Florentina Baloș,
the president of the Barrel of Smiles Association, has long been one of RRI’s
friends, as over the years we have carefully followed her charity initiatives
and other projects. Today’s edition is devoted to a visionary project designed
to provide assistance to young people with disabilities, who no longer have
access to education. The project seeks to prepare these young people for the
hardships of life and train them to find a job.
More details
from Florentina Baloș herself.
Titled
Florentina’s Little House or Florentina’s Nest, the project will run in the
first half of the year and primarily addresses special children who’ve
graduated 10 grades. We offer them a segment allowing them to enroll in
vocational training, focusing very much on the specific skills of each kid. We
also have parents who stay with their children. Our project addresses those
parents who have no other option for their children. We’re talking about
adults, who are over 18 years of age, which makes them mature and developed
enough to take care of themselves. But they are always in need of assistance.
Parents often have no other choice: how can they carry on with their
professional and social lives? It’s very hard on them. Hence the idea of our
little house, where they can leave their children for the day.
And since school
is getting increasingly difficult to pursue for underprivileged children,
Florentina Baloș has other plans as well.
There’s a lot
more we’re doing. Admittedly, 80% of our actions focus on this segment, but we
also have the Magic Room, as I like to call it, where we provide support to
children who need tutoring, children from disenfranchised backgrounds. Not
everyone is a genius, not everyone gets to get a double degree, but we all need
to graduate and pick a trade. And it’s really important children should learn
how to study, to know they’re not alone and should not drop out of school. That
they have to see things through, to earn a living when they grow up.
It’s a long-term
process, at times failing to produce the tangible results they seek, Florentina
Baloș explains.
There’s no age
limit for children who graduate the 10th grade, because it would be
quite difficult for us to accommodate that. So, all are welcome then. Our other
initiative addressing underprivileged children tries to assist them at least
until they graduate high-school. They have to graduate those 12 grades! Or
enroll in a vocational school, but the important thing is to continue their
studies. So, we’ll continue to help them until they graduate 12 or 13 grades.
And I repeat, there’s no age limit for special children, because in the end
that adult will be a child who needs support.
We asked
Florentina Baloș if she considers developing closer relations with state
schooling units, in order to expand her initiatives:
We’ve started
small. We have an excellent cooperation with the school for special children in
District 6, where we work with teachers who are engaged, adorable, they love
what they do and the children they care for every day. So, we developed and
planned many activities last year and for this year as well. And, step by step,
we will also elaborate activities in this area as well.
Like most other
initiatives of Florentina Baloș, this one as well focuses on raising awareness
regarding challenges. Solving a problem first needs understanding the problem,
and this new project seeks to help families that care for young people with
disabilities or those who cannot afford supporting children in school, amidst
the ever-growing demands of the educational system. Florentina Baloș’s
determination remains inspiring, as always! (VP)