Empowering the Love for the Book

Being a charitable Foundation towards others is a spiritual asset – one that can contribute to community building. The Eastern European Immigrant Hope Foundation (EEIHF) has regularly engages in various charitable projects here and abroad that pursue the objective of helping the people in need, to enjoy every moment and boost the confidence and optimism. The knowledge that we are helping others is hugely empowering and, in turn, makes us feel happy and fulfilled.

During a recent trip to Soroca, Moldova, in September 2019, the President of EEIHF, Mr. Oleg Razmerita, along with EEIHF Secretary for Public Relations, Elena Razmerita, decided to continue the support and the positive vibe within the Roma community through means of lunching the “Love for the Book” Project.

One of the hurdles that the youth of under-developed countries, like Moldova, encounter is the lack of school supplies, but also the motivation to stay in school, which reflects on the possibility of students to get full education. Today the largest number of unschooled children and those who drop-out of school by the fourth grade, are still observed among Roma communities.

The statistics show that the Roma communities struggle not only with the enrollment into school but staying in school too. Even after the school supplies are being provided, the motivation to attend the school can remain very low among Roma youths, since there is little done to empower motivation and to explain the importance of education, in spite of on-going issues such as poverty and ethnic discrimination.

This is why we lunched the long-term Project “The Love for the Book.”  As a Foundation, we saw that, by getting involved and contributing effectively, we could be nurturing motivation and boost the love for books. With the help of the International Foundation led by the Romani King (Baron), Artur Cerari, whom we have engaged into partnership with, Eastern European Immigrant Hope Foundation organized the first event in the Roma community of Soroca – as part of this new Project. Mr. Cerari came with the idea to reward the student who show good academic record with a bag of sweets and this way we would boost motivation. We endorsed this idea, and President of EEIHF took this idea further. He explained to all children present at this opening event that our Foundation would offer great Christmas gifts, for them and their families if they continue to show good academic results. We also made sure that teachers at those schools are informed about our project and would pass the word to all children, so more students engage and show motivation. We were amazed by the enthusiastic sparkle of interest in the children’s eyes when we started donating bags with the sweets and telling them that it is a reward well-deserved for all good performance at school. The love for the book and motivation to get an education should be empowered and rewarded. Those children need it and we can do it!

After the event, Mr. Cerari invited us to his house where we had the privilege to taste the Roma cuisine and enjoy the great memories of Mr. Cerari’s father’s glorious past through the picture hung on the walls and the artifacts. He offered his gratitude for our commitment to turn a dream the child’s ream into reality by feeding with enough motivation. We also expressed our appreciation for the hospitality and the opportunity to come closer to the Roma community.