AWAY Macedonia September

 

With assistance from the British Embassy in Skopje, TACC donated £5000 to the Snezana Day Centre.  Snezana was founded in 2006, and we had made material contributions to the day centre in 2008 and again in 2011 (£5000) and it was interesting to see the impact of the contributions.  TACC also made a Christmas donation in 2014.

 

The centre which looks after children aged 4-16 or so, is run by a group of 5, managed by Irena and is rented from the municipal authorities who provide financial support for 5 months of the year, but which costs 200 euro per month otherwise.  The British embassy have continued their support for the project since the first TACC initiative and it is equipped by some old/second hand basic furniture/desks, white furniture and some very basic computing equipment.

 

Like the 5 support staff,  the centre is multi-functional, providing some basic education (reading & writing, nutritional, hygiene, sexual support etc.).  The staff try to ensure that the children get to school, but their lowly status often results in discrimination, bullying and segregation. Children of the Roma community are often regarded as commodities – bought, sold or rented between adults for whatever gain they may be able to provide – begging, prostitution, whatever additional degradation or depravity might prevail.  It’s common in the tourist areas to see malnourished children begging persistently.

 

The Centre provides a place of refuge, support and hope for such children.  The 5 staff at the Centre go out into the street to identify children who might benefit – not very easy though to identify any parent to help, assist, educate to take responsibility.