Empower Children with Disabilities in Bulgaria

At the end of April, we welcomed our guests from the International School in Zug and Luzern, Switzerland at the family type house in Kazanlak. Students from the school and we from the Cedar Foundation’s team volunteered in the houses by doing a range of activities. This was a new experience for me as well, as a new member of the Foundation’s team. I have never thought that cleaning, planting vegetables, digging and painting stare cases could be fun. For the short time we spent there we all learned some new useful skills which could definitely be used one day. Along with the household chores we had our fun and memorable moments doing some creative work such as painting on walls, windows and tyres, playing games, and designing some special learning boards for the kids.

As part of the program we demonstrated some Bulgarian customs to our guests; they participated in a Bulgarian folk dances’ lesson and they also cooked some traditional Bulgarian pastry called banitsa and to be honest they made it really well as a first attempt. Taking part in the everyday life of the children left a significant footprint in my life and the life of the students, I believe. It could change your perception of life or at least changed mine. Children’ first meeting with us, the strangers form outside, was touchy. They could not express their feelings verbally, however, it was not hard to read their body language, vividly expressing positive emotions. They needed few minutes to come to know us and after breaking the ice it was hard to leave the house – free hugs became the new “Hello” and “Goodbye”; we also received some meanwhile. Seeing all these smiley faces and feeling all the enjoyment coming from the residents of the houses, I could say that these three days were among the most exciting experiences that have happened to the children. And to us!

The last day came. We all became emotional. We helped as we could and it was time to leave. For now… Before this we had our pizza party with everyone, we sang, we danced and of course, we ate some pizza. I assume that we left Kazanlak even more motivated to further help secure a better life for these children and young adults in the house.