Study! Grow! Inspire! Unite! REF Commends RMUSP Winners in Hungary

On Friday, November 7, as part of a multicity celebration of this year’s Roma Memorial University Scholarship Program (RMUSP) recipients, the Roma Education Fund invited 100 Hungarian Roma finalists to a gala ceremony in recognition of their continuing academic success.

On Friday, November 7, as part of a multicity celebration of this year’s Roma Memorial University Scholarship Program (RMUSP) recipients, the Roma Education Fund invited 100 Hungarian Roma finalists to a gala ceremony in recognition of their continuing academic success. By accepting their scholarships, these students in higher education join this year’s group of nearly 1,070 RMUSP recipients from Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Romania and Serbia, all of whom are the legacy of REF’s ten-year effort to build a generation of young Roma active in all spheres of academic and professional life.

During today’s event in Budapest held at Erste Bank’s Hungarian headquarters, Edlira Majko from the Open Society Foundations’ Roma Initiative’s Office, remarked on the positive examples of RMUSP beneficiaries as role models for their communities.

The US Embassy’s Cultural Attache Dmitri Tarakhovsky went on to explain how the US considers a democracy to be a society where all citizens have equal opportunities and their rights are guaranteed in all spheres. He also highlighted the role of the US Embassy’s Roma Professional Development program that places an intern inside the Embassy, with many opportunities for skill development and learning the protocols and expectations of the workplace.

The event then shifted its focus to hear former and current REF scholarship beneficiaries’ stories and how education has made a direct impact in their success and lives.

Dr Daniel Pukoli, Hungary’s first Roma neurologist, spoke about his difficult road to academic success, and who despite his excellent academic results, was consistently placed in remedial classes, until a teacher intervened to assure he was no longer placed in remedial classes. Dr. Pukoli has gone on to graduate as a neurologist and is currently practicing at Eger’s general hospital.

Franciska Farkas, a former Romaversitas scholarship recipient and currently playing the lead role in the independent Swiss production, Viktoria: The Zurich Express, spoke about the important role her mother played in reinforcing education within her family, and the role of books and storytelling in her life.

The final student guest, MA student in Sociology at ELTE and current RMUSP beneficiary Csaba Schuller recalled his evolving sense of identity within the Hungarian military while stationed overseas, and how he slowly began to assume more Roma identity as he matured into adulthood. 

The young violin virtuoso, Erno Kallai, then wooed the guests and student audience with N. Milstein’s Paganiniana.

After a short lunch break, RMUSP students participated in a panel with speakers Dr. Pukoli, Csaba Schuller and Franciska Farkas, and they were joined by Vivien Kallai, in her last year as an MA student in Political Science at ELTE and Niki Suha, program officer at Chance for Children Foundation, to discuss the prospects for university graduates. 

Photographs of the event can be accessed here.

Background

The Roma Education Fund operates a proven pattern of interventions that begin with educational services for early childhood development in disadvantaged communities and continues with tutoring, mentoring, afterschool support and stipends to help Roma pupils complete primary and secondary school. REF additionally provides tertiary scholarship support to Roma students through scholarship programs for the last 9 years.

The REF scholarship program recognizes over 1,500 students each year to talented Romani students pursuing degrees in tertiary education. Including this year’s cycle, REF has successfully sponsored over 15,000 beneficiaries with its scholarship programs and continues to promote access of quality education to Roma through its related programs, slowly creating a pool of Roma graduates in all professional spheres.