Kuklen is a small town – its population is only 6000 people, but here for a long time and without much ado Bulgarians, Roma and Turks live together, literally door to door. Sure, nowadays we are an example of integration, but I think this is the natural way to connect people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I can’t imagine a more civilized place to live than my hometown, and that’s probably why I’m not keen on a career abroad. I’m very attached to my family and our community here, which I want to be of service to, especially with the possibility of officially being allowed to heal soon. But as of now, people in Kuklen address me as “Doctor” and even greet me respectfully on the street. My friends who are applying with biology or chemistry, as well as the neighbors’ children, seek me out with questions when they are preparing for exams or having difficulty with their homework in both subjects. I never refuse help and for this I am known in the small and close-knit town of Plovdiv near the healing monastery “St.. St. Cosmas and Damian”.<\/p>\n
My name is Sasho Emilov and I am 23 years old, already a fourth year student at the Medical University in Plovdiv. When I think about what sparked my interest in the medical profession, I remember how when I was little I received a doctor’s headset for my birthday and it was unbearable to part with the little plastic instrument even for a tiny bit. I carried it everywhere and was always looking for an excuse to listen to some “sick” friend, prescribe a treatment and send him to the pharmacy with a prescription of children’s characters in hand. Thus was born my love for medicine and my desire to help people feel better. I decided that I would study to be a doctor at all costs, despite the discouraging remarks of some acquaintances who thought that studying would be prohibitive for me.<\/p>\n
I come from a poor Roma family. My mother has no profession and my father works in construction. I have an older sister, Ivanka, who is already married. However, despite our limited means, my parents were willing to do anything, even eat only bread and salt, but to see me as a student. And I have always loved learning, especially science, and after finishing my primary education in Kuklen, I enrolled in a science and mathematics class at St. Kliment Ohridski” in Plovdiv. The chemistry and biology teachers there quickly noticed my enthusiasm and encouraged me to keep my ambition to pursue a career in this field in focus. At that time, I also learned about the Trust for Social Achievements (TSA) internship program “Role Models in Early Childhood” from Puppet’s local foundation, “Indi-Roma 97”. Until that moment, I had no idea that TSA supports young people with excellent grades like me to study in higher education institutions. I felt like all the doors were opening in front of me and I could fly.<\/p>\n
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I decided to apply to the Medical Universities in Plovdiv and Pleven, and to my great joy I was accepted on the first ranking in both places. So I became the first and so far the only student of Roma origin in Kuklen. The foundations helped me with the fees for the private biology lessons, and I prepared for the chemistry exam by attending the free classes at the Municipal Children’s Complex in Plovdiv. When there is a desire, there is always a way, and that is why I tirelessly set an example for the families of my ethnicity that I often meet at the Indy-Roma office. I have made it my mission to campaign against early marriage in the Roma community and to draw people’s attention to education as the only path to successful social integration. I am proud of the fact that my personal story inspires other young people in Kuklen to turn their eyes to higher education.<\/p>\n
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My ultimate goal is to specialize in cardiology because diseases of the cardiovascular system cause the greatest mortality, and I recognize that the achievements of the great Professor Chirkov motivate me to strive for his level of professionalism. There is nothing more important and more humane than helping and giving of yourself to others, to stop pain and heal people’s pain. A physician cannot afford any shortcomings because he is responsible for the lives of his patients and that is why I take extreme care in learning the material at the university. I read continuously and attend all lectures and classes. And my relatives and neighbours in Kuklen now come to me for medical consultations. I am not yet a graduate and I am not allowed to prescribe treatment, but I always listen to them, examine them and refer them to the appropriate specialist, even if I know exactly what medicine or procedure is needed in a particular case. I find that these visits both reassure people and give me confidence in my knowledge and skills as a future doctor. The road ahead of me is long but exciting, and I now know that it is open to any young person from a Roma background who wishes to secure a truly fulfilling life and be of service to their community.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4898"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5455,"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898\/revisions\/5455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reynbg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}