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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. 

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.

Radka from Bulgaria Got the Opportunity to Learn and Grow

Radka’s 4-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter were among 28 children who started their pre-school group at the kindergarten “Spring” in the city of Yambol in Bulgaria. It was the first pre-school group in 20 years for the kindergarten because the eastern wing of the building was closed and needed complete renovation.

Restoring one of the pre-school groups in 2019, so that all children could have the chance to enroll, was the decision of the kindergarten principal Svetlana Zlateva. She was convinced she could find the funding for this task. She also wanted to involve parents, increase their motivation and improve attendance of children.

After several month of negotiations with the municipality of Yambol, as well as renovations, the building was renovated and ready to be opened. That is where Svetlana Zlateva met Radka and her children.

Meeting the kindergarten principal was  very important for Radka. The mother had many problems, and dealing with the documentation in the municipality was one of them. Soon after the principal found out that Radka had financial difficulties and could not afford to buy new clothes for her children or pay for their medical examinations, required for attending kindergarten, Svetlana Zlateva decided to help Radka, lending her some money and arranging clothes for her children. Svetlana lent Radka money and arranged clothes for her son and daughter. Moreover, she offered the young mother a position as health officer at the kindergarten.

While working together, Svetlana Zlateva and Radka got close and the principal learnt more about Radka’s past. Radka was born in the village of Ravnets in the Burgas municipality. She dreamt about finishing her education and finding a job. However, at the age of 14, after finishing the 7th grade, Radka was faced with the unfortunate path of many Roma girls – she was stolen and married against her will.

With the support of the kindergarten staff, Radka has a job now. She also has motivation to continue her education after so many years. Now she is a student of the 8th grade.

This story was shared by Svetlana Zlateva, who, together with kindergarten “Spring” and its staff, is a long-term member of the REYN Bulgaria Network. Over the years, the kindergarten, led by Svetlana Zlateva, has taken part in many projects developed and initiated by REYN Bulgaria, and thus managed to help many Roma in Bulgaria and the Yambol region. Mrs. Zlateva continues to work towards helping as many people and children as possible, as she believes that everyone should be given the opportunity to learn and grow.

REYN Bulgaria at the “The Future of Education” forum in Sofia

- News

The  host of REYN Bulgaria, the Trust for Social Achievement (TSA) will host a panel at the “The Future of Education” forum in Sofia (Bulgaria) on November 23rd-24th, 2018.

They will lead the panel titled “An Early Start to the Skills of Tomorrow”; held on the second day of the event. The members of the REYN National Network in Bulgaria will attend to share their knowledge and  projects on access and quality of education.

TSA is part of a consortium of organizations that organizes the event.

Child poverty

At the forum they will also present the Bulgarian translation of the Romani children and poverty tool created by REYN Croatia. The tool shows how poverty affects Romani children and how it generates a vicious circle that is hard to break

Read more about the “The Future of Education” forum here.