Saturday 13 September 2008

Friday 12th September - Day 8.


View the national news video feature here.

Day 8 and the day we really travelled all this way for.

We left our hotel today at 9.30am in the government supplied minibus which took us to the secure compound on the edge of town where the vehicles are being kept. Once we got there we were met by a Bulgarian channel 1 TV crew who wanted to talk to us about what we are doing. Apparently the story went out on the national news tonight not just here in Bulgaria but also surrounding states such as Bosnia. The publicity can only be good in terms of raising local public awareness of the problems that exist and what needs to be done.

Once the TV film crew caught us all leaving the secure compound we split into four groups to take aid to our various orphanages or hospitals. Each group had a lead vehicle from one life Bulgaria, the local charity group the CWUHA has been working with to take us to our destination.

As we were driving to Pleven (through beautiful mountain scenery) we got a message that the Bulgarian army were on site at the hospital to help us unload our vehicle. This was a big plus as we were all worried that we would not have enough time to spend going round the centre itself. Without the need to unload we had a lot more time. As we walked into the entrance of the hospital the welcome was really touching. Lots of the staff and some of the kids were there to greet us and the director of the centre gave a speech welcoming us and explaining what the work of the centre entails.

Basically the kids are split into 4 groups. Firstly there are those who are so badly physically or mentally disabled that they were just abandoned by their parents. This was the most upsetting group to see. As you will see from the photos some of them had such serious disabilities that realistically they could not expect to live much longer.


The second category of kids were the premature babies who are looked after by the centre until they reach a weight of 3 kgs when they are then returned to their parents. It was fantastic to see the incubators that had been provided by the Irish guys already in use with little babies in them.

The third category of kids is those that are considered normal and are available for adoption. These are beautiful babies but they are suffering from a lack of human contact and stimulation. The grave risk is that without proper stimulation they end up with the other kids who are classified as disabled. The Bulgarian adoption laws don’t help but maybe I will explain a bit more about that on one of next weeks blogs if time allows.

The final category of kids is those who despite their disabilities are growing up and are really like any young kids – inquisitive, friendly and demanding of attention. These kids came up to us all with the teddies we gave them earlier with their arms outstretched begging to be picked up. They chatted to us in Bulgarian about whatever was exciting them. One little chap who took a shine to me was telling me to take him to the window so he could look at the lorries in the car park. They called us uncles (or Aunties in Ricki's case) and we were told that Uncles are visitors who come and show them some normal everyday kindness. Heartbreaking .


The photos I have uploaded with today's blog will give you a flavour of what I have described above.. You can easily work out which category the kids fall into.

We left Pleven at 5.00pm and started our 3 hour journey back to Sofia. Ricki and I spent the journey exchanging our impressions about the visit. We both agreed that there were aspects that filled us with despair but other parts that made us feel that there was hope for the kids and that the aid we had delivered would make a difference to their lives and that is what everyone came on this convoy for.

When we all got back to the hotel about 9.30 pm there was much swapping of stories about our different experiences and a real feeling of comradeship between us after all we have been through to get here and then our experiences at the institutions today.

Our mission has been accomplished but now we have to get home.

Tomorrow we have a reception hosted by the local charity we have been working with, One life Bulgarian and on Sunday we have another reception with the British and Irish Ambassadors. On Monday we start the long haul home. Mileage to date is 3250 kms!

Keep reading the blog as the next week will be as eventful as the last and I will try and give you a different account of the trip back.

If the photos have moved you I am sure Alex and Carl the charity organisers would be happy to accept any donations you can give.

Tomorrows blog will return to a lighter hearted note but I hope you understand why today's has had to be in a more serious vein.


Peter.


1 comment:

Dianna said...

Not sure what to say, well done? doesnt really seem enough. So ive made a donation to the charity, the pictures cannot fail to move you,the joy albeit fleeting you have all brought to these children has to be worth the trip, which at times looks to have been very difficult.