World Vision helps a family to send their children to school
Gabriela’s three daughters and son share the same beauty but like many siblings have very different characters.
Gabriel, 12, is in the fifth grade and is the best student in his class. Every year he receives the first prize at school and he loves mathematics and foreign languages.
He is dark haired, with sparkling brown eyes and an intelligent look. His quick, wonderful smile takes up his entire face. He is friendly and also uses lots of common sense, according to his mother.
“School makes you a better person. I think it will help me and my family a lot in life”, says Gabriel.
Unlike him, his younger sister Florinda, 7, is blonde haired, with big green eyes and fair skin. She is very shy. Although she is of school age she hasn’t attended regularly because she has been frequently ill.
I only have a broken pair of sneakers to go to school “I only have a broken pair of sneakers to go to school. My feet were always frozen and when it snowed they got wet because I had to walk about two miles to school," she explains.
The family home is actually a renovated barn, with dirt floor and two bedrooms. Two beds occupy the first of the rooms and here the three children, Gabriela, her husband Gheorghe and their grandmother all sleep. There is also a stove, a table with two chairs and an old armchair. The poverty that surrounds them leads Gabriela to believe that there is no hope for her children.
Gheorghe cannot work because he broke his leg while working with the oxen cart. Although his leg was treated several times he is no longer able to do physical work.
”Without a constant source of income, our family survives on the children’s monthly government allocation - 120 lei (US$35). I can’t work, because I have problems with my leg,” Gheorghe reiterates.
Gabriela works occasionally in the village doing work in the field and carrying firewood. But work is scarce, especially during the long winter months. She also has a heart disease which means that she shouldn’t do physical work.
But there is a large gap between what she ‘should’ do and what she has to do for the sake of her family. Gabriela should be taking several medicines but sometimes she doesn’t have the money needed to purchase them, so she stops the medical treatment, even though she knows it could have serious implications for her health.
“I hadn’t taken my medicines for quite a while – I couldn’t afford to buy them because we had very scarce money. We are lucky that the people from the village store are giving us food on credit. We buy basic goods like oil, sugar, flour, tomato paste, macaroni and bread. Meat is rare. When the postman brings our children’s state allowances we pay our debt at the store,” shares Gabriela.
The children’s allowance and grandmother’s retirement benefits amount to just US$150 per month. Not surprisingly it is hard for the family to keep the children at school and Gabriela and her husband have wanted to withdraw them from school because the children lack warm clothes during winter time and they always return home sick.
School makes you a better person. I think it will help me and my family a lot in life Sadly, their situation is all too common in rural areas across Romania. As a result of low financing and social difficulties, only one in four students from rural areas has the opportunity to continue their high school education. Most highschools (grades 9-12) are situated in urban areas and it is difficult for families from rural areas to support their children to finalise their studies.
Despite all these difficulties the children in this tight-knit family have achieved very good results in school.
Fifteen-year-old Ionela, the eldest daughter, successfully passed the national tests last year with very high scores and was admitted to a respected college in Valcea town. She lives at the boarding school and returns home to visit her family on weekends.
“I want to succeed at university to become a forestry engineer to do something for my family,” says Gabriela.
Because of the financial difficulties, her mother Gabriela was tempted to withdraw her from school because she couldn’t afford to cover the many costs associated with her education.
Thanks to the project “Scholarship, Equal Opportunities for all children in Valcea Area Development Programme (ADP)", World Vision supports students with potential from rural areas, who come from disadvantaged families, to continue their education. The project encourages rural students to excel and achieve good school performance in various areas of interest, helping them to continue their higher l education in town.
Ionela is one of many students benefitting from the project and she receives a monthly allowance to cover boarding and meals. Also, thanks to the project, she can participate in social activities that enable her to meet other students her age.
“I like to participate in these activities. For me it is very important to make other friends, to go on trips with teenagers. But it is more important that I can return home with food to eat for my family. Also I go to my other sister Andreea with clothes and sweets”.
Andreea receives care at a centre for people with disabilities. ”Despite the fact that she doesn’t know who I am, Andreea is also my sister and I like to go to the centre to tell her about me, about school, and my life. She is my best friend,” shares Ionela with tears in her eyes.
Florinda and Gabriel are part of the project "A future for our children" in the Community Development Programme where children attend various activities at the Children\'s Club built with World Vision’s help in Stoilesti.
Handicraft, music, literature club, painting, environmental club, chess and religious instruction by local priests are among some of the diverse activities that are organised in the club.
Warm clothes and nourishing food provided by World Vision also helped Florinda to attend school more regularly and she passed the first grade with very good results.
The family also receives clothes and school supplies from World Vision. And, the children also benefit from other investments that World Vision has made in Stoilesti commune, including renovating schools, donating school supplies, education materials, school prizes at the end of the school year and equipping classrooms with new desks and blackboards. Students also benefit from trips, summer camps, and recreational activities organised on a regular basis.
"If people from World Vision hadn’t helped us with clothes and shoes I couldn’t have sent my children to school. Now they can go to school and, like other children, they can enjoy their childhood which is pretty difficult for them."
Background information
By the end of this year, Romania will be home to about 1.5 million impoverished people, according to the National Bank report produced in 2008. Due to the financial crisis, the poverty rate will increase from 5,7% in 2008 to 7,4% in 2009 and will have doubled in 2010. People that have an income less than US$3 per day are included in the category of those that live in absolute poverty. Moldova and Oltenia regions are home to the poorest families and at the opposite end of the specturm, are families located in Bucharest, where only 1,9% of residents live below the poverty line. From a total number of 1,5 million poor, 43% are children aged between 0-14 years.
Gabriel, 12, is in the fifth grade and is the best student in his class. Every year he receives the first prize at school and he loves mathematics and foreign languages.
He is dark haired, with sparkling brown eyes and an intelligent look. His quick, wonderful smile takes up his entire face. He is friendly and also uses lots of common sense, according to his mother.
“School makes you a better person. I think it will help me and my family a lot in life”, says Gabriel.
Unlike him, his younger sister Florinda, 7, is blonde haired, with big green eyes and fair skin. She is very shy. Although she is of school age she hasn’t attended regularly because she has been frequently ill.
I only have a broken pair of sneakers to go to school “I only have a broken pair of sneakers to go to school. My feet were always frozen and when it snowed they got wet because I had to walk about two miles to school," she explains.
The family home is actually a renovated barn, with dirt floor and two bedrooms. Two beds occupy the first of the rooms and here the three children, Gabriela, her husband Gheorghe and their grandmother all sleep. There is also a stove, a table with two chairs and an old armchair. The poverty that surrounds them leads Gabriela to believe that there is no hope for her children.
Gheorghe cannot work because he broke his leg while working with the oxen cart. Although his leg was treated several times he is no longer able to do physical work.
”Without a constant source of income, our family survives on the children’s monthly government allocation - 120 lei (US$35). I can’t work, because I have problems with my leg,” Gheorghe reiterates.
Gabriela works occasionally in the village doing work in the field and carrying firewood. But work is scarce, especially during the long winter months. She also has a heart disease which means that she shouldn’t do physical work.
But there is a large gap between what she ‘should’ do and what she has to do for the sake of her family. Gabriela should be taking several medicines but sometimes she doesn’t have the money needed to purchase them, so she stops the medical treatment, even though she knows it could have serious implications for her health.
“I hadn’t taken my medicines for quite a while – I couldn’t afford to buy them because we had very scarce money. We are lucky that the people from the village store are giving us food on credit. We buy basic goods like oil, sugar, flour, tomato paste, macaroni and bread. Meat is rare. When the postman brings our children’s state allowances we pay our debt at the store,” shares Gabriela.
The children’s allowance and grandmother’s retirement benefits amount to just US$150 per month. Not surprisingly it is hard for the family to keep the children at school and Gabriela and her husband have wanted to withdraw them from school because the children lack warm clothes during winter time and they always return home sick.
School makes you a better person. I think it will help me and my family a lot in life Sadly, their situation is all too common in rural areas across Romania. As a result of low financing and social difficulties, only one in four students from rural areas has the opportunity to continue their high school education. Most highschools (grades 9-12) are situated in urban areas and it is difficult for families from rural areas to support their children to finalise their studies.
Despite all these difficulties the children in this tight-knit family have achieved very good results in school.
Fifteen-year-old Ionela, the eldest daughter, successfully passed the national tests last year with very high scores and was admitted to a respected college in Valcea town. She lives at the boarding school and returns home to visit her family on weekends.
“I want to succeed at university to become a forestry engineer to do something for my family,” says Gabriela.
Because of the financial difficulties, her mother Gabriela was tempted to withdraw her from school because she couldn’t afford to cover the many costs associated with her education.
Thanks to the project “Scholarship, Equal Opportunities for all children in Valcea Area Development Programme (ADP)", World Vision supports students with potential from rural areas, who come from disadvantaged families, to continue their education. The project encourages rural students to excel and achieve good school performance in various areas of interest, helping them to continue their higher l education in town.
Ionela is one of many students benefitting from the project and she receives a monthly allowance to cover boarding and meals. Also, thanks to the project, she can participate in social activities that enable her to meet other students her age.
“I like to participate in these activities. For me it is very important to make other friends, to go on trips with teenagers. But it is more important that I can return home with food to eat for my family. Also I go to my other sister Andreea with clothes and sweets”.
Andreea receives care at a centre for people with disabilities. ”Despite the fact that she doesn’t know who I am, Andreea is also my sister and I like to go to the centre to tell her about me, about school, and my life. She is my best friend,” shares Ionela with tears in her eyes.
Florinda and Gabriel are part of the project "A future for our children" in the Community Development Programme where children attend various activities at the Children\'s Club built with World Vision’s help in Stoilesti.
Handicraft, music, literature club, painting, environmental club, chess and religious instruction by local priests are among some of the diverse activities that are organised in the club.
Warm clothes and nourishing food provided by World Vision also helped Florinda to attend school more regularly and she passed the first grade with very good results.
The family also receives clothes and school supplies from World Vision. And, the children also benefit from other investments that World Vision has made in Stoilesti commune, including renovating schools, donating school supplies, education materials, school prizes at the end of the school year and equipping classrooms with new desks and blackboards. Students also benefit from trips, summer camps, and recreational activities organised on a regular basis.
"If people from World Vision hadn’t helped us with clothes and shoes I couldn’t have sent my children to school. Now they can go to school and, like other children, they can enjoy their childhood which is pretty difficult for them."
Background information
By the end of this year, Romania will be home to about 1.5 million impoverished people, according to the National Bank report produced in 2008. Due to the financial crisis, the poverty rate will increase from 5,7% in 2008 to 7,4% in 2009 and will have doubled in 2010. People that have an income less than US$3 per day are included in the category of those that live in absolute poverty. Moldova and Oltenia regions are home to the poorest families and at the opposite end of the specturm, are families located in Bucharest, where only 1,9% of residents live below the poverty line. From a total number of 1,5 million poor, 43% are children aged between 0-14 years.
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