By Anastasiya Gotseva | Programme Director
Dear Friends,
Today I want to tell you the story of one young boy – mentee in our Mentoring programme. I’ll call him Tony.
Tony is 24 years old and he grew up in institutions. He was moved more than five times from one institution to another in different towns in the country. Currently he is a resident in an observed housing facility near Sofia. Tony has some learning difficulties and despite his age he did not manage to finish secondary school. He is an extremely trusty person with a strong sense of justice and people around him often take advantage of him.
When he joined our Programme in March 2014 his contract in the facility was coming to its end. He worked in a cleaning company with many night shifts and his boss often made him take additional shifts – sometimes he worked 24 hours a day. The amount of his salary was not quite clear and not very regularly paid. He owed a big amount of money to one of the mobile network operators.
Tony started working with his Mentor at least once per week. At the beginning Tony was sometimes late for the meetings and twice he even forgot to attend. This became another issue they had to work on. With the support of his mentor Tony managed to list the priority areas in his life. He focused on finding a new job – without night shifts and with regular payment. During the discussions with his Mentor, Tony realized that it is very important to finish secondary school which will help him get even better jobs in the future. Tony also concluded for himself that he has to prepare for the independent living (he’ll have to leave the facility soon) and start saving money. So he and his Mentor started to work for achieving these goals.
Three months later Tony has a new job – he works 5 days per week and only during the day. His new boss is already very pleased with his work as Tony is quite diligent. His debts are paid and he managed to open a savings bank account and already put some money there. He has a big progress with his punctuality and on the last meeting he even arrived a few minutes earlier.
Currently Tony and his Mentor are looking for a suitable form of education so he can finish school. They plan to start regular lessons on maths next week and study together for the exams.
Tony is one of the boys who will have better future due to your support. Thank you for making this possible! Your donations can change the lives of 15 more youngsters in our Mentoring programme – you make this possible!
Sincerely yours,
The Step for Bulgaria team
By Anastasiya Gotseva | Program Director
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