A FUTURE CHANGED  - General Report for March 2012

Teachers: Maria Bălteanu & Mihaela Pieptu

Social worker: Dorina Iftode

 A Future Changed is a Link Romania programme based in Iasi, Romania which helps some of the  poorest children and families strive to overcome poverty, gain access to education and develop a better life for themselves.

General objective of the project:

·         To raise the social integration level of underprivileged individuals from the Ses Bahlui Dallas locality, Iasi, through the prevention of abandoning school and the family.

Specific objectives of the project:

·         The prevention of abandoning school and the social integration of preschool children within the framework of social-educational activities.

·         The social integration of individual adults and of the families of the children from the target group in socially motivated activities.

Little Rainbows Kindergarten

December

·      The subject of the month was Winter and Christmas and for the first part of the month we talked about winter and all the changes it brings about (temperature drop, length of days and nights, what is snow and how it happens) and the name of the months of the season. Also, how we get dressed in order to keep ourselves warm and what to do in case we catch a (bad) cold.

·      The children were equally excited to rehearse for the Christmas festival, which this year consisted of a series of winter sketches and Romanian carols, an English program (short poems and traditional songs such as Jingle Bells, Little Drummer Boy and We Wish You a Merry Christmas) and a program presented by former children who used to attend our kindergarten.

·      This month Santa was very generous with the children, as he offered them gifts twice, the first time on Saint Nicholas's day and then when they performed in front of the parents for the Christmas festival. The parents attended in great number this year and were very proud of their children.

January

·      The subject of January was Space and the emphasis was on Sciences.

·      The children were carried away to the outer univers of extra-terrestrial space via the numerous charts on the wall and didactic aids such as plastic patterns of the Solar System and brightly colored books.

·      The teacher explained what Cosmos, Space, planets and stars are and the difference between the latter. The teacher also presented our Solar System, the Earth and the other planets and galaxies. Talking about  gravitational force the children made a series of experiments, the most interesting of which was a marble being spun inside a paper cone at high speed in order to demonstrate the attraction exercised by the Sun on the Earth.

·      As most of the children found it difficult to learn and remember the geometrical figures we designed a special lesson dealing with the subject. The children had the opportunity to make up groups on the floor using differently sized and colored triangles, circles, squares and rectangles.

·      This month we celebrated the birthday of Margareta Munteanu and Moise Condurache, both 6.

February

·      In February we talked about People who help us and their jobs.

·      At Communication, we listed new vocabulary related to the work done by people who help us, the uniform they wear and the place where they work. The greatest interest was created by the fire station and the police station, many of the children, some girls included, declaring that they want to be policemen (women) or fireman (women) when they grow up.

·      Within the social/personal/emotional we also talked about how we deal with sickness and the advice of avoiding taking too many pills, about safety in case of fire organizing a fire drill and the consequences of breaking the law and of misuse of the emergency call 112.

·      In Maths we listed even and uneven numbers through a game (the postman who delivers mail according to which side of the street the house is situated on), as well as the geometrical figures which make up an ambulance/train; we counted the price of the stamps for UK or Holland and the time necessary for the mail to get there.

·      At Sciences we talked about construction materials and their resistance watching the cartoon “The 3 Little Pigs” and made a visit to the local fire station.

·      Creative activities are most of the children's favourite every month. This time too they were so enthusiastic about making envelopes, enclosing little drawings and notes for the teachers, parents, siblings and friends and sticking stamps designed by themselves and proudly wore policeman badges drawn by themselves.

·      At Moral and Christian Education we talked about Jesus the carpenter and Jesus the Physician and about the 2 builders who built their house on sand and on a rock respectively. The children showed lots of interest in Solomon as a judge who succeeded through his God-given wisdom to find the best solution in the case of the 2 women's litigation and sang the song about Zaccheus the tax collector for days in a row. 

Children in Focus

Emanuel

Emanuel (Emi) was born as a result of his mother’s previous relationship, and they find it difficult to live together – so Emi lives with the mother’s parents. The boy makes some conscious efforts to fit into the kindergarten and comparing the current situation to the starting point  one year ago, one can say that he really moved on. He is still disruptive and seldom does he have the patience to listen to the educator during the circle time or comply with the rules he needs to observe. But now he is more polite, saying “thank you” and “I'm sorry” and nods in agreement when he is explained what he is supposed to do.

            Emi's general knowledge is still limited; the parents are both illiterate and the only education he gets at home is a couple of TV cartoon programs. Emi spends a little more time in the reading area and comments on the images of the books. He likes stories but it is hard for him to put the sequences of it in the right order.  He is able to write his name, even though from time to time an adult needs to demonstrate one or the other of the letters making up the word and he still uses bits of letters in order to render meaning. He speaks freely during snack time and his peer and adults can understand him, but sometimes his questions are those of a younger child and he seems to miss the logic of the events.

            Emi recognizes groups made up of 3 or more elements and almost all numbers from 1 to 10. He can write numbers 1-5 with some help. He can now name all the colors and some of the simple geometrical figures.

            Emi's practical skills are improving as well. He is not too handy and he does not use materials in a very creative way, but he struggles to have more patience and to at least complete the work.

Marian

Marian joined kindergarten when he had just turned 5, which explains his difficulty in exercising skills such as patience, waiting for his turn, settling down for circle time activities and so on. He would crawl, move in circles on the floor, imitate various animals and leave his place without permission whenever he felt like. Marian would not look educator in the eye and seemed to hear nothing of what was going around, the educator having to call him several times before he responded. He preferred to spend time by himself and so he almost never fought with anybody.  He used to always wait for his Mum to dress/undress him and when she was not around he never tried to do it by himself.

            After 6 months spent at the kindergarten Marian's progress is more than evident.

            He is still unsure of what he should do and needs more self-esteem, but his behavior and overall performance are a lot better.  He is now one of the most disciplined students is able to recognize and write his name and enjoys working in his special book. He learned most of the colors (he knew none) and colors beautifully, which is his favourite activity - he never gets bored of it and can spend the whole morning doing it, asking incessantly what color he should use and soliciting help to find the right one. Secondly comes computer, where he sits as long as no one else claims his/her turn.

             He is one of the most artistic children and, even though he is kind of slow at creative activities; he started to enjoy them a lot. Marian can make up full sentences but he hardly talks and is still very shy, avoiding eye contact, but at the same time he is more open and confident.

Families in Focus

Ciuciuc/Corodeanu Family Situation

Nicolae Cristian Ciuciuc and Lăcrămioara Corodeanu are not legally married, but had a relationship for  16 years. They have 6 children with ages between 15 years and 1 year and 8 months: Maria Alexandra (15 years), Nicoleta Eliza (10 years), Nicolaie Gabriel (8 years), Vlad Cristian (6 years), George Iulian (6 years), Alexandru (5 years) and Iuliana Lavinia (1 year and 8 month). The twins - Corodeanu Vlad Cristian and George Iulian are now in our kindergarten project. Nicolae Cristian attended school for 6 years and does casual work, mainly in construction. Lăcrămioara attended school for 8 years and works as a cleaning lady. Neither of the parents has a valid ID card. The family lives in 1 rented room with a tiny porch, which is too small for all the 9 members of the family. They have electricity but fetch water from a neighbor for  a monthly amount of money.

Ciuciuc/Corodeanu Family News & Updates

            Both Nicolae Ciuciuc and his wife work hard in order to earn enough for the daily life, but the money is little and never sufficient for such a large family. The parents are always struggling to live a decent life and help their children develop well and get as good an education as possibe.

            We tried to help the parents and the girl Maria Alexandra to have their  ID cards issued, but  because of some problems that the family faced they postponed the process. Nicolae Cristian cut a toe while chopping wood for fire. He was rushed to the hospital and has his toe stiched, but had to lay in bed for a couple of weeks before he could walk again.  Lately Lăcrămioara has lost a lot of  weight but she is afraid to see a doctor for a check. The room where all the family live is very small and they managed to  buy a very necessary stove this  winter.  Gabriel is doing very well at school. He is a smart, hard-working student, who was worth investing in during kindergarten and who loves attending school.

            The relationships within the family are very tight, based on love and affection,  which contributes to a huge extent to a normal development from the emotional point of view..

Pagu Family Situation

Cecilia is a single mom and takes care of 3 children.  Cecilia had a realtionship with another man, which lasted for 10 years and resulted in one boy, Gavril Petronel  (10 years), who is in school and is in her mother-in-law's care. Pagu Cecilia also had a 7 years relationship with  asnother man, which resulted in two children: Marius Constantin (7 years) and Alexandru Petru (4 years). The father has not acknoledged the children in his name.  Marius, the 7 year-old boy who attends our education project.

            Now Mrs. Pagu Cecilia lives in her mother's house, wich is made up of two rooms and a hall. She lives in one room and her mother lives in the other one.  Besides her biological children, the mother takes care of Ciotoi Ilie, the 17 years old nephew who is the son of her sister, who does not provide anything for his support.

           The family have electricity and buy water from a neighbour for a monthly amount. The extended family do not help them, but the mother is extremely aware of the necessity of a good education, seeing it as the only way for her children to lead a better life than herself. This is why she is so responsible and does everything in her power to make sure Marius does not skip a single day and is always doing his best  at the kindergarten

Pagu Family News & Updates

           The only stable family income is the children's  allowances in the amount of 126 lei Cecilia continues to collect and sell scrap iron.  This sometimes causes her bad bruises and injuries, preventing her from making the necessary money to support her family. Apart from collecting scarp iron she also earns money by cleaning people's houses. This is how she got recently got a bed in a pretty good shape, which proved to be very useful.

            In September this year  Marius is supposed to start attending  school. Things are moving on slowly, as legislation changed again to look more like the European education system and things have become more difficult for our beneficiaries, especially that their legal situation - address and papers on land and house - is not clear at all. We are doing our best to help them, but it is difficult to mend a situation that would have been taken care of years before.

Progress Spotlight

We have no doubts that Madalina Chiriac, 17, is our best success story ever. Suffice it to say that she comes from a family where both parents are illiterate and that she is the first to go so far with her education, leading the way for her siblings.

            She is really passionate about school activities and many times she asks for our assistance in order to perform better, her dream being to graduate and further her education at the University, as she wants to pursue a career in tourism.  She is an extremely ambitious hard-working student and this seems a perfectly realistic aim.

            But this was not so 8 years ago, when she first joined the “Sunshine Smile” homework club. She was then in the 3^rd class, her school record awful and she was on the brink of repeating the current school year. She had no birth certificate, as most of her siblings, and her family situation – 8 children living altogether in just a small room in the maternal grandmother house and the constant fights of the father with  Mrs. Chiriac's mother which made him to often leave the house - did not help improve the situation.

            The 4 years spent by Madalina at the club made a dramatic change for the better in her general situation. Not only had her school record improved dramatically, but her personality also changed for the better. Little by little she turned into a reliable, hard-working girl, a mentor for  her younger siblings and for her clubmates, always available and eager to contribute to their and her own betterment.

Now Madalina is an independent young girl, a legal citizen of the city, who writes poems, shows a sensitive soul and holds a bright future in her hands.

Thank you to everyone who supports A Future Changed.