Five communities in Romania were targeted by the Creators of Joy Program, in which 500 pupils from disadvantaged communities were offered aid in order overcome the Covid-19 crisis. These communities are Bora and Ţăndărei, from Ialomiţa county, Budeşti, in Călăraşi county, Gostinari, in Giurgiu county, and Deaj, in Mureş county. All these places took a heavy blow as a result of the Corona virus pandemic, and the aid offered to those families consisted in value coupons and school supplies.
The Creators of Joy Program is financed by Pepco Romania and was implemented by the Roma Education Fund Romania Foundation.
Nicu is one of those 500 children. He will be eleven in October 2020, by which time he will also be a proud 4th grader of the Secondary School in Gostinari, Giurgiu county. He look tiny and frail. Nicu has a way with words, though he often stares at his toes when he speaks. His sports shoes are so shaggy, they look like they were gnawed on by some pooch.
For some years now, his father is the only one taking care of me. He is one of four children of this poor single parent family. The mother walked out on them in 2013, at a time when Nicu’s youngest sister was, in the words of a neighbor, “no larger than a spoon”. The neighbor is called Viorica, and she is also a teacher in the village school. Perhaps equally important, every day she brings something to eat to those children.
When he grows up, he wants to be a mechanic or an train driver. He’s not very sure as of now. He does speak better than the average city boy, he knows the meaning of words, although his voice quivers a bit whenever he has to pronounce words a tad too big for his young age.
Nicolas is another student who received aid from Pepco Romania. He is now a 2nd grader, despite all the trouble with the pandemic. Now, that he caught a taste of education, he doesn’t intend to stop until he becomes no less than an air traffic controller. He heard about this profession on TV, and the name kind of had a nice ring to it. It’s not clear for Nicolas what exactly one of these controllers actually does. Air. Traffic. Controller. This is decision making power at a high level, in any case. Good enough for any kid. What he does know for sure is that, after he becomes licensed, he will be buying a big house with a pool for his mother.
Circling around Nicolas like an airplane would around an airport, we notice another kid. His name is Ianis, and he is Nicolas’ cousin. Yes, Ianis, like the son of the legendary football player Hagi. No wonder that this young boy dreams of becoming a football player, too.
Nicu, Ianis, Nicolas. Orlando, a pupil at Budești Secondary School, who wants to become a member of the police special intervention task force. There is also Denis from Budești, who is being raised by his grandmother, and who wants to be a firefighter. Mădălina hasn’t yet decided what she plans to make of herself, but she sure likes to paint. They are five of the 500 children from vulnerable backgrounds who received aid from Pepco Romania and REF Romania, in June 2020, the year of the great pandemic.
