Bulgarian Child, Inc.
Love and
Loaves to Those in Need
7522 Campbell Rd. - St. 113 - 172 - Dallas, TX
June 2003 Trip
Overview
In June of 2003 we visited 16 homes in
just 8 days that we had not visited before. Here's the
information from that trip listed in order of the
visits.
The intention of this trip for me
specifically was to get a "macro" view of the country of
Bulgaria, connect with some other organizations (Peace Corps,
Rotary Clubs) and survey as many homes as we could during the
time alloted. We were able to visit 17 homes in a very
short period and found a very wide variety of conditions.
Two of the homes that we visited (Mogilino &
Tri Kladentsi) had been the subject of some extreme writeups
by other organizations and the news media. Paradoxically
these two homes facilities were among the best we found on the
trip. Another (not listed above - Assenovitz) has been
adopted by a group from Holland and is, by far, in the best
shape of any home that we have visited both in terms of the
physical plant and in terms of the facilites and educational
opportunities for the children.
Monday, June 2, 2003
We started our trip early in the morning of
June 2nd - heading straight through Sofia with almost no
traffic on our way to Pravets where we would meet Jacob Agran
(Peace Corps) and visit Razliv &
Vidrare.
That evening we went on to Pleven
where we met with Gaile Sprinkle (Peace Corps). While in
Pleven we had a great meeting with the local Rotary Club and
began the process of setting up joint projects with clubs here
in the US for helping some of the orphanages in Bulgaria.
Tuesday, June 3, 2003
The following morning we headed out to
Totleben for a visit to the two
homes there and then headed back to Pleven for a visit to the
home in the Stargozia district of Pleven.
That evening we were on to Sturmen
where we met Agnes Lam (Peace Corps) for a visit to this very
needy home.
Wednesday, June 4th
After spending the night at a wonderful
little hotel (literally called the Gorski Cut) that was buried
in the forest outside of Byala, we headed on to
Brestovitsa and
Mogilino with Agnes Lam and Tyler
Sparks (Peace Corps).
Wednesday evening we visited with the Nova
Zagora Rotary Club after a quick trip over the mountains.
After a great time with them we agreed to the concept of a
joint project with several clubs in the US. They also
arranged for us to have a meeting with the Mayor of Nova
Zagora for the following morning.
Thursday, June 5th
Our first visit this day was to Assenovitz.
Due to the fact that it is in good hands with a group from
Holland we chose not to include it in this report. They
are doing a great job with that home and have made several
visits bringing teams of people and lots of materials.
Our next visit was to homes in
Bogdanovo and
Radevo in the company of Dave Elmstrom (Peace Corps).
Both of these homes are funded solely by the
Nova Zagora Obshtina and are in need of some serious help.
Friday, June 6th
Straldja was next on the agenda
where we visited with Rel Davis (Peace Corps) at the local
Business & Information Center that houses the craft center
that Rel started during his term in Bulgaria. We also
visited the local orphanage where two vocational projects are
underway - a wood working shop and a cooking school.
That noon we visited the home in
Dragodonovo in the company of Genka Ivanova who is the
Pastor of the Sliven Baptist Church.
The afternoon found us in Kermen where we met two very
courageous British ladies who had spent the past two weeks at
this home helping out. These gals had no Bulgarian
language to speak of and had spent those two weeks without any
interpreter. Their courage is an example for all of us.
Saturday, June 7th
After a night in Plovdiv exploring the Roman ruins and the
city center we headed to Velingrad
and Becky Gardner (Peace Corps) who took us to the end of the
village at Velingrad.
After Velingrad we headed over the mountains to Yakoruda where
Michael Stanislowsky (Peace Corps) introduced us to the local
orphanage. These folks seem to have everything under
control and really weren't interested in talking with us (the
Director left when he saw us arrive) so we haven't included
information about this home in our report.
Sunday, June 8th
After another evening in Plovdiv we headed out to
Panagyurishte where we were
introduced to the local home by Bertina Williams (Peace
Corps).
Here we found an amazing art
program at work and hope that we'll be able to help out
with distribution of some of this work.
Tuesday, June 10th
In Borovtsi we examined the new
building that we're building to replace their existing
cafeteria/kitchen. This building will also add indoor
toilets, a laundry facility, a medical room and 8 showers in
two rooms.
We're hopeful that it will open during October of
2003.
Our last visit on this trip was to the home in
Tri Kladentsi in the company of
Josh Wenz (Peace Corps).
This home was written up quite
severely by some reports but we found it in good shape
physically.
All in all the trip was most educational
and, in the long run, will help tremendously.
One thing that became ever so more apparent
to us on this and other trips is that vocational education and
employment are really the major issues facing Bulgaria.
These kids can be made comfortable but if they have no place
to go or skills to use then making them comfortable for the
first 18 years of their life and then abandoning them will
accomplish nothing.
