A woman of 50 years old changes the life of some children from an after-school.
In a modest flat from Bucharest from Ferentari area, Militaru family speaks about what kind of role education has in a child’s life. The conclusions are alike: „Without education you are not seen well anywhere” and „you don’t do anything without education”, says the mother Maria Militaru, Educator of the Club of Alternative Education from within the organisation ‘’Policy Centre for Roma and Minorities’’. The children learn this through small examples, which are accessible for them and which are more motivating for them than the old saying „Knowledge is a treasure, knowledge is power”, she carried on.
Maria is 50 years old and started working with the children from the club two years ago. She felt attracted to the idea of educating children even from her youth. All the time her house was full of kids whom she taught them different things by means of the games. When her little daughter found out about the opening of a club within the Middle School no. 136, the curiosity urged Maria to find out more details about the activities which are developed within the meetings, by wanting to offer Alexandra the chance to an alternative form of education. During the visits that she made at the Club, Maria started, without really realizing, to make voluntary work. She accompanied pupils in the park and at some other meetings outside school, she helped at keeping the cleaning at the dance courses.
Because the custom was that the employees of Policy Centre to ask among the pupils’ parents if there are people who look for a workplace, in this way happened that Maria could reach from the voluntary status to that of employee. She had a period of unemployment and more than 8 years have passed by in which she didn’t have a stable workplace. Although the education field was that of tailoring, Maria adopted fondly the idea to help at youth education.
Her younger daughter, of 12 years old, is the one who took the most time to Maria, in the period in which she was a housewife. Because Maria didn’t allow Alexandra to go out in front of the block of flats, she frequently invited friends of her daughter in order to play together at their home. She let them play, but every time she used to tell them very briefly a number, a letter, and she helped them to learn the things that they should have studied thoroughly during kindergarten. Except that Maria had now her own improvised kindergarten and she helped the children to study in a funny way different things that they had needed until the school start. What she knew, she passed along. What she didn’t know, she read and explained to them as well. She saw how she can lure them, the way she has to speak to them and how she can motivate them. And now she talks to them about actors or sports people whom she admires, and the pieces of advice are the same: „they learnt, you must learn as well to write, you must learn to read”.
Maria was the youngest among her five brothers. She was born in Ferentari, where she also spent her childhood. At the age of 9 she moved to Berceni, where, after her mother died and her father became extremely busy with the work on a construction site from the province, Maria ended up living in a hostel. There she did her homework, she learnt and had private classes at the basic subjects. She lived in a hostel together with one of her brothers until the 8th grade, after which she placed herself at a vocational school of tailoring. She was employed for the first time at the age of 16, in a factory, during the summer, to save a little sum of money. After that, it followed a series of other jobs in different factories from Viilor Highway, until 2001, when some reorganizations were made and she became a housewife.
She got married young to Tudor, whom she spoils as Doru. They have together 3 children: Liviu, 29 years old, Dana, 25 years old and Alexandra, 12 years old. With each of them she made the kindergarten at home and she educated each of them the way she could better. She recently has her fourth child: Mitică. She says he is her child but, actually, is one of the boys from the Club, whom she took at her home, in custody of. She had heard that he is good at playing football and that in the Foster Care Centre „Cireşarii” from behind the Middle School no. 136 they cannot keep him because he doesn’t have the residence in Bucharest. Seeing him sad and reserved, Maria decided to take him home and take care of him as being her own child, until things will be solved. Even in the Club the children think that Mitică & Maria are blood relatives. Militaru family stays in the new formula even from Easter, and Mitică visits his family from Urlaţi as often as possible. Here he continues to play football, reason for which he was noticed and supported by the Club and waits for the program to start „The second chance”, in order to restart school.
(„The second chance” is an educational program which supports young people who gave up school. In 2013, 665 children were included in the programs of this type.)
Maria also helps at the children’s alphabetization. She tells worryingly about the children who want to enter this program and who are discouraged by the parents. She had a case in which the family didn’t allow their son anymore to come to the Club of Alternative Education. However, there are also happy cases, in which parents without education push their children and prove them that education is important. For this reason Maria is happy to come to the centre daily.
This article can also be read here http://corinanitescu.com/o-mama-pentru-mai-multi/
