support young children and their families, both in Ukraine and in the countries receiving refugees. ISSA is a network of organizations dedicated to creating societies where families, communities, and professionals work together to empower each child to reach their unique potential and embrace values of social justice and equity.  

If you wish to support our Member Organizations who work to mitigate the consequences of the devastating war, you can donate here.

REYN Bulgaria Role Models: Three Young Roma Women on Achieving their Dreams

Established in 2018, REYN Bulgaria offers positive role models in the field of early childhood development, improves the quality of education, integrates health care and education more effectively in the early years, with an emphasis on nutrition. Bulgarian REYN unites efforts for the advocacy in the field of early childhood development with a focus on improving access, quality, and results in health care for children from the Roma community. To emphasize the efforts and work in promoting successful role models, REYN Bulgaria interviewed three active participants of the REYN Bulgaria Network, who told more about their experience in the field of early childhood development.

The video stories present the personal journeys of Roma women Raya, Toshka and Mariela. They are active members of the REYN Bulgaria Network and participate in the “Young Roma Teachers” project.

“The stories of Raya, Toshka and Mariela are crucial examples of the impact of role models on motivating young children to continue their personal development and to not give up on their dreams. On the screen, the audience can see three young women who chose the difficult path towards becoming kindergarten teachers. They are ready to face possible hardships and challenges they might encounter during their personal and professional development journey. The stories of Raya, Toshka and Mariela prove that successful role models can positively impact the development of children at an early age,” says Ivan Ivanov, the REYN Bulgaria coordinator.

The REYN Bulgaria Network supports young and ambitious people of Roma origin in achieving their dreams for professional and educational realization. The Trust for Social Achievement implements the “Young Roma Teachers” project, and supports young people of Roma origin who wish to become kindergarten teachers. In this way, it also helps build successful role models that contribute to the better development of Roma children and increase their motivation and desire to learn.

Building a Professional Community – REYN Hungary Secrets

REYN Hungary is celebrating its seventh birthday with a vibrant professional community, two networks, and a great visibility in Hungary. Let us take a look at how they developed this community and what are their aspirations for the next years.

REYN Hungary was one of the first national REYNs that was launched in 2014. During mapping the needs of the professionals and stakeholders, initiated by REYN International, more than 70 early childhood professionals were asked cross-sectorally about their aspirations in a professional community. Answers were analyzed, and the national objectives of REYN were developed. From that year on, REYN Hungary is asking members about their needs and aspirations on a yearly basis.

After mapping the needs, the most challenging step was to develop trust in a professional community that did not exist before. In uncertain political and economic times it was challenging to make professionals trust hardly known networks . For many members it was the first time to sign a membership form. REYN Hungary has one more challenging task – to convince people in Central and Eastern Europe that the signature they give when applying to be a REYN member does not cause them trouble and does not cost anything. Building trust, while building REYN Hungary, meant and still means a continuous personal communication with members. It might be a personalized newsletter, a regular mail, study visits, a phone call or talking in life sessions. Although the network has more than 700 members, personal communication is still the first and foremost characteristic of the network. The motto of REYN Hungary is “Sharing is caring.”

Other than regular mapping, the needs of the members and having a personal approach are the other important elements visible for the public. Advocacy campaigns, REYN Award, media presence – by all of this the trust of current and future members is created. Personalized national REYN logo and branded merchandise for the workshops display the message that members are equally important for the network and for Romani children and families.

“Plans for the next years is just to keep on.If we can keep the magic 100+ in a year (that means that each year we promise ourselves to add 100 more members that year), and we succeed to achieve this goal so far, and the smiling faces at the events, we will be happy,” says Zsuzsa Laszlo, REYN Hungary coordinator.

Toy Libraries in Kosovo Help Children’s Development

Toy Libraries are a stimulating environment promoting early learning, and child development were established in Kosovo to increase the participation of Roma children in early education.

Toy Libraries were established in two schools in the municipality of Prizren – the second most populous city and municipality of Kosovo. The classrooms that were designated for learning center activities have been adjusted and redesigned to serve as Toy Libraries. In those classrooms, Roma parents can borrow high-quality educational toys and other materials – books, sound books, geometric shapes – for their children to use at home.

“Considering that during the day I am busy with household obligations, I spend up to two hours, 3-4 times a week playing with toys with my children. We also read books from the Toy Librarywith fairy tales and stories. In class, we read fairy tales twice a week, for one hour, according to the schedule planned for the use of the Toy Library,” says Elvan Galushi – a mother of two sons from Prizren. “Toy Library has had a positive impact on my relationship with my children. Through this activity, I have given my children and myself the time to learn and play together. Our family is unable to buy these toys because of the difficult economic conditions, and borrowing helped us a lot. My son has the opportunity to borrow his favorite toy and plays with them every day after school.”

So far, Toy Libraries have 85 members who are Roma parents and 87 Roma children aged 0-8 years. There are 397 toys and 12 books available in total.  KRAEEYN project has donated 149 of the items and also provided hygienic materials.

Ivan Ivanov, REYN Bulgaria: “We Can Achieve More Together”

Established in 2018, REYN Bulgaria offers positive role models in the field of early childhood development, improves the quality of education, to more effectively integrate health care and education in the early years, with an emphasis on nutrition. Bulgarian REYN is uniting efforts for advocacy in the field of early childhood development with a focus on improving access, quality, and results in health care for children from the Roma community. Today we are talking about this with REYN Bulgaria coordinator Ivan Ivanov.

– What are REYN’s priorities? What are the short-time and long-time goals?

– The short-time priorities of REYN Bulgaria are to provide regular opportunities for professionals to exchange good teaching practices and methods for working with Roma children and parents.

The long-term priorities of REYN Bulgaria are to become an informational platform for professionals and to develop successful Role models at an early age who can increase the trust of Roma parents in educational institutions and improve the educational achievement of the Roma children and students.

One of the long-term priorities of REYN Bulgaria is to support the process of creating a professional community that develops active advocacy measures and actions which may positively reflect on improving the conditions for working with Roma children and parents.

– What is the current situation with young Roma children in your country, taking into consideration the COVID-19 pandemic?

– The current situation is not stable at all. The mortality in Bulgaria has become increasingly higher during the past month. The percentage of vaccinated people is really low, around 20%. Right now, we are on the edge of a full lockdown of the entire country. Most of the children in Bulgaria, not only the Roma kids, face a lot of challenges in many aspects. The kindergartens and schools are closed, and all children are being homeschooled. The main communication channel with the most vulnerable children and families are the educational mediators. The educational mediators are working mainly in the neighborhoods, as well as in the remote rural areas with children from vulnerable groups – children at risk of dropping out of the education system, children from ethnic minorities, children from socially disadvantaged families.

The lack of social contact has had a largely negative impact on the educational progress of children who usually hear Bulgarian only at school. In some cases, the older children take care of their younger siblings who, after closing the educational institutions, are left at home, as well as to help the younger ones in the distance learning process at school.

We are trying to be flexible as much as we can, in order to meet some of the main needs – of the teachers and professionals who work with Roma children and the needs of the Roma children and parents.

– What is the most recent intervention that REYN carried out?

– One of the recent interventions is the program for small grants of REYN, “How to raise smart and strong children,” which aims to improve the efficiency and capacity of specialists focusing on early learning and care. Тhe project connects REYN and a local NGO. It raises awareness on the importance of preparing healthy and nutritious meals as a prerequisite for solid brain development, which affects later success in school. The initiative has already included more than 700 parents.

– What is one success of REYN that you are (most) proud of?

– We are really proud that during the last two years, within the REYN Internship program, which supports the process of introducing positive role models, we have recruited almost 20 interns, 10 NGOs on a national level, and more than 10 kindergartens which have been involved in the implementation of these project activities.

We also managed to implement more than 30 REYN regional member events both ( in-person and online), sharing good teaching practices for working with Roma parents and children, based on the REYN resources and videos created or translated during the year.

– What is your message to the policy-makers of your country – what would you ask them or tell them if you had one minute to talk to them?

– Based on our professional experience, I believe we can learn and work together. When I visit Roma kindergartens and schools, I’m always shocked, and the only thing that goes through my mind is: do we really do anything to help these children? Do all these actions, strategies, and plans meet the real need of these children and their families? Can we find a way to work together in these difficult times in order to support the most vulnerable ones amongst us? What do you think?

– How does REYN engage with the members (individual and organizational)? How many members do you have?

– At the moment, REYN Bulgaria consists of 249 REYN members (109 institutional and 140 individual). One of the main channels we use for our communication is our REYN website, where we post updates about our activities and news generated on behalf of TSA and the REYN members. In order to recruit new REYN members, we publish updates and blog articles on the Trust for Social Achievement’s website, which is the host organization of REYN Bulgaria.

– What is REYN’s dream for Roma children in your country?

– Our dream is that all Roma children could receive the support and additional resources they need to reach their full potential. We also dream of having more positive role models and ambassadors for an actual change in the country.

– Why should someone join REYN?

– We believe that we can achieve more together, especially now, when we have the strongest need for support and new perspectives. When we broaden the REYN community, we also broaden our horizon of professional insights, beliefs, and hopes.

Promoting ECEC Professions Among Roma Through Workshops for Families

There is still room for improvement in the promotion of education among Roma in the field of Early Education and Care (ECEC) in Slovenia. Some specific activities can help in promoting ECEC professions among Roma, and the research that analyzed the number of Roma professionals in the field, conducted by Slovenian REYN Network in 2018, proves it.

There are no recent data on the rate of successfully finished education on a higher level by the Roma students. An evaluation study reports that around 500 Roma children among 4 350 finished primary school in 2005-2009. This means that around 60% of Roma children, who were enrolled in primary school, successfully finished their primary education. Even though this information is not up to date, it still indicates that there is much room for improvement on the promotion of education among Roma in general or specifically in the field of ECEC.

The Educational Research Institute that led the research, invited two Roma preschool teachers to visit some Roma settlements in Slovenia and present their job and work experiences. 13 parents, 8 preschool children, and 24 school children attended these workshops in three different Roma environments. These activities introduced the profession of a preschool teacher to parents and children and encouraged them to apply for a secondary or higher school to employ in this field.

The preschool teachers spoke about their profession and shared a video, which showed their routine work in the preschool. The final part of the workshop was dedicated to creative activity, through which they presented an aspect of their work in the preschool. Children and parents together created, for example, a glass lantern.

Children were impressed by these presentations, and some of them even pretended to be preschool teachers during the discussion. They enjoyed watching the video and looking at how a preschool by the Roma settlement was working.

“We could also have such a preschool in our settlement!” said one of the girls from the audience.

After the workshop, some children’s mothers requested more information about vocational retraining in education, which would allow them to get a job as preschool teacher assistants.

In some settlements, though, parents did not show much interest in the presentation – in some cases, the workshop facilitators sensed that parents felt a bit inferior to them, in some cases parents sounded quite pessimistic.

“Education does not ensure you a job if you are Roma,” shared one parent, while some other parents would be eager to get educated in this field, but lack financial support in fulfilling this wish.

The preschool teachers plan to have the same workshops also in the future.

“When planning such events, it is important to carefully choose the facilitator, a secure and known place, and ensure an informal atmosphere. Then the participants are more relaxed and open to ask questions. If they receive relevant information in an appropriate manner, parents could be empowered to encourage their children to decide for the profession, which we present,” concluded the preschool teachers, who conducted the workshops.