By Jessica Pearson | Intern
Shpresa, 11, and Vjollca, 8 are up and ready an hour early, for another day at school. They wash their feet and hands, put on clean clothes and grab their books. During the summer their grandfather, Shaban, walks them to school because Shpresa’s disabled arm prevents her from carrying her books. During the winter months, The Ideas Partnership (TIP) provides transportation for them and other schoolchildren in Fushe Kosove.
This typical day has become a reality for Shpresa and Vjollca; however, life wasn’t always this way. Only when your donation enabled The Ideas Partnership to offer support for Shpresa’s disability - through physiotherapy, funds for medical fees and school transport - did the girls’ parents believe that she could attend school and then her sister started school too.
Shpresa, Vjollca, their mother, grandfather and their preschooler brother and sister live on what their father earns from collecting plastic from the garbage and selling it at 13 cents per kilogram. Without education, this is the only livelihood that the girls would have ahead of them, too. But – even in this community where 96% of people haven’t completed compulsory education - the generations without schooling are changing with these two pupils and their enthusiasm for learning.
Vjollca explains “It’s better now because we have friends. We learn new things and are happy to get good grades.” Vjollca’s favourite subject is math and she now has dreams of being a lawyer. Shpresa says “I’m happy I can play sports at school and I can use my arm more easily” – thanks to the twice-weekly physiotherapy sessions and medical support which TIP provides with your donation.
Shpresa has been involved in TIP’s physiotherapy sessions for alost a year now and her mother says that she sees progress in her capabilities. TIP also assists the family by taking Shpresa to the doctor’s office to be assessed.
Shpresa’s name means ‘Hope’ and her whole family now seems to have this positivity about the future. Her mother, Sofia, says “I feel so much better now with the girls going to school. I have hope … because they will be able to get jobs and help the family.”
Thank you for changing the course of a girls’ life and the dreams of her family.
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