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BULGARIA / ÁÎËÃÀÐÈß
CVS – 2
Dates: 1-15.08.2002
Vols: 5
P: The project
is organized in cooperation with the orphanage A. Zlatarov in Sofia and
the orphanage in the village of Sgorigrad, where live children without
parents or
from poor families. The project is a good opportunity for these children,
who are isolated from society to make new friends and receive attention
from the volunteers.
By creating contacts with them, we hope to enlarge the children’s ideas
for the world, to motivate them to study foreign languages and
to learn about
other cultures. The project aim is to assist the orphanage staff to care
for the children during the summer.
W: The participants
will carry out a holiday camp for 40 Bulgarian children. The volunteers
will be responsible for the running of the camp. Playing games,
sports, crafts,
etc. The working time is not fixed. Be prepared for 24h a day work!
A: In the orphanage
L: English
T: Nearest
city is Vratca
X: Interests
in work with children. Good motivation.
MAR BULGARIA
MAR 01
Plovdiv I 07/07 – 20/07/2002
15 vols
MAR 05
Plovdiv II 21/07 – 03/08/2002
15 vols
MAR 09
Plovdiv III 04/08 – 17/08/2002
15 vols
MAR 13
Plovdiv IV 18/08 – 31/08/2002
15 vols
Location
Orphanage for
high-school students in Plovdiv
The project
146 young people
– orphans or half-orphans aged 14-19 live in the Orphanage in Plovdiv for
a whole year round. The complicated social background of most of them is
reason for many problems, which they face in school, in their contacts
with other people, in their everyday life. Being together with other young
people from different countries, working, playing, learning from them,
facilitates their socialization and is essential for their adaptation.
MAR started
the cooperation with the Orphanage in Plovdiv three years ago and since
then we are organizing social projects there consisting of four workcamps
each summer. These workcamps went with success and the work with the children
had very positive effect upon them. Following the wish of the Orphanage
and its residents, this year MAR is organizing for the fourth time a sequence
of 4 social workcamps in the Orphanage.
The main objective
of the joint project between MAR and the Orphanage is establishing intercultural
social contact between the children and young people from different countries,
as well as improving children’s communication abilities in informal environment.
Volunteers and the residents will work together for maintaining and improving
the environment in the orphanage.
Work
The volunteers
will be engaged with organising variety of activities like: sports events,
gardening, group games, thematic workshops, walks in the city of Plovdiv,
visits to different sights and events, etc. for the children in order to
optimize their free time during the summer period. Their role should be
to ease the communication abilities of the children in informal environment.
Some maintenance and domestic works will be done together with the residents.
The aim of the work activities is to offer opportunity for the children
to learn practical and living skills and habits, as well as forming their
personality as a whole.
Accommodation
Accommodation
will be provided for the participants at the orphanage boarding house.
Sleeping bags will not be needed. Volunteers will have their food prepared
by the cooking staff.
Leisure time
Plovdiv is
the second largest Bulgarian city, crossroad of different cultures with
more than 6000 years history. Ruins from Thracian and Roman times can be
seen along with the architectural reserve “Old Plovdiv” and many other
sites of historical importance. Volunteers can explore the city and attend
the number of cultural and sports events taking place there every summer.
MAR 02
Trakia I 07/07 – 20/07/2002
12 vols
MAR 06
Trakia II 21/07 – 03/08/2002
12 vols
MAR 10
Trakia III 04/08 – 17/08/2002
12 vols
MAR 14
Trakia IV 18/08 – 31/08/2002
12 vols
Location
Children Social
Home “Rada Kirkovich”, Plovdiv and Boykovo
The project
The Social
Home “Rada Kirkovich” is the oldest orphanage in Bulgaria, established
80 years ago in Plovdiv. It provides home and care for about 75 children
from the age of 5 to 15 years. Most of them are parentless or forsaken,
some are with socially disadvantaged or sick parents. The children study
in public schools in the town. They are encouraged to participate in different
art workshops and music programs.
The Social
Home is located in the center of Plovdiv but during the summer the children
go to some beautiful surrounding villages where lots of games in open are
organised for them. This summer they will spend most of the time in Boykovo
- a small picturesque village in Rhodopi Mountain, very close to the city
of Plovdiv. The workcamp group will be together with the children in the
mountain, and some time they will spend in the Social home in Plovdiv.
This is the
second year that MAR organises this volunteer project with the Social home
“Rada Kirkovich” and it will consist of four subsequent workcamps.
Work
The volunteers
will organise program of social activities for the residents of the orphanage.
These can include Bulgarian and also international games in open air, sports,
different workshops, art programs, etc.
Some small
renovation and cleaning works in the Social home are possible but this
is not the main accent in the volunteers’ work.
Other requirements
Ability
to organise activities for groups of children and make creative use of
basic resources will be appreciated.
Accommodation
The international
volunteers will share the accommodation of the residents in a building.
Sleeping bags are unnecessary. Volunteers will have their food prepared
by the cooking staff.
Leisure time
The participants
will have the possibility to enjoy the beautiful nature of Rhodopi Mountain
and also the fascinating town of Plovdiv. Plovdiv is the second largest
Bulgarian city, crossroad of different cultures with more than 6000 years
history. Ruins from Thracian and Roman times can be seen along with the
architectural reserve “Old Plovdiv” and many other sites of historical
importance.
MAR 03
Borovci I 14/07 – 27/07/2002
15 vols
MAR 07
Borovci II 28/07 – 10/08/2002
15 vols
Location
Social home
in Borovtzi, near Montana
The project
The orphanage
“Zakrila” is a municipality owned social home for children at the age of
7 to 17 years. It is situated in the village Borovtzi, near the town of
Montana. Most of the residents are parentless or come from socially disadvantaged
backgrounds. All they go to school in Montana.
For the first
time this summer MAR is organising a volunteer project containing two workcamps,
with the purpose to offer support to the home and the children living there.
Work
Volunteers’
help is needed in this project to create better living conditions for the
children. The international group will work on the renovation of the orphanage
building and its surroundings. Their tasks will include painting and cleaning
up the area. The teen-age residents of the orphanage will be helping the
volunteers.
Accommodation
The group will
be accommodated in the orphanage. Sleeping bags are not necessary. Meals
will be prepared by the cooking staff.
Leisure time
Borovtzi is
a typical Bulgarian village situated in the western part of the Balkan
Mountains. The area offers lots of opportunities for hikers and nature
lovers. A trip to Klisurski and Lopushanski Monasteries and also to the
nearby lake Ogosta will be organised for the volunteer group. At Klisurski
Monastery the volunteers will meet the younger resident of the orphanage
who will be spending their holiday in this beautiful place.
MAR 04 Gutzal 14/07 - 27/07/2002 15 vols
Location
Orphanage in
Gutzal, near Kostenetz, located 120 km in the south-east of Sofia.
The project
The orphanage
has 56 children between the ages of 7 and 18. Most of them come from very
poor families who cannot afford to raise them.
The children
study in the village school. In summer time, there will be an average of
30 kids staying at the orphanage. There are three educators helping during
the day time.
Although intercultural social contact has already been made thanks to a French foundation organising activities twice a month, the children are still in great need of socialising. They also need to learn practical living skills and habits (body hygiene, social rules, …).
Work
The large playground
and the garden overlooking a beautiful mountain scenery offer a great potential
but they need to be cleaned up and reorganised. The fences should be painted.
The rooms need
a great cleaning (floors, windows).
The children
will be happy to help throughout the project.
Preferred skills
of volunteers
Volunteers
with ideas and skills which could create an incentive to those children
willing to learn are welcomed: drawing, painting, sowing, knitting, wood
working, language tuition, discussion groups, mime, dancing, music, sports
games, …..
Accommodation
The volunteers
will be accommodated in rooms with 4 or 6 beds. Sleeping bags will be necessary.
Meals can be
prepared by the cooking staff but volunteers can also prepare their own
meal in a separate kitchen.
Leisure time
Gutzal is a
typical Bulgarian village which is remote and surrounded by outstanding
mountains favouring hikers and nature lovers.
The volunteers
might like to visit the town of Samokov and the mountainous resort Borovetz
that offer either cultural or environmental interests.
MAR 08
Rakitovo 28/07 – 11/08/2002
20 vols
Location
Rakitovo
The project
Rakitovo is
a small town in Rhodopi mountain, surrounded by beautiful lakes and forests.
This year an international voluntary project will be organised for second
time in the town.
The project
includes environmental work on the western slopes of the mountain and around
the lake Batak, some improvement activities in the town and participation
in an international folk festival.
The international
participants will have an opportunity for intercultural exchange with local
volunteers while working together in the frame of the project.
Work
The group of
foreign and local volunteers will carry out environmental activities in
the extremely beautiful mountainous area Tzigov chark, will make eco-paths
and some cleaning around the lake Batak. Volunteers are expected to help
with some small renovation works in the kindergarten in the town such as
painting, improvement of the outdoor play equipment, laying out gardens.
The international
folk festival “Dorkovo” will take place for several days during the project.
The volunteers will be invited to take part in it with their own presentations.
Accommodation
Volunteers
will be accommodated in a solid building with all conveniences. Sheets,
blankets and pillows will be provided, so no sleeping bags are necessary.
Volunteers
will have their meals prepared by a kitchen staff.
Leisure time
Trips to the
town of Velingrad, the historical town of Batak can be organised as well
as meetings with local people and hikes in the mountain.
MAR 11 Devin 4/08 – 17/08/2002 14 vols
Location
The workcamp
will take place in the town of Devin in the southern part of Bulgaria.
The Devin district covers the territory of the highest central parts of
the picturesque sub-region of the West Rhodopi Mountains.
The project
Rhodopi mountain
is characterized by its exceptional beauty and unique bio-diversity. MAR
is active in the region for three years already. This environmental project
is organised as a response to the initiative of local young people who
are willing to extend the ecological and nature-protecting activities in
the mountain as well as to improve the town environment. There will be
an opportunity for intercultural exchange with the local youngsters who
will participate in the workcamp along with the international group.
Work
The volunteer
group will undertake variety of environmental activities in the mountains
surrounding Devin such as cleaning and marking of eco-tracks.
The volunteers
will also work for improving some open spaces in the town of Devin including
renovation and cleaning in the school, the children playgrounds and sports
facilities for youth.
Accommodation
The group will
be accommodated in a hut in the mountain. While in Devin they will stay
in a local school boarding house. Sleeping bags are not necessary. Volunteers
don’t have to cook on their own, a staff will be charged with this task.
Leisure time
Rhodopi Mountain
is famous as one of the most beautiful Bulgarian mountains. You can visit
some of its most fascinating nature and historic sites in the area of Devin.
Trip to “The Devil’s throat” cave (underground river with 18 waterfalls)
and some other caves around will be organised. Volunteers can go hiking
in the mountain and visit the open swimming pool with hot mineral water.
Local people are eager to show you their folk songs and dances.
MAR 12 Vratza 11/08 – 24/08/2002 15 vols
Location
Social home
in the town of Vratza, in the North-West of Bulgaria.
The project
After a number
of environmental workcamps in the region of Vratza and the first social
project last year, this year again MAR invites volunteers from all over
the world to work in favour of the children from the Social home in Vratza
The orphanage
in Vratza offers the children a home from the age of 8 to 20. At present
there are around 100 residents living in the social home. All they have
hard social background. Many of the children are without any parents or
relatives, other are with single parent, physically or mentally sick parents
or even imprisoned ones.
The residents
have normal physical and mental development. Most of them are high-school
students in Vratza, the rest visit the primary schools in the town. Trained
teachers supervise the life in the home and take care of the children.
Their main purpose is to work for the socialization of the young people
and their adaptation to the society.
The project
is an excellent opportunity for the children who live at the social home
to meet other young people, to improve social skills and therefore likelihood
of being able to have a positive experience of community interaction. It’s
a chance for them to meet and learn from people from a different background
and culture to their own.
Work
The volunteers
will carry out variety of activities in favour of the orphanage. They will
work together with the teen-age residents of the home. The group will do
some renovation and cleaning in the boarding house and the yard. Possibly
some painting will be included.
The volunteers
will help the residents in their everyday domestic duties such as cleaning
and work in the kitchen. The group will also organize free time activities
for the children like sports games, visits to the sports grounds and the
pool in the town, discos, mountain hiking and picnics in the wonderful
surroundings of Vratza, etc.
Accommodation
The group will
share the accommodation of the children in the orphanage. Rooms with two,
three or four beds will be available. Meals will be prepared by the cooking
staff.
Leisure time
The natural
ways of spending some time in a very beautiful place full of fresh air,
green glades, cold brooks and attractive sites. In the surrounding area
is the famous cave “Ledenika”, which is considered to be one of the biggest
and the most beautiful in Bulgaria. For those who would like to feel the
traditional atmosphere nearby is the Tcherepishki Monastery.
ABOUT BULGARIA
If you open any tourist guide of Europe or the world, you will no doubt
come across a few lines about Bulgaria:
“A country in South-Eastern Europe, in the Balkan Peninsula, extending
over an area of 111, 000 sq km, with a population of about nine million,
an attractive tourist country, with beautiful scenery and hospitable people.”
These are the generally known facts.
Yet, every country has something that is typical, different and unique!
These are more basic facts about Bulgaria:
The birth date
of Bulgaria is the year 681. At that time there were only three states
in Europe: The Frankish kingdom, The eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) and
Bulgaria.
The oldest
crafted gold in the history of mankind, as well as the Thracian gold treasures
which conquered the world, were discovered in the Bulgarian lands.
Out of the
300 cultural and natural sites in the UNESCO List of World Heritage, nine
are in Bulgaria: Kazanlyk and Sveshtari tombs – unique monuments of Thracian
art; the Madara Horseman – a monumental bas-relief hewn into the sheer
rock, unparalleled in Europe; the Boyana Church – making the beginnings
of portrait painting in European art; the majestic Rila Monastery and the
ancient museum-town of Nessebyr; the Ivanovo Rock Monasteries – a natural
museum of medieval Bulgarian paintings; the Pirin National Park and the
Srebarna Wildlife Reserve.
The world’s
perfume and cosmetics industry could not do without the Bulgarian attar
of roses – the Bulgarian oleaginous rose yields 80 percent of the world’s
production.
Bulgaria is
the country of yogurt – the food of centenarians.
Small Bulgaria
is one of the world’s largest wine producers, together with France, Spain,
Italy and Greece. It is only in Bulgaria, however, that the wine of the
ancient Thracians is still produced and drunk – the full-bodied red Mavrud.
The land of
the mythical singer Orpheus has produced some of the most outstanding voices
of world operatic art: Boris Christoff and Nikolay Ghiaurov, Raina Kabaivanska
and Ghena Dimitrova.
Besides Beethoven’s
Ninth Symphony, the Golden Record traveling to extraterrestrial civilizations
aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spaceships also includes a Bulgarian
Rhodope Mountain song, performed by Valja Balkanska.
GENERAL FACTS
Geographical location: Bulgaria is situated in South-Eastern Europe, in
the North-Eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula between 41014’ and 44014’
northern latitude and 22021’ and 28036’ eastern longitude. Bulgaria has
a territory of 110 911 square kilometers, which is 22 % of the Balkan Peninsula,
60 % of the territory of the country is hilly and mountainous. Its length
is 520 km and its width is 330 km. The overall length of its borders is
2245 km. Bulgaria borders to the north with Romania (the frontier line
runs along the Danube river and continues on land to the north-east), to
the south – with Greece and Turkey, to the west – with Serbia and Macedonia
(former Yugoslavia) and to the east – with the Black Sea.
Population: 8 230 371 citizens, incl. 7 200 000 Bulgarians; 800 000 Bulgarian
Turks; 300 000 Gypsies and small groups of Jews, Wallachs, Russians, Greeks.
The density of the population is 74,2 per square km.
Capital: Sofia (1 122 302 citizens).
Principal cities: Plovdiv (342 584), Varna (299 801), Burgas (195 255),
Ruse (166 467), Stara Zagora (147 939), Pleven (121 952), Dobrich (100
399), Sliven (105 530), Shoumen (94 686). 28,1 % of the population
is urban.
Administrative-territorial division: 28 regions and 262 municipalities.
Official language: Bulgarian. Uses only the Cyrillic alphabet. To facilitate
tourists, road and direction signs in populated areas, resorts, railway
station, airports and along the main highways are also spelled in Latin
letters. English, German, French, Russian and other languages are spoken
in the country.
Religion: Eastern Orthodox Christians 86,6 % of the population. In separate
regions Islam is professed 13,1 %. Other religions 0,3 %.
Currency: 1 Lev (BGN) = 100 stotinki. The Bulgarian economy operates under
the auspices of a Currency Board where 1 BGN is equal to 1 DEM, and 1,95583
BGN is equal to 1 EURO; in place since 1 January 1999.
Climate: Temperate continental. Distinguished four seasons. South Bulgaria
is reached by the Mediterranean influence. The climate in Northern Bulgaria
is moderate continental, while the climate in Southern Bulgaria is intermediate
continental tending to Mediterranean. The climate in the regions with an
altitude of 1900-2000 m above sea level is mountainous and along the Black
Sea coast it is maritime. The climate of the seaside regions is milder
in the winter and cooler in the summer than the climate of the interior
of the country. The average annual temperature is 10.5°C, in winter about
0°C. The lowest temperature -38.3°C – was measured in 1947 in Tryn.
Longest river: Iskar 368 km.
Highest mountain peak: Musala (in the Rila Mountains) 2925 m, which is
the highest peak in the whole Balkan Peninsula.
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