Help Petra make a difference for others

Make a difference for Petra while she makes a difference for others - help her on her education path

Note from the campaign organizer:

I’m one of the privileged people to have met Petra and to have experienced first-hand her resilience, thirst for life, and desire to help others, despite (or perhaps also because of) her unspeakable childhood trauma. I truly see any donation, even small, to Petra’s cause as an investment. Because I know that each little help she gets to fulfill her dream of a better education, the closer she will be to becoming happy and financially independent and, along her path, help many times over so many people; like the numerous people who have been blessed so far to be part of her life journey, including myself.

If that gives you more assurance, please email me any time. I’d be happy to talk to you and vouch for her personally

Geneva, May 2023

Vlassis

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlassistigkarakis/

Petra's story

One of the hardest things for Petra is to ask for help. As a stress response from her childhood, it caused her to feel she must make decisions and accomplish things without the support of others since she was always in the role of a "carer". We are hopeful that with collective connectedness we can lift some weight off her shoulders and support her on her educational journey.

Growing up in the midst of a war ravaging Croatia, her childhood memories were marked by deafening noise of war planes, darkness of shelters during air raids and by the shock inflicted by the terrible news she received that her father died at the frontline. He mysteriously showed up alive, but with indelible wounds in his psyche and mental health. After the war, Croatia went through a severe economic crisis, her parents lost their jobs and her father developed an addiction to alcohol and gambling while struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Domestic violence, alcoholic father, emotionally abusive mother and poverty did not prevent Petra from being the best student in her class, writing homework and studying under a candlelight since they didn't have electricity. At the age of 12, during summer school holidays, she helped her neighbors with farming in exchange for a bag of beans or potatoes and she also worked night shifts at the bakery, washing trays so she could bring home fresh bread. There were also days when the family had to go hungry because there was nothing to eat. Her mother abandoned them and left with another partner. These events forced Petra to assume the role and responsibilities of an adult very early on in her life, but also left her with trauma of war, domestic violence, poverty and bullying at school because she was different.

At high school, she received a basic scholarship for talented students. Despite her talent and hard work at school, she could not go to university because she had no family and no safe place to live. For a short while, she was at the Children's welfare center but her mother would not sign a paper which would allow Petra to be adopted by another family, worried about what the community would think of her.

Her step sister offered her shelter and food until she finished highschool. During that time, Petra worked as a waitress and a cleaning lady, while her high school peers could not relate to her and often bullied her. She managed to save money for a flight to the USA for an Au pair program which she saw as an opportunity to run away from the toxic environment she grew up in. After 2 years of unfair and often abusive treatment by one of her host family, she managed to enroll into a college. But her dream of university studies was once again shuttered because her visa was rejected. She returned to Europe and worked as a nanny in various countries, never giving up on her dream of going to university one day. She finally came across some kindness and made close friends who motivated her to pursue her dreams.

In her 30's she was challenged by another sequence of emotional events, separation and grieving the loss of her grandmother, father, auntie and a friend. During the process of healing she settled down at a village at the foot of the Julian Alps in Slovenia in 2019, learned the language and during the pandemic tried once again pursuing her dream of university studies. At first, she was rejected by a university due to her age and nationality.

But she did not give up. In October 2022 she finally made it into Alma Mater Europea University in Ljubljana and started studying physiotherapy while working full-time at a grocery store to fund her living expenses.

During the pandemic her savings were rapidly exhausted, so it was necessary for her to continue working to cover her basic expenses to stay at the university. However, her persisting health issues have left her with no choice but to either quit university or quit work.

Regardless of the continuous challenges she has been facing, she made a decision to inspire change in her own life and applied to the Erasmus study program and for a physiotherapy volunteer program in Africa. In August 2023, she will be heading to Ghana to volunteer at Larabanga medical center trying to make a difference in any way she can for the community, while gaining valuable practical physiotherapy skills throughout this experience.

Your support and generosity will be met with greatest gratitude. Your financial contribution, regardless of the amount you can offer, will all be put to good use towards the following costs:

University tuition for the next 2 years - EUR 10'000

Basic living expenses for the next 2 years - EUR 26’760 (EUR 1'115 per month)

Ghana - Travel and volunteering expenses: EUR 2’020

Estimated fundraising fees: 1'220

Total fundraising goal: EUR 40’000

Our wish is to be able to make a difference for Petra while she makes a difference for others.

Petra's volunteering experience in Nepal - January-April 2018