“When your English teacher makes you so passionate about learning that you don’t think for a second about giving up, then you realise how much you can learn,” says 21-year-old Daniela Stoyanova. The girl is among the young people up to the age of 29, whom we from the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation support to gain more knowledge and experience, which will contribute to their better realization.

Our aim is to achieve equal access to education and employment for economically disadvantaged young people. Through the Earning by Learning project we support young people with career guidance counselling, soft skills training, English and computer literacy courses. We are also the people who mentor and support young people throughout the process of searching and applying for vacancies. Daniela joined the project this year and has been actively involved in the project activities – she has successfully completed her Level 1 English language course. Having already acquired new language skills and made new friends, Daniela has decided to take part in a second level of English language training which will start this month (again organized through the Earning by Learning project).

Daniela was born in. She is from Burgas, but received her education in Burgas. She was born in Burgas and graduated in Plovdiv. There she graduated from the Humanities High School. Most of her classmates went on to university after completing their secondary education. “They went to study either law or another specialty, but when your parents can afford to support you and pay for your education without working, it’s different,” Daniela says. At the time, she had a longtime boyfriend with whom they continued to live together. “I didn’t see how I was going to study part-time and work during the day then, and starting a family was just as important to me,” the girl adds.

And Daniela’s dream was to become a doctor. For now, however, her main priority is to have a child, as she has already lost one child in early pregnancy. However, that doesn’t stop her from her dream of one day going to university. She now works in a bicycle factory in Plovdiv, but alongside this she is taking various courses to gain additional skills. “While I don’t have a child I decided that I can invest in myself and prepare myself for the future, these skills will be useful when one day I continue my education, and who knows, I might find a better job. These are open opportunities,” says Daniela.