It was a real experience at the elementary school in Sirk!

We’re in schools and we’re trying to tell young people about how it’s possible to change communities, showing them bits of history. We’re trying to see whether they understand that when they grow up, they’ll be able to accomplish great things – just look at how many important and wise people have come from poor backgrounds! And each of those schools is different – not just in age. But also by how the adults there treat the children.

And at Základná škola in Sirk (don’t know where it is? It’s a short distance from Revúca, towards the Muránska planina) it was a real experience! Children who listen, ask questions, joke around with the teacher and the assistant. Who have a fantastic outlook and eagerness to learn. A bunch of finished books. You can’t record that, that’s how it works over there. You walk into the classroom and feel at home… accepted. And yet, these children do not have it easy at all – from an early age they have to overcome many obstacles, both visible and invisible, which we (the majority) do not even think of. Commuting every morning by bus. Living in an excluded community, struggling with daily poverty alongside their parents. Not an easy start.

These workshops for schools were implemented as part of the “Women in The Community – from charity to equal work in communities” project, which is supported by the Domestic and Gender-Based Violence Programme financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014 – 2021 and the state budget of the Slovak Republic.

“Working together for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe”