Project Report
| Oct 20, 2016
Another Way to Help these Children in Romania, Little by Little
![Certificate for being the best student in class]()
Certificate for being the best student in class
Your support, through Children's Helpers Worldwide, for Refugiu's tutoring and mentoring programme in Romania is making such a wonderful difference in the lives of the children. With GlobalGiving UK's "Little by Little by Little" campaign starting on 25 October, we want to share with you the progress of one girl, Gabriela. With each tutoring session she has attended, she has made progress, little by little, and she is now doing very well at school, thanks to your support!
Gabriela is eight years old. She has ten siblings and lives in poverty. She lost her father to cancer three years ago. Her mother is illiterate. Robert, the Head of Refugiu, sends regular updates on the children's progress. Gabriela was among the first group of children to attend the tutoring programme. Since then, the project has grown and more children have joined. Gabriela continues to regularly attend the tutoring sessions. Below are some of Robert's updates, starting with the first one, just one month into the programme. There is a space of around 3 to 6 months between each update included below.
1. "Gabriela is not yet in school, but she is easy to work with. She does her simple assignments, but is very shy. She is a little slow to understand but with some effort, we can make good progress with her."
2. Gabriela had been practising using a pencil and drawing lines neatly and then went on to write a word. Robert wrote, "First word for Gabriela - it is "mama". This was a big joy."
3. "Gabriela was prepared for school but [her mother] did not enrol her. She lost a year. I'm not allowed to enrol others' children. It is only a parental right."
As Gabriela's mother did not enrol her, Gabriela was not able to go to school that year. Whilst Robert could not assist with her enrolment at school, he continued to tutor her, along with the other children, each day.
4. "With Gabriela I tried a new method of learning through playing with cards. For example I put down a 10 and she needs to put down two cards forming 10 (eg 4 and 6). She is very good at it."
5. "Gabriela is making progress with her reading."
6. Gabriela's mother enrolled her in school for the next year.
Robert's first update after this said, "Gabriela does well in school, she likes to learn."
7. "Lucica [Gabriela's mother] told me this week that she was at the school to see how Gabriela is doing. The teacher is happy to have Gabriela, she is surprised to see Gabriela's knowledge because she was not in kindergarten, nor preschool. Gabriela is in first grade. I am so happy that our program is fruitful."
In Romania, there is a preparatory year before entering first grade, which Gabriela had missed.
8. "One day, Florin, Romi and Remus [three of the boys who attend the tutoring sessions and who are a bit older then Gabriela] came and asked me to teach them multiplication. So we started with 0, 1 and 2 and now we work on 3. Gabriela is in the same group and she caught on very fast. She is very smart."
9. "Gabriela came and showed me something, she had received 1st prize for being the best student in the class."
As you can see, little by little, session by session, Gabriela has been making progress over time. All of us at CHW and at Refugiu are very grateful that you have made this possible for Gabriela, and for each of the other children, who are benefitting from the programme.
If you want to help keep the tutoring and mentoring programme going, it would be wonderful if you got involved with the "Little by Little by Little" campaign. We are looking for volunteers who would be willing to share the link to our project page and tell friends, family and colleagues about the tutoring programme during the campaign (from 2 pm on 25 October to 2pm on 1 November, UK time).
Donations of up to £50 will be matched by 50% whilst matching funds last, so your contributions will go further! In addition to this, the three organisations with the most supporters will win bonus funds. To be eligible to try to win a prize, we are required to have at least 15 supporters and raise £1000. We are looking for our First Fifteen Champions, who are committed to making a contribution during the campaign, so we know we will be able to meet this requirement, as together, we try to do our best for these children! If you would like to be one of the Fifteen, and want any more information, please feel free to email catherine@chworldwide.org
This campaign is being run only on GlobalGiving UK, so if you are taking part, please make sure to share and contribute via our UK project page: www.globalgiving.co.uk/20775
Thank you again, so much, for your amazing kindness and support for the children at Refugiu's programme! You are making a huge difference.
![Gabriela (right) during the programme's 1st month]()
Gabriela (right) during the programme's 1st month
![Gabriela writing her first word, "mama".]()
Gabriela writing her first word, "mama".
![Gabriela reading with her big sister, Loredana]()
Gabriela reading with her big sister, Loredana
![Gabriela improving her maths through a card game]()
Gabriela improving her maths through a card game
![Gabriela and the others doing writing activity]()
Gabriela and the others doing writing activity
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