The Global Fund For Children

Keeping Families Together

• By Joseph Bednarek on February 8th, 2012
• Category: Blog, Europe and Eurasia, Featured Blog

One of the participants of the Alliance for Children and Youth’s daycare and education preparation program.

Sofia, Bulgaria–After communism, Bulgaria gradually made its way politically and economically towards the European Union. However, like in many of the countries of the former communistic bloc, not all of Bulgaria’s people shared equally in the improved standard of living and benefits of the new post-communist system. Bulgaria’s Roma community (the largest by percentage in any country in Europe) continued to be largely excluded from educational, political, and health institutions, living on the outskirts of towns and cities in what many Bulgarians still describe as ghettoes. Eager to join the European Union, the Bulgarian government instituted and changed policies to bring their treatment of ethnic minorities in line with EU standards; entry into the EU itself in 2007 was supposed to strengthen these policies with the backing of increased EU funding. While policies were changed and new programs implemented, centuries of neglect and outright discrimination were difficult to erase overnight. Sadly, the economic crisis that began in 2008 and continues to adversely affect most of Europe severely shrunk government programs and support, leaving municipalities to figure out how to deal with tiny social budgets. Inevitably, social and educational support for the Roma community has decreased, leaving children particularly vulnerable.

I visited a Roma district on the outskirts of Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital and largest city. Working for GFC for over a year and a half, I’ve seen hundreds of children living in poor neighborhoods, but I was still shocked that such these conditions existed in the capital of an EU member state. I met several families living in dirt and concrete floored simple brick houses with no electricity and no running water. The temperature on this day was in the teens, and the families had to fill old stoves with pieces of dry wall and scavenged wood in order to keep warm. Dozens of stray dogs wandered around the area trying to steal bits of foods and places to keep warm. Yet, despite these conditions, it was very apparent to me that these were families, that the children loved their parents and brothers and sisters. This is one of the strengths but sometimes challenges when working in Roma neighborhoods: Roma communities are extremely close-knit and wary of outsiders, but many dedicated community organizations working in and for Roma neighborhoods have seen that despite severe and generational poverty, Roma children do better in school and are able to keep steady jobs when they are kept together with their families.

GFC partner’s partner in Sofia, the Alliance for Children and Youth, works to make sure that Roma families stay together whenever possible. New Roma mothers are often encouraged by Bulgarian authorities to give up their children because the mothers cannot afford to feed and clothe their children, but the Alliance for Children and Youth is one of the grassroots organizations in Bulgaria that is working to build strong families and encourage Roma parents to send their children and keep their children in school. Public education in Bulgaria is technically “free”, but even the $30 per month fee that schools charge is enough of a disincentive for Roma parents, already suspicious of the authorities and often illiterate themselves, to keep their children at home. At best, Roma kids go to school infrequently until they are old enough, often in their early teens if they are girls, to be married. The Alliance for Children and Youth is trying to break this cycle of poverty by providing Bulgarians kids day care and educational activities to prepare them for kindergarten and the early years of primary education. They work closely with parents to show them the benefits of sending their children to school. For youth, the Alliance for Children and Youth provides a comprehensive program of vocational education employment support called the “Real Life Change” program. This program helps youth to continue their basic education (40 percent of participants have never attended school) and provides them with training in occupations such as hairdressing, construction, and baking. The staff uses an individual approach with each youth, with the ultimate goal of helping them to develop the skills and tools to succeed independently in society.