Amaro Tan means "our place" in Romani. The Amaro Tan School has been providing a safe place for low income Roma and Albanian children to learn and grow since 1999. The German Embassy in Albania gave Amaro Tan 12 computer monitors in March. Updating and improving the rest of the school's computer lab will give 140 students the opportunity to gain current computer literacy skills they would never have access to otherwise, and the tools they need to thrive in the 21st century.
Most Roma Albanian children live in poverty. They have no access to technology at home, and no opportunities to learn to work with computers. Without this skill, their ability to find good work as adults is severely limited. Lack of education restricts Roma employment to the informal sector, and feeds chronic poverty. Children work as beggars or trash pickers, rather than going to school-- which perpetuates the cycle, as these children grow up to the same bleak prospects as their parents.
Amaro Tan was founded to offer Roma children the same opportunities as other children: elementary education, hot meals, opportunities to play, health care, and social and vocational services for their families. Our donors have already changed the lives of hundreds of students. Today, technology is everywhere, and students need to learn to work with computers. A modern computer lab will be a developmentally appropriate, educational and fun place to learn for all ages.
A computer lab will provide all 140 students at the Amaro Tan School with regular, age-appropriate access to computers and technology, bringing them into alignment with Albanian children their age. When they graduate, they will possess a skill necessary for ongoing education, and required for most jobs. Some may discover a passion for technology work. Their success will bring increased prosperity to the Roma community, and, someday, allow them to provide a better life for their own children.
