Tileagd
Community School, Nursery & Kindergarten
From a chance
encounter of a young boy begging on the streets of Oradea (Romania) in
2001 has come the life-changing opportunity for an entire Roma (Gypsy)
Community through support in Education and the provision of a top
quality, newly built School & Nursery serving 100 children and employing
30 Romanian national staff, including 13 from the Roma community
itself.
The encounter in April ’01 was during an annual visit to Romania by the
Foundation’s Founder and
Chief Executive – Kevin Hoy
– when accompanied by eleven others
on a short visit, met a 10 year old boy, hungry and dirty from begging
all day in the city. On route to dinner at a local restaurant, Kevin and
the team invited hungry
Victor
to join them. Over dinner, the team learnt of some of Victor’s family
history and Smiles wanted to meet them all, living in extreme poverty in
a village with make-shift housing, no running water or sanitation, in a
place called Tileagd.
The
Community comprised around 250
people including many children,
represented by about 40 families spanning four generations.
The Smiles Foundation, starting at that time a Family Care Project
to assist families living in extreme poverty with provision of food,
medicine and social support, expanded the projects initial targets to
include every person in the
Tileagd Roma Community.
After 12 months of support within the community with initial ‘emergency’
humanitarian aid, Smiles began to establish with the leadership of the
community some hopes, dreams and expectations for the future. This
community hadn’t been able to ‘dream’ – life was all about survival –
but maybe now there was someone who could provide some hope for the
community and give them something to ‘dream’ about. But what would be
their Dream?
To the pleasant surprise of the Smiles leadership, despite obvious needs
in personal and family areas such as homes, health and food – when the
Community was asked how the Foundation could help them most, the
response was ‘Educate
our Children’ –
this will provide a real opportunity to ‘Dream’ for the future.
This was so interesting. It’s doubtful the Roma community had ever heard
of the great Chinese philosopher – Confucius, but he said;
"If your plan is for a
year, plant rice.
If your plan is for a decade, plant trees.
If your plan is for a lifetime, educate children."
This was what The Smiles Foundation was being asked to do – Plan for a
Lifetime.
In 2002, the plan began. Initially to build a small school to
establish the educational format for a community who had never
encountered the facilities or disciplines of a School before. All
planning was done in close consultation with the leadership of the
community and the Education Inspectorate of the Romanian authorities.
The first Tileagd
Community School
o
pened in September 2003 on the site of a former Pentecostal church. The
sign above the door read ‘House of Prayer’, which to this day seems
absolutely appropriate. A major renovation and redesign was undertaken
to convert the Church to a school plus some extensions to include a
Kitchen, Dining Room, Shower Block and Toilets.
In the beginning the children had no experience of school. Many did not
know what a line was, they didn’t know their colours, the days of the
week or the months of the year and they clearly did not know how to use
the toilet or shower facilities. Many had never held a pencil or seen a
book and the first registration had to done by handprints.
It was a great opportunity and a huge challenge. To their great credit,
the children desperately wanted to learn and their teachers wanted to
teach them. What a difference four years can make! Standards of
achievement have risen amazingly in reading, writing, mathematics, art,
dance and personal/social development – in fact, right across the
curriculum.
At
the start of the 2006/7 academic year the first 4 pupils ‘graduated’ to
High School to continue the secondary phase of their education.
This year there will be many more.
Children who had no dreams can now dare to dream and we want to help
them ‘fly.’
The old school was full to overflowing, so we decided the time was right
to create a new purpose-built facility, incorporating Kindergarten,
School, Medical Centre, multi-purpose Sports Hall and Church for 250+
people.
At the cost of £1 million sterling ($2 million) the Complex started
construction in August 2005 and the School & Kindergarten was officially
opened in September 2006 for the new academic year. Now the Nursery
continues in the facility built and opened in 2004 serving 2-4 year
olds. The Kindergarten moved to the new complex in 2006 serving 5&6 year
olds and the School for grades I-IV operates with 6 classes.
In September 2007, Tileagd Community School in conjunction with the
State School offered for the first time, Grade V for those graduating
from grade IV and wanting to continue their education.
In 2008, the remaining part of the Tileagd Community Complex,
incorporating multi-purpose Sports Hall, Medical Centre for GP, Dentist
& Optometrist and Church was completed.
That ‘chance’ encounter in 2001 has lead to some mighty changes in
Tileagd which by focusing on Education – is changing the future of an
entire community for the good.
Creating Hope …
Making Dreams come true!
News -
Reports - Updates
Report - December 2008
Report - October 2008
New Term - September 2008
Graduation Day - 2008
Educational Challenge 2008
Graduation Day -
June 13th 2007
Educational Challenge 2007
CHILDREN SPONSORSHIP FOR EDUCATION
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UK
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To
sponsor a Child to attend School @ £35 per month
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To
support the building and operating costs of the School
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US
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To
sponsor a Child to attend School @ $60 per month
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To
support the building and operating costs of the School
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