A Roma teenager is on the way to have his dream come true. Marcelo grew in the Ogosta neighborhood in the town of Montana, northwest Bulgaria, known as the Roma neighborhood of the town. He finished eighth grade at the Stefan Savov Vocational School of Civil Engineering and Geodesy. He has two younger brothers. His father is a construction worker and his mother is unemployed. In his life he has realized that good and true things are always difficult to reach. In order to achieve something significant, one has to invest a lot of efforts before the reward comes. Here is what Marcelo told us:

"This magic started quite unexpectedly. I accidentally discovered on the Internet a post about studying in England. It attracted my attention and I went to Sofia to sit for exams in English and mathematics. I will not hide that they were very difficult, but I believe in my abilities and I gave my best and I made it. That is how I received the opportunity to continue my education at CATS Cambridge College. This has been my greatest achievement so far. I have made people around me feel proud."

Marcelo is extremely ambitious and gifted. He has been singing, dancing, painting, and recently impressed the audience in Montana with his performance in the play Vrazhaletz by Stefan Kostov. The role of the priest was given to him by director Harry Belov in a Roma theatrical studio called "Suno". Unfortunately, Marcelo has often felt discrimination from his peers and from adults but is not ashamed of his Gypsy origin. One of his wishes is to accumulate experience and knowledge and to be helpful to the Roma community. He wants to motivate people to study and become equal to others. So far, the only concern of the boy has been raising funds (30,000 pounds), needed for his college education. He is also a little scared of being away from his family but is determined to do everything to succeed. Here is his message to young people in Bulgaria:

"Friends, in the life I have lived until now, I realized that this is not just a game, and we probably still do not know the true meaning of the word ‘life.’ But then little by little I started to realize that there are many difficulties one needs to overcome. Every day I put efforts to truly live, not just exist... For me living means being respected, educated, intelligent, having a family, friends and a decent job. All this is achievable with the right education, dreams and ambitions. Only this way one can fulfill their goals and truly live,” Marcelo says in conclusion.

English: Alexander Markov