Aneta is a 16-year-old girl from the children’s home in Žatec who would like to succeed in life. She doesn’t want anyone to give up on and type-cast her as: “she will end up like her siblings anyway”. Aneta has always been a good student, but also because of the Corona situation, she has not been lucky enough to fulfil her dream and study at a secondary school that would prepare her for university studies.
Markéta is Aneta´s C4C mentor for three years now. She tries to give Aneta a chance to see and experience more than what life in the orphanage allows her, so that she can form her own idea of where and how she wants to live and how she wants to go about her own life.
Aneta was very grateful for her experience last year, where she was able to work for a month at the Adam Hotel in Špindlerův Mlýn as a domestic helper. As the summer holidays approached this year, she and Markéta again looked for part-time work opportunities.
Unfortunately, it was much more difficult to find a part-time job with accommodation this time – but eventually they did it! Thanks to the wonderful mayor of Kačice, Libor Němeček.
“I approached him with Aneta’s story, and the mayor put his head together with his colleagues in the village. They came up with an offer: the village needs an agile temporary worker, mainly for gardening and other auxiliary work,” says Markéta. “So we gave it a try.”
For the first few days, Aneta stayed with Markéta on a trial basis, but because she was hard-working, communicative and reliable, the municipality offered her accommodation.
“It was such a useful new experience for me,” Aneta proudly admits. “Living on my own, taking care of my own shopping and cooking – that was all new for me! I had to communicate with the municipality staff and to manage tasks on my own.”
Aneta also got involved in the community life of the village by helping local citizens prepare meals and snacks for volunteers in Stebno – a village affected by the devastating July storm. She made new friends, peeked into the lives of several families of Kačice, saw how people live in everyday life and what a normal village agenda looks like. She also gained many skills and earned some well-deserved money.
“At first I was a little worried about how it would work,” said Mayor Němeček as he said goodbye. “But Aneta surprised us. She did a great job in Kačice, for which we thank her! I’ll be happy if we stay in touch. Aneta is always welcome here!”
And when Markéta took her to Žatec, Aneta shyly remarked: “It went by so fast. I was so worried if I would be able to handle it all. So many things I did and experienced for the first time this month! And I did it!”
We are so proud of Aneta! Our fingers are crossed. We believe that, also with the help of her mentor Marketa, she will continue to progress through life successfully!
PS: C4C provides tutoring and mentoring services to orphanages completely free of charge. YOU can help us with our work! Become a member of the “Friends of C4C Club“. Our activities can only continue thanks to your support, for which we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Author: Zuzana Šrámková
