Florentina Balo\u0219,
\nthe president of the Barrel of Smiles Association, has long been one of RRI’s
\nfriends, as over the years we have carefully followed her charity initiatives
\nand other projects. Today’s edition is devoted to a visionary project designed
\nto provide assistance to young people with disabilities, who no longer have
\naccess to education. The project seeks to prepare these young people for the
\nhardships of life and train them to find a job.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
More details
\nfrom Florentina Balo\u0219 herself.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Titled
\nFlorentina’s Little House or Florentina’s Nest, the project will run in the
\nfirst half of the year and primarily addresses special children who’ve
\ngraduated 10 grades. We offer them a segment allowing them to enroll in
\nvocational training, focusing very much on the specific skills of each kid. We
\nalso have parents who stay with their children. Our project addresses those
\nparents who have no other option for their children. We’re talking about
\nadults, who are over 18 years of age, which makes them mature and developed
\nenough to take care of themselves. But they are always in need of assistance.
\nParents often have no other choice: how can they carry on with their
\nprofessional and social lives? It’s very hard on them. Hence the idea of our
\nlittle house, where they can leave their children for the day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
And since school
\nis getting increasingly difficult to pursue for underprivileged children,
\nFlorentina Balo\u0219 has other plans as well.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
There’s a lot
\nmore we’re doing. Admittedly, 80% of our actions focus on this segment, but we
\nalso have the Magic Room, as I like to call it, where we provide support to
\nchildren who need tutoring, children from disenfranchised backgrounds. Not
\neveryone is a genius, not everyone gets to get a double degree, but we all need
\nto graduate and pick a trade. And it’s really important children should learn
\nhow to study, to know they’re not alone and should not drop out of school. That
\nthey have to see things through, to earn a living when they grow up.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It’s a long-term
\nprocess, at times failing to produce the tangible results they seek, Florentina
\nBalo\u0219 explains.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
There’s no age
\nlimit for children who graduate the 10th grade, because it would be
\nquite difficult for us to accommodate that. So, all are welcome then. Our other
\ninitiative addressing underprivileged children tries to assist them at least
\nuntil they graduate high-school. They have to graduate those 12 grades! Or
\nenroll in a vocational school, but the important thing is to continue their
\nstudies. So, we’ll continue to help them until they graduate 12 or 13 grades.
\nAnd I repeat, there’s no age limit for special children, because in the end
\nthat adult will be a child who needs support.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We asked
\nFlorentina Balo\u0219 if she considers developing closer relations with state
\nschooling units, in order to expand her initiatives: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We’ve started
\nsmall. We have an excellent cooperation with the school for special children in
\nDistrict 6, where we work with teachers who are engaged, adorable, they love
\nwhat they do and the children they care for every day. So, we developed and
\nplanned many activities last year and for this year as well. And, step by step,
\nwe will also elaborate activities in this area as well.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Like most other
\ninitiatives of Florentina Balo\u0219, this one as well focuses on raising awareness
\nregarding challenges. Solving a problem first needs understanding the problem,
\nand this new project seeks to help families that care for young people with
\ndisabilities or those who cannot afford supporting children in school, amidst
\nthe ever-growing demands of the educational system. Florentina Balo\u0219’s
\ndetermination remains inspiring, as always! (VP)<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new initiative addressing underpriviledged children<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42520],"tags":[116824,66941,116823,43486],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-624231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-romania","tag-children-with-disabilities","tag-florentina-balos","tag-underpriviledged-children","tag-vocational-training"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n