Trust children. Give them a sense of self-worth

laurentin

This was among the main messages of Princess Laurentien van Orajne-Nassau of the Netherlands during her meeting with Bulgarian School of Politics Alumni working with children from institutions under a project funded through the Bonita Trust. The Princess also said that although those children usually live in a bad living environment, if somebody asked them about sustainable development, they would suggest the same solutions as other children.

At the meeting, which was held on 7th December, the Alumni representatives presented their activities with the children from the Social Institution for Children with Disabilities in Vidrare, the Center for Family Type Accommodation in Velingrad and the Orphanage in Stara Zagora, as well as from the “Embrace me” Studio in Sofia. All shared that the most important thing for the children is to get socialized, to go out of the institutions and meet with their peers.

Princess Laurentien explained her experience with Reading and Writing Foundation, which works in the area of combating illiteracy in the Netherlands. She shared with the participants that when she started working on this problem, most people around her were skeptical. Her ambitious goal for eliminating illiteracy, not just for its reduction, along with her hard work to find supporters made possible this issue to become a state policy. “I believe in volunteering and with my work I try to be a catalyst for changes. We have to flip thinking around and when we have an idea, we must find supporters and work together for resolving the problem”, she said.

At the end of the meeting, Princess Laurentien signed her book “Mr. Finney and the World Turned Upside-down”, for which official presentation she is in Bulgaria, to the children from Vidrare, Velingrad and Stara Zagora.


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