Summer School for Children without Parents

Dear Friends,

Thank you for being with us and supporting or project “Summer school for Children without parents”. During the last three years we managed to organize three wonderful summers for underprivileged children from Sofia, Gabrovo, Berkovitsa and Plovdiv.

During the sessions the children and youths managed to learn useful skills and knowledge to prepare for their successful entry into society and the labour force. Together we worked on their motivation and the development of professional attitudes and understanding of employers’ essential expectations: responsibility, ownership, honesty and reliability. They also had the opportunity to experience what it is like to create a project proposal for funding their own ideas which gave them a good taste of some essential professional skills and motivated them to learn more about each other and about the specific business topics they engaged with. The young participants in the Summer Schools had the chance to attend vocational trainings depending on their personal needs and 2-3 week internship at an employer, which required of them to go to work every day, complete tasks at different functions of the organization, and meet their employer’s expectations.

Along with the hard work the children and youths also had a lot of fun exploring the nature - like being part of an expedition orientation with map and compass, which helped them build confidence in their own abilities. During the exercises they learned how to achieve goals, to work in a team but still strive for leadership, to be tolerant and responsible, as well as to respect the nature.

During these years we worked on increasing the motivation of the children and youngsters, their self-confidence and trust in their own abilities. Strong attention was put on leadership and teamwork. After each practical exercise there were many discussions which helped them reflect on their actions and see possible ways to practice what they learned during the games in the real life.

The main focus of these activities was put on effective inclusion of the young people in the world outside care – development of abilities to adapt and to integrate. Our volunteers worked with the children and youths not only in teaching them new knowledge but also in developing their talents and curiosity to learn new things.

Our work with children and youths during the summers showed very positive effects on the performance of the children and still convinced us further in the necessity of continuous work on their motivation and provision of support during the whole year.

For this reason Step for Bulgaria team developed a new program called Mentoring Program for Underprivileged Youth. The Mentoring Program gives the chance to build a strong relationship between an underprivileged young person and a young professional, who can give advices and support the youths in their first steps in real life. A relationship with non-parental adult influences positively the youths’ perception of self-worth and competence, promotes resiliency and helps them be better suited to benefit from the support of their parents and care-givers.

For the coming year we will put our efforts on the development of this program and we will stop organizing Summer Schools as separate activities – the training sessions will be smoothly incorporated in the Mentoring Program.

Soon our new project will be on GlobalGiving so you can continue being part of our team by supporting our new project. You can also visit “Teach Life Skills to Children without Parents” and support this cause.

We would like to thank you for your continuous support - both material and spiritual. Given that we're a completely volunteer-run organization, the support we see in donors of the GlobalGiving network gives us yet another reason to work persistently to create better life opportunities for the underprivileged youth that we work with. Without you, the personal growth of our children and youth and their development as responsible and successful adults would be impossible!

Thank you for being part of this through your contribution!

with gratitude,

Step for Bulgaria team