About 120 Romas live in the village of Slivnitsa. The young families are employed by tailoring companies and in greenhouse vegetable production. The Roma parents have almost no time for their children. The Bulgarian families face the same problem. When school classes are over, the children in Slivnitsa have nothing to do. The Gotse Delchev Community Center involves the children on the eve of 2 or 3 celebrations over the year and that s everything that is available. The lack of parental cares and extracurricular activities poses great risks to the future development of the children.
The driving force behind project preparations was the mayor of Slivnitsa, supported by the Kresna municipal management. The project coordinator and the municipal secretary developed the technical documentation required for an application under FLGR s Social Environment Improvement Program, financially supported by Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The project was approved and an agreement was signed with the donors.
Project implementation had tow stages:
The renovation was completed with the assistance of the Mayoralty of Slivnitsa and local companies. The delivery of the musical instruments was awarded through a bid.
Stage II. Training course
Groups of children were formed to be taught to play accordion, pandore and drum. The official classes, facilitated by expert teachers, began on November 1, 2003. During the 7-month training, the children acquired musical skills.
Public performances of the children were organized during the training course. In April, 2004 the participants in the course visited the Roma Culture Week in the village of Mikrevo, Municipality of Strumyani, where they presented several individual performances. At the 2004 May 24 celebration of the Petar Beron School in Slivnitsa, the children participated with individual performances. Everyone was happy with the little concert: children, parents and teachers. The six best performing children were awarded prizes by project partners: ET Makedoniya Nadka Vrungova and ET Radka Boycheva KRIS.R.R.
The children have free access to the musical room and continued to visit it even after the end of the project. The facilities are now being used and by the adult villagers from the folk groups of the community center. This is encouraging children s interest in joint performances with the adults. Conditions were created for the children in the village to utilize some of their free time.
For additional information, please contact :
Nasko Milev
Mayor
Village of Slivnitsa
2844 Slivnitsa
Municipality of Kresna
Tel.: (07433) 2212, (o88) 960 4222
Lyubka Kovacheva
Secretary
Municipality of Kresna
96, Makedoniya Street
2840 Kresna
Tel.: (07433) 2229, (088) 839 1966
Fax: (07433) 2338
Email: [email protected]
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