What on earth is going on in Bulgaria?

FACT: The highest percentage of children in penal and reformatory institutions in the whole of Europe.(Ref. Bulgaria Helsinki Committee).

FACT: The previous socialist State of Bulgaria had no place or time for social problems, so who needed social workers? (!). Meanwhile training institutions for social workers, including clinical social work, have been established and appropriately qualified people are starting to take over responsibility in this field. But it is going to take a long time.

FACT: As late as October 2001 mentally ill and handicapped women were being kept in a cage (yes, a cage open to the elements) in the yard of an institution in northern Bulgaria. (Ref. Amnesty International)

These are just three of the reasons why in 1993 Jana Marinova-Jones, a journalist born in Sofia, Bulgaria together with her husband Bryn Jones, a Welsh psychotherapist and Quaker – both of them living and working in Germany – decided to go to Bulgaria and see how they could help. As a result they established a private charitable aid project to support Lakatnik – a home for around 100 mentally ill and handicapped women. With the spiritual and material backing of the German Quaker group in the Rhein-Ruhr area, logistic assistance from Quäker-Hilfe e.V. and the support of a number of both governmental and private funds, it has been possible to alleviate the conditions in Lakatnik on both a material level – building renovation, new sewage plant, etc. -  as well as establishing a social work programme in cooperation with members of the Clinical Social Work department at New Bulgaria University in Sofia.

The year 2002 saw the registering of a new independent charity – BULGARIAN AID PROJECT e.V. to continue the work – not only with the Lakatnik Home but also with other needy institutions such as the Lik Orphanage and Boarding School where competent and enthusiastic staff care for children aged between 6 and 18 from a broken or criminal family background. Difficult to believe but fact of the matter is, that the entire sports equipment of the school, with around one hundred pupils, would fit into a tea chest! The library would not even fill a kitchen cupboard! But the children and staff have unlimited energy.

2007 and membership of the EU has not meant much for the children and adults in these kinds of Institutions.
Bulgaria in the 21^st Century is just beginning to develop appropriate social, economic as well as democratic-political structures and organisations. Bulgarian Aid Project, e.V. will be, for the foreseeable future, one of the few domestic or foreign organisations concentrating primarily on this sector. 

Every six months we inform donors, sponsors, cooperating organisations and individual interested persons about the latest developments. Constant exchange of information, both with our representatives in Bulgaria and with corresponding NGOs and charities, guarantees an effective and efficient usage of the donations we receive. Whether from a government source or from one single individual, we do our best to ensure that what is placed in our hands is used to benefit real people such as Emmy from the Lakatnik Home or the ten year old Petio from Lik who had never even slept in a bed until he was nine years old. (See Reports)

So … that is what is going on in Bulgaria. On the edge of Europe, often ignored or forgotten. We owe it to you, Bulgaria, not only to really get to know you… warts and all. (Incidentally we also know that there are many wonderful cultural and natural treasures just waiting to be discovered.). We also owe it to you – the patiently waiting candidate for a piece of the european economic cake – to help you care for the deserted minorities on the far outskirts of your own society.