Europe

Romania NHE Sunrise Schools

During a cold and icy winter day, the children from the Bucuresti Noi school travelled all the way across the city to join our morning Circle in Mihai Bravu school for a special day dedicated to the theme of diversity Many Faces, One Heart. The children had made life-size paintings of children from around the world, and discussed ways that people are different in the ways that they look, in the things that they like and in many ways, yet there is always something the same in our hearts. This was one of many of the interesting curriculum themes covered this year. Other special themes included: My Friends, I Am a Child, Just Like You, Forest Brothers and Sisters, Birdhouses, Travelling Through the Stars, SOS Planet Earth and Little Archeologists.

Special needs children enrollment increasing demand

This school year, it seems that our reputation amongst parents of special needs children is growing, as we are receiving more and more enrollment requests of this kind. To accommodate more special needs children, without unbalancing the ratio of children with special needs to those without – we accepted some of these children on a rotating basis throughout the week. It was the first year in which we worked with children with autism – two children have been frequenting the school all year with their helpers and have made noticeable improvements.

Horseback riding trip despite rain and strikes

The tradition of our annual horseback riding trip went on despite all odds! The weather was cold and rainy, and traffic was bumper to bumper due to general strikes happening, so it took almost two hours for the Mihai Bravu kids to arrive. However there was a patio full of toys for the Bucuresti Noi children to play with while waiting for their friends to arrive. The farm organized the horseback riding in a large wooden structure made just for such rainy occasions. All of the special needs children rode the horses together with their helpers or parents, and were really excited by the experience. Even some of the staff had a chance, and it was a very satisfying day for all.

Accrediting NHE on the national level

It has been the first year working at the quality standard required by our authorizations, and it has been a challenge for our teachers to cope with the new level of planning and documentation required. Our new educational director Magda Zambet has been a great resource for them, and with her support they have been adapting well. However, we are concerned about losing some of our uniqueness by following the state curriculum, and thus under Magda’s leadership we will be working to get our Neohumanist curriculum accredited on the national level. It will certainly be a major undertaking, but will be a very important step for the recognition of NHE as a serous and viable educational alternative. We are in the process of starting up an association for promoting NHE, offering trainings, and to develop and accredit NHE curriculums.

Financing awarded to renovate Mihai Bravu

Thanks to the support from our friends in Amici Nel Mondo, who sponsored our project proposal to the Bolzano Province in Italy, a project proposal for a major renovation of the Mihai Bravu school was approved. The construction work began in June, and will include the installation of thermopane windows, insulation, repainting the exterior, repair of old and damaged plumbing, repaving the courtyard, retiling of the bathrooms, hall, entrance and kitchen, and the construction of a new storage structure and bathroom for the cook to meet health requirements. We are very grateful for this opportunity as the building is very old and deteriorating. The severe snow and heavy ice of the winter damaged the roof, so this repair was not originally in the budget, but we hope that we find a few more sponsors so that we can cover this important repair as well. This renovation should help to prolong the school building's life by many more years. If you would like to support this effort please donate here.

Fountain of Hope

Our after-school center, the Fountain of Hope in the village of Panatau, has a new project director, Larisa, and she is doing a wonderful job. She has many years experience working our Familia AMURTEL children's home, and has brought fresh enthusiasm, optimism, creativity and dynamism into the project. Twenty two disadvantaged school children from the village are benefitting from hot meals and homework support, and Larisa organizes many fun extra-curricular activities, such as gymnastics, painting, puzzles and singing. 

We have now begun the process of preparing the project for accreditation, which will help us to then be eligible to receive additional state funding. In the meantime, we were very fortunate that this year, the mayor of Panatau and local community council have taken on a more equal share of the expenses, as they had previously been unable to participate as planned in the partnership due to lack of money allocated to the local budget. We were also grateful to receive funding from Amici Nel Mondo in Italy, which covered several months of expenses. This was especially fortunate as AMURTEL has been very affected by the severe economic crisis impacting the country, and was having difficulty to keep the center open. We were compelled to reduce expenses by  eliminating one of the salaries and limiting the number of beneficiaries, but this activated the community to take steps to keep the center open.


Left: Doing homework: the children benefitting the program are selected because they are at high risk of dropping out due to poverty in the family and lack of parental support in doing homework (many parents did not complete primary school themselves); Right: The children receive a nutritious hot vegetarian meal. Many of them are from very disadvantaged families without enough food at home

While the economy of the country remains in crisis, with many social programs being cut or reduced from the government budget, in such circumstances programs like the Fountain of Hope that aim to keep the most vulnerable children in school and protect them from malnourishment are even more relevant.

Last Friday, our new director Larisa organized our first Open Day program for the local community. It was very successful. Teachers from the primary school, members of the town council, parents, and other supporters attended, as well as three classes of children from the primary school. There was an exposition of the children's crafts and artwork, snacks, leaflets, and the screening of a short video about the project. The goal of the event was to create more community participation and involvement in the project, and indeed several people expressed a desire to help through volunteer work. All were very appreciative of the work going on in the project and were happy to get to see it from the "inside". They also enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, unlike the traditional formal events in the schooIs and were happy to be able to discuss openly with us. It was especially exciting for the children to see themselves on-screen during the video, and they were very proud to be highlighted in this way in front of their classmates from the school. The admiration that they received from their peers was important in supporting them to overcome the stigmatization they sometimes feel about attending the center.

Watch the Fountain of Hope video and download the flyer.

Familia AMURTEL

Watch a video of our children's home in the village of Panatau, Romania. The video was made in collaboration with the young people themselves. We had a family meeting and brainstorming to decide on the content, each one had an opportunity to be filmed doing favorite activities. In addition, Timea, Elvira and Mircea recorded several songs and chose the soundtrack.

It is a chance to get to know the children, see how they have  grown up and see how each of them has been encouraged to find a way to shine. You will also see traditional Romanian village life in the Eastern Carpathian mountains and it is also an opportunity to meet Gopi, who has been the director and mother of the house for the past 15 years, share her motivation, struggles and satisfactions in working with these very special young people.

Finally, our project proposal to teach children from state children's homes practical life skills over the summer was approved. It is the first time we have received state funding from the county level. The center will also continue to offer recreational activities for local youth during the summer such as cultural evenings with open air screenings of films, traditional painting on glass, dances, karaoke contests, etc. 

From Dada Rasatmakananda:

Last month I visited the homeless youths late in the night together with another NGO (Parada) who specializes in helping the youth directly on the streets. Boys and girls live under the street in the heating pipe tunnels, where there is no difference between homeless people and street dogs. In one place we met a pregnant 15 year-old girl in the company of ten street dogs. The homeless are ignored and neglected in Bucharest. But our children's home has been progressing since the day the first youths arrived.

Due to the constant struggle for daily survival on the streets, there is no scope to grow and mature; to grow beyond boyhood. Each one holds tightly to a tiny 'personal survival kit' which halts the life progress. The uniqueness of our centre is to facilitate the youths' personal growth, to move from boyhood into adulthood. Not ordinary adulthood, but making an effort to becoming contributing members of the society, not only knowing how to take care of themselves but also helping and taking care of others. To integrate them into the society is not only about having a job and an apartment, but to change one's behaviour and appearance for the better. Just imagine how the youths increase their self-esteem and feel proud of themselves. Read more here.