Another win in the fight against illiteracy
For Titi, being able to complete a book is a true victory. One in five Roma people are illiterate and more than 80% of Romanian children who are not enrolled in school are Roma.
One year earlier, Titi couldn’t read anything. Letters such as Q,K,I and J were an enigma. Despite being in the fourth grade then, he couldn’t read fluently or do multiplication.
Titi participated in extra-school activities that were provided for 100 students with low academic results in Viisoara village, south-east Romania. He also ate a hot meal daily, provided by the partnership of the local city hall, church and World Vision.
“Last year, when we started the project in Viisoara, 53 of the 100 pupils had failed examinations. Titi was one of them. After one year of working together, just 7 pupils failed examinations but all of them passed the final examination,” said Mandica Archip, World Vision employee and Romanian language teacher in the Viisoara project.
“I love my child very much and I suffered terribly when he wasn’t promoted to the third grade. I cried and I revolted against the school mistress, but I quickly understood that Titi had problems and to repeat a school year was to his advantage,” said Helena, Titi’s mother.
Now, my son reads books, reads information on TV and can make calculus. He made real progress at school, finishing the fourth grade with a ‘good’ result, says Titi\'s mother.
Embracing her son, she explained how Titi succeeded by hard work, to reach the same level as his classmates.
“The extra-school class founded by World Vision was good for my child and it’s not just simply about words. What Miss Mandica did for my Gulo, means everything to me. Now, my son reads books, reads information on TV and can make calculus. He made real progress at school, finishing the fourth grade with a ‘good’ result,” Helena added.
With 74% of the Roma population living in poverty, an infant mortality rate four times higher than the national rate and an employment rate of 13%, this minority is especially vulnerable. According to the Romanian census of 2002, “more than 500,000 Romanians are illiterate and 76.4% live in rural areas”.
Titi lives in a poor village where most people work in the field to earn money. His mother and father work only in Spring and Autumn when there are some agricultural activities. The small amount of hard-earned money is spent on food, firewood for Winter and necessary items to help Titi continue school.
”Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow I will go to glean maize. I will receive for two days of work, 80 lei (US$35). With this money I will buy for Titi a pair of sport shoes and training clothes for school. Thus, he will have two uniforms for school, one for the first three days of the week and the other for the next two days. He also has five pairs of socks and some underwear - that’s all. Also, I made the formalities to receive from the Romanian state the legal help for buying the necessary supplies for the new school year,” said Helena.
Titi receives a 340 lei monthly government allowance (US$170) but the money is not enough to feed, clothe and buy him everything he needs for school. Food and books are very expensive. Firewood is also expensive, with one tonne costing around US$470.
Titi wants to go to high school and then onto tertiary education.
I want to become a football player, but if is not possible, I wish to be a famous gypsy singer and dancer, Titi said.
”I want to become a football player, but if is not possible, I wish to be a famous gypsy singer and dancer,” Titi said.
Until then, he realises that it is a long journey and many hours of mathematics and Romanian language at school.
“It was very difficult at the beginning. I was ashamed to read in front of my classmates because they read fluently and I couldn’t. Miss Mandica, my teacher from World Vision told me there is no shame in making mistakes, so I started to read out loud.
Titi’s mother, Helena revealed more of Titi’s experience.
“A couple of months before I enrolled him in school, I realised that my son didn’t know the Romanian language. We only spoke Roma in the family. So, I started to think that we have a huge problem... but, I had a surprise. My brothers managed to teach Gulo very quickly, but at a price. They asked him to bring a pot of jam to every class. I realised where all my pots of jam and pickles disappeared. It was worth it. Gulo is now speaking very good Romanian. In fact, he speaks better than his native language,” Helena laughed.
Encouraged by his World Vision teacher, Titi admitted that had some exceptional achievements last year, in extra-curricular artistic activities. He won first place, three times consecutively, at the inter-ethnic dance and music festival organised in Constanta County. Titi is proud of his culture and loves to sing gypsy songs and to dance.
Titi and his mother make last-minute preparations for the upcoming school year. World Vision employees from Viisoara, prepare the class rooms for the pupils who’ll spend another year, two hours per day, studying Romanian, mathematics and English. Their work will help pupils to fill the gaps from their school lessons and to encourage them to learn and achieve their dreams. Titi cannot wait to meet his new classmates. He is sure he has won his fight against illiteracy.
One year earlier, Titi couldn’t read anything. Letters such as Q,K,I and J were an enigma. Despite being in the fourth grade then, he couldn’t read fluently or do multiplication.
Titi participated in extra-school activities that were provided for 100 students with low academic results in Viisoara village, south-east Romania. He also ate a hot meal daily, provided by the partnership of the local city hall, church and World Vision.
“Last year, when we started the project in Viisoara, 53 of the 100 pupils had failed examinations. Titi was one of them. After one year of working together, just 7 pupils failed examinations but all of them passed the final examination,” said Mandica Archip, World Vision employee and Romanian language teacher in the Viisoara project.
“I love my child very much and I suffered terribly when he wasn’t promoted to the third grade. I cried and I revolted against the school mistress, but I quickly understood that Titi had problems and to repeat a school year was to his advantage,” said Helena, Titi’s mother.
Now, my son reads books, reads information on TV and can make calculus. He made real progress at school, finishing the fourth grade with a ‘good’ result, says Titi\'s mother.
Embracing her son, she explained how Titi succeeded by hard work, to reach the same level as his classmates.
“The extra-school class founded by World Vision was good for my child and it’s not just simply about words. What Miss Mandica did for my Gulo, means everything to me. Now, my son reads books, reads information on TV and can make calculus. He made real progress at school, finishing the fourth grade with a ‘good’ result,” Helena added.
With 74% of the Roma population living in poverty, an infant mortality rate four times higher than the national rate and an employment rate of 13%, this minority is especially vulnerable. According to the Romanian census of 2002, “more than 500,000 Romanians are illiterate and 76.4% live in rural areas”.
Titi lives in a poor village where most people work in the field to earn money. His mother and father work only in Spring and Autumn when there are some agricultural activities. The small amount of hard-earned money is spent on food, firewood for Winter and necessary items to help Titi continue school.
”Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow I will go to glean maize. I will receive for two days of work, 80 lei (US$35). With this money I will buy for Titi a pair of sport shoes and training clothes for school. Thus, he will have two uniforms for school, one for the first three days of the week and the other for the next two days. He also has five pairs of socks and some underwear - that’s all. Also, I made the formalities to receive from the Romanian state the legal help for buying the necessary supplies for the new school year,” said Helena.
Titi receives a 340 lei monthly government allowance (US$170) but the money is not enough to feed, clothe and buy him everything he needs for school. Food and books are very expensive. Firewood is also expensive, with one tonne costing around US$470.
Titi wants to go to high school and then onto tertiary education.
I want to become a football player, but if is not possible, I wish to be a famous gypsy singer and dancer, Titi said.
”I want to become a football player, but if is not possible, I wish to be a famous gypsy singer and dancer,” Titi said.
Until then, he realises that it is a long journey and many hours of mathematics and Romanian language at school.
“It was very difficult at the beginning. I was ashamed to read in front of my classmates because they read fluently and I couldn’t. Miss Mandica, my teacher from World Vision told me there is no shame in making mistakes, so I started to read out loud.
Titi’s mother, Helena revealed more of Titi’s experience.
“A couple of months before I enrolled him in school, I realised that my son didn’t know the Romanian language. We only spoke Roma in the family. So, I started to think that we have a huge problem... but, I had a surprise. My brothers managed to teach Gulo very quickly, but at a price. They asked him to bring a pot of jam to every class. I realised where all my pots of jam and pickles disappeared. It was worth it. Gulo is now speaking very good Romanian. In fact, he speaks better than his native language,” Helena laughed.
Encouraged by his World Vision teacher, Titi admitted that had some exceptional achievements last year, in extra-curricular artistic activities. He won first place, three times consecutively, at the inter-ethnic dance and music festival organised in Constanta County. Titi is proud of his culture and loves to sing gypsy songs and to dance.
Titi and his mother make last-minute preparations for the upcoming school year. World Vision employees from Viisoara, prepare the class rooms for the pupils who’ll spend another year, two hours per day, studying Romanian, mathematics and English. Their work will help pupils to fill the gaps from their school lessons and to encourage them to learn and achieve their dreams. Titi cannot wait to meet his new classmates. He is sure he has won his fight against illiteracy.
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