Bulgarian Child, Inc.
Love and
Loaves to Those in Need
7522 Campbell Rd. - St. 113 - 172 - Dallas, TX
June 2003 Trip
Radevo
Radevo is one of two "Internat" schools that lie within the
boundries of the Obshtina Nova Zagora and are now fully the
responsibility of this "county". (The other is
Bogdanovo).
These are primarily "boarding" schools where the kids attend
school and live here during the school year but go home during
the summer.
These two schools represent the worst of what Bulgaria has
to offer in terms of facilities. These buildings are
old, worn, crowded places with no central heat and, in the
case of Radevo, only one shower for their population of 100
kids. (Bogdanovo has two!)
The bedrooms are the most crowded that I've
encountered with little room to even walk between the beds.
The heat (seen clearly in the lefthand picture) is from coal
stoves placed on inner walls of the school. It's gotta
be cold in the beds on the outer walls by the windows.
Imagine 20-25 children bunking in a room
measuring 25' x 15' and living and eating on an allowance of
40 cents a day.
This shower - placed by the one sink on this
floor - is the ONLY shower available for the 100 kids that
live here during the school year.
Also, the only toilets are outside.
Medicines are simply not provided but are available by
collection from the salaries of the staff of the home.
There
are NO books, games, puzzles.
There is no chance of fresh fruit or vegetables and even if
they had them there would be no refrigerated space to store
them.
Classrooms are totally devoid of materials such as books &
maps and they are extremely crowded.
We were told that they
have virtually no school supplies to wrok with and no
recreational facilities or supplies at all.
This room (either a classroom or study room -
I honestly can't remember) is also amazingly crowded. In
fact, this entire building is just crammed with kids (who were
on summer vacation when we visited in June)
Thanks to Dave & Mary Elmstrom (Peace Corps
Volunteers), we met with the Nova Zagora Rotary Club and have
established a relationship with them. I'm hopeful that
we'll be able to do a joint project with them during this
coming year.
Needs
This school has overwhelming needs - the
most serious one being space. The 100 kids in this one
building are crowded at every turn and have little to occupy
themselves with during non-school hours.
