ATTENTION! Thanks to your overwhelming support, we reached the original target amount one month before the end of the collection - we are happy to see how many of you are not indifferent to the childhood and education of Romani children, thank you!
However, donations are still possible and desirable - the cost of printing will be much higher than planned, but we don't want to give up the quality and fun! That is why we are extending the project, increasing the target amount and our efforts continue.

Early care, that is, care that starts from the cradle and lasts until school entry, can make it easier for children to enter primary school. But to give them the appetite, motivation and courage to make great discoveries, it will help if they have someone to relate to. The OSF Foundation has therefore decided to help (not only) Roma children prepare for education by offering them a "first" book that is culturally close and friendly to them; a book in which people look and live like them!
For the other children, the book will offer them a view of familiar things through the perspective of the Roma protagonist, which is exactly what they, in turn, can find new, valuable stimuli in. And that counts too!

We are honored that the OSF Foundation approached us, the Kher Publishing House of Romani Literature, to create such a book and introduce it into our education system.
However, we did not go it alone - the text is being written in collaboration with Eva Danišová, an established Romani writer and also a mother and grandmother several times over, with the experienced and imaginative illustrator Matej Ilčík, and with valuable advice from practice shared with us by Romani educators Lenka Kurová and Aneta Suchá.
We would also like to thank the Albatros Foundation, which doubled your 72.500,- as part of the matching.

And why is this book needed?
Starting the first grade is a crucial and turning point in every child's life - the future first grader may be excited, but he or she may also be scared. He needs to know a lot of things before he goes to enrol, he needs to hear what to expect at school, what will be new and different from what he is used to, but also that he can handle everything and that school can be very good: new friends, a new teacher, lots of games and discoveries! And that takes a lot of enthusiasm, courage, but also support.
But what if all the books, colouring books and other materials offer too strict a pattern, and yet some things are different than at home? What if Dad and Mum or an older sibling remember school as a place where they felt pushed away and undervalued, and are themselves worried about how their little first-grader will cope...
A sensitively chosen book can be just the right helping hand for children, their parents and teachers.

So don't hesitate, because the first book counts!