Growing up is so very hard when you have no one to look up to.
Young Yanislav visited many countries with his family during his childhood, but he never got to see much. Whilst his father and mother sought work on farms and construction sites in Spain, Germany or Greece, Yani was locked up in an apartment with his five older siblings.
When Yani was 13 years old, his family was living in an old barracks near Sofia in Bulgaria, where many undocumented families also made their homes. The community there lived in extreme poverty. They did not even have running water or electricity.
One day Yani got into a big argument with a relative. Fearing the repercussions, Yani ran away. He was picked up by social services and placed in a crisis centre.
Yani began school, but his attendance was patchy, and his behaviour poor. He was constantly arguing or fighting; a child without anyone to show him how he could cope with his emotions or focus on the positives. Yani was moved to a family type home in the town of Dupnitsa, then when he was 15, he was moved again. All the while he was making little headway at school; he had large gaps in his education, and his behaviour was a major factor in his lack of progress. Like so many kids in care, he was bullied and this caused him to miss school or get into more fights. The staff at the home where he lived said that he was continually in fight mode there too. Yani was moved to a special school for troubled children.
Just before he turned 18, the local authority got in touch with our team in Sofia to ask if there was a place in the House of Opportunity programme for Yani. The programme exists for young people just like Yani; care leavers who, with no good place to go, end up facing desperate choices about how to survive, or fodder for those who will make choices for them. With a warning about his behaviour from social services ringing in the House of Opportunity team’s ears, and just as he started 8th grade at school (Year 9), Yani came to live in one of the Sofia Houses.
It quickly became clear that Yani wanted to change. He has ambitions to finish school and go to university. He does not want to end up like his parents, whose lack of any kind of education led to his childhood being blighted by poverty and negligence. He wanted some responsibility.
Even though he has only been in the programme for a few short weeks, Yani has made some positive progress. He is getting good feedback from school and is showing real focus. He reads and discusses his reading with the team and is working on his own development. He has made friends with two fellow House of Opportunity residents. He cooks and cleans! He has joined a church where he is making friends and receiving encouragement and has had an offer for a job that he can fit around school.
Yani is taking responsibility and is putting his, understandably, childish behaviour behind him. He wants to be a man. There are sure to be challenges ahead, but at House of Opportunity, Yani will have the space, support and all the time he needs to learn how.