{"id":24555,"date":"2019-03-07T12:52:46","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T09:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/?p=24555"},"modified":"2019-06-04T16:20:56","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T13:20:56","slug":"a-letter-from-the-ambassador-for-a-day-and-change-agent-of-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/a-letter-from-the-ambassador-for-a-day-and-change-agent-of-tomorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"A Letter from the \u201cAmbassador for a Day\u201d and Change Agent of Tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_21923\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21923\" style=\"width: 603px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-21923\" src=\"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1126-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"603\" height=\"908\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1126-1.jpg 664w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1126-1-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1126-1-600x904.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 603px) 100vw, 603px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21923\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Radina Vasileva during her one day at Teach For Bulgaria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teach For Bulgaria was among the organizations invited to participate in the \u201cAmbassador for a Day\u201d initiative by the British Embassy in Sofia and Her Majesty&#8217;s Ambassador to Bulgaria Emma Hopkins. The \u201cAmbassador for a Day\u201d initiative aims to encourage and empower girls from across Bulgaria to add their voices and perspectives to societal issues that affect us all. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong><em>This year\u2019s essay topic was \u201cHow would you use your power as an individual and your influence as an ambassador for a day to make a positive change in society?\u201d. <\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The authors of the best essays had the opportunity to spend one day in the shoes of an ambassador by meeting with professionals from the civic sector who work towards positive social change in Bulgaria. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tenth-grader Radina Vasileva was \u201cAmbassador for a Day\u201d at Teach For Bulgaria. She goes to 91 German Language High School &#8220;Prof. Konstantin Galabov&#8221; in Sofia. Radina made a huge impression on us with her positive attitude and interest in being not just an ambassador for a day, but also working towards positive social change in the long term. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>We definitely found her ambition very impressive and motivational, she proved to be a great fit for us even for a day. <\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We thought it was important for her to participate in our big team meeting at the office in the morning. We talked to her about our vision, mission, and organizational goals, but we knew how beneficial and eye-opening it would be give her the opportunity to visit a partner school, observe classes, meet with students and teachers. So without hesitation we invited her to join adventurer Philip Lhamsuren who was going to be a guest speaker at Professional Vocational High School \u201cG. S. Rakovski\u201d in Kostenets. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The opportunity to present our work to such a motivated and active student &#8211; visiting a school which was quite different from what she was used to, meeting some of her peers there, telling them about what opportunities lay before them &#8211; was valuable for her, for us, and for the other students. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Philip Lhamsuren\u2019s exciting stories and inspirational words made the day more than special for everyone. For us, Radi was not just \u201cAmbassador for a Day\u201d, but also a young woman who most definitely had the strength and motivation to be an active citizen and support our shared cause of equal access to quality education for every child. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why are we so convinced? You can see for yourselves &#8211; it is obvious from the letter of appreciation we received after her day at Teach For Bulgaria.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI was very excited when I found out I was chosen to be \u201cAmbassador for a Day\u201d by the British Embassy in Bulgaria. I was even more excited when I realized I\u2019d spend the day at Teach For Bulgaria. Their team is incredible. Everyone is so positive and determined. Neli Gacheva, Development and Fundraising Specialist at TFB, welcomed me. She managed to get me on board with the main aspects of Teach For Bulgaria\u2019s work, vision, and goals. Neli is truly inspirational. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The plan was to go to Kostenets, visit a school, and spend some time with a participant in the program and their students. Neli and I traveled with two other team members &#8211; Pav and Alex. Philip (adventurer Philip Lhamsuren) also came with us. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The only thing I knew about him was that he crossed the Amazon on foot and by himself. <\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This school visit opened my eyes to the limitations faced by my peers in small towns and villages in Bulgaria. My peers in Kostenets didn\u2019t seem to allow themselves to dream big and the goals they had set for themselves seemed very modest. I felt like they didn\u2019t want to share their dreams with anyone. The town of Kostenets is less than 60 kilometers away from Sofia, but to me, it seemed that in their minds the distance was much bigger. <\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_21881\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21881\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21881\" src=\"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1165-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1165-1.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1165-1-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1165-1-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1165-1-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1165-1-600x399.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21881\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Radina and the principal of our partner school in Kostenets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Philip talked about the things he had to overcome to make his dream come true, I could see that his words filled my peers with hope. I cannot even begin to describe how inspirational his story was. His words gave me goosebumps and reminded me that we all had potential to grow regardless of where we came from. Philip just looked at us and said:<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u201cHey, I started from the bottom, now I\u2019m here. No one can stop you, if you truly want something! Dream big!\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n<figure id=\"attachment_21925\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21925\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21925\" src=\"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1130-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1130-1.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1130-1-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1130-1-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1130-1-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_1130-1-600x399.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21925\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philip with the students in Kostenets. Radina is sitting in the first row.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, not every child is motivated and supported like this and many students are definitely afraid of failure. Philip, an outsider, came to their school and illustrated with his own life story that they could do anything, if they worked hard for it. An important message we all need when we set out to make our dreams come true.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My day with Teach For Bulgaria showed me how to plant and grow the seeds of children\u2019s dreams. I thought we were all equal! We should all be getting quality education! We should all be able to dream!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teach For Bulgaria was among the organizations invited to participate in the \u201cAmbassador for a Day\u201d initiative by the British Embassy in Sofia and Her Majesty&#8217;s Ambassador to Bulgaria Emma Hopkins. The \u201cAmbassador for a Day\u201d initiative aims to encourage &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2345,2347],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-stories-en","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24555"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24558,"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24555\/revisions\/24558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}