We started Good Beginnings Preschool after seeing the lack of success in school among Roma children. It started in the village of Santandrei located about four kilometers outside of Oradea. This is also the same village where we built the Agape Home.
When we would work outside in the garden or chicken house, our Roma neighbors would tell us that their children were not accepted at school because they were not clothed or bathed properly. In the spring of 2007, we talked with the school principal of the primary school and he told us that not one Roma child was registered beyond 4th grade! That is a 100% school failure of the Roma children! This news broke our hearts. We prayed about what The Lord would have us do to minister to these little ones and His answer was clear: a Christian preschool to prepare them for primary school.
We discussed the idea with the local mayor and school principal and they agreed to give us a room to use for the preschool. They pay for the heating and electricity and we take care of everything else. We are very pleased at our collaboration with the town hall of Santandrei.
One of the reasons that Roma children do not do well in primary school is that many of the children do not speak the Romanian language well because they speak Romanii (the native language of the Roma) at home. At Good Beginnings, we teach them the Romanian language so they will have a good basis for school when they begin. We also teach them about God’s love through Jesus Christ, Christian morality, math, music, their colors, logical sequencing, and the appropriate behavior for a school setting. In addition, we feed the children a nutritious snack each day along with vitamins to help them grow properly. Since beginning this project in the fall of 2007, we have seen tremendous improvements in the weight and growth of the children in addition to their quick retention of the Romanian language.
Our preschool will continue through the summer with our preschool teacher spending extra time with the children that will begin school in the fall. We collaborate with churches in the area to take the children to parks, puppet theaters, swimming pools, and other fun outings.
We currently have 10 children enrolled in our preschool and we are actively seeking sponsors for each child. It costs us $65 per month to feed each child and pay for the salary of their teacher. You can either commit to some or all of the monthly cost. If you can only commit to $25 per month, we will try to find other sponsors to commit the remaining $40 per month. If you are interested in sponsoring a child in this project, please contact us. Thank you for helping us help the Roma children of Santandrei succeed in school because of the hope they will have in Jesus!
To donate on-line now for one of the children below, please click on our “Donate” button to donate through the secure services of PayPal and be sure to put the child’s name in the “notes” section. To donate by check, please send a check along with a separate note with the child’s name to the following address:
Children In The Son
P.O. Box 99063
Raleigh, NC 27624-9063
Laura – Sponsored, Praise The Lord!
Darian – Sponsored, Praise The Lord!
Elizabeth – Sponsored, Praise The Lord!
Florin – Sponsored, Praise The Lord!
Liana – Sponsored, Praise The Lord!
Marius
Rodica – Sponsored, Praise The Lord!
Roxana
Rita – Sponsored, Praise The Lord!
Dacian
Samuela and Adela are sisters and are part of a family with 8 children.They have a really nice christian family. Although poor and with small children to care for they maintain a clean house. The father and the oldest son are working in construction but they are not employed. The mom is employed at a cable company in Oradea . When the parents are working the smaller children are taken care of by one of the older sisters that abandoned school in order to help the family. Samuela is 7 years old and she’ll be starting the 1st grade this autumn after spending 3 years in our preschool. She’s working hard to prepare for school. She’ll remain in our program after she’ll start the school and will benefit from our after-school program. Adela is one year younger than Samuela and she’s in her 2nd year in our program. The girls love to come to Good Beginnings and hopefully they will be able to face with success the challenges of school.
