“Get the Heck to School!”: Empowering Roma Girls
“Get the Heck to School!”: Empowering Roma Girls
“Get the Heck to School!”: Empowering Roma Girls
“Get the Heck to School!”: Empowering Roma Girls
“Get the Heck to School!”: Empowering Roma Girls
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“Get the Heck to School!”: Empowering Roma Girls
Education can make a world of difference to girls in disadvantaged Roma communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sadly, many Roma girls drop out of elementary school, get married by age 13 and face a continuing cycle of poverty and marginalization. It doesn’t have to be this way! Girls who do finish their basic education have a better chance of making independent decisions and finding a much brighter future.
One shining example is Selma Selman, who overcame discrimination and poverty to finish school in her home village of Ružica in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This empowered her to win scholarships, continue her education and follow her dreams. Today she is an award-winning artist, completing her master’s degree at the University of Syracuse in New York.
Selma is donating her art and her time to support this important fundraiser – created in partnership with the BHeart Foundation, a DC-based, non-profit organization. On December 10th, she will exhibit and sell works at a fundraising event in Washington DC. All proceeds, together with your donations made via this page, will support a year-long Roma youth education project -- humorously called “Get the Heck to School! -- in Selma's home village.
The project is designed to support the education of 40 children in total, with a special focus on girls. Scholarships will be targeted at older girls, who are most at risk of dropping out. The support will include school lunch, English and computer lessons, and awards for the successful completion of their school semester, as well as special trips and workshops.
“It was important for me to have somebody next to me telling me I was good at something and that I am worthy. Similarly, we need to do the same with these children now: we need to open their eyes, give them our attention, and empower them with our encouragement and affirmations.” – Selma Selman
Read more about the art exhibition on December 10th.
Read more about “Get the Heck to School” project.
BHeart is a DC-based non-profit organization that focuses on issues and supports projects that are important to Bosnian and Herzegovinian women and their families.