Projects
Our Baba Program at the state institute Drugarche started in July 2010
YouHelp BG has helped resurrect the Baba Program at the state institute Drugarche (Bulgarian for Little Friend) in Varna. The state institute Drugarche is a traditional orphanage where 1 staff member is responsible for a large number of children (up to 20 children). The staff can barely meet the physical needs of the children and does not have any time for emotional love and mental stimulation so needed by the children. The development of some of these extremely vulnerable and neglected children (ages 3 to 6) was so stunted they could not speak more than two or three words before the beginning of the Baba Program. The children could not speak not because of any mental or physical disability but simply because no human being ever spoke to them.
This is where the Baba Program stepped in. Our Babas became surrogate Grannies of 12 orphaned and abandoned boys and girls children 4 hours a day, five days a week. Each Baba was paired with 2 children and spent individual time with them on daily basis. The program was a great success. It was not only extremely stimulating for the mental growth and development of the children but also brought a lot of joy into their isolated lives between the four institutional walls. The children at the institute had never had a birthday party and had never seen birthday candles. On their fourth birthday the twins in the picture below had their first birthday party with cake and goodies sponsored by the Babas.
Unfortunately the funding for the program was discontinued last summer because of budget cuts in the Social Services Department in Varna. The Babas became so attached to the children they were looking after that after the end of the program they kept visiting the children and taking them to their homes to visit. We are currently continue raising funds for the Baba Program and are proud to have reunited the children and the Babas on daily basis.
We will soon post more pictures of the 12 boys and girls and all the Babas in the Baba Program. Come back to our website soon to read their personal stories.
Please click here to see how you can help.
A volunteer program at the Transitional Protected Home for Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy or other Mental Disabilities in Varna.
The Transitional Protected Home for Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy or Mental Retardation in Varna is run by professional staff and is financed by the Municipality of Varna. All 6 adolescents placed in the home are diagnosed with “severe or moderate mental retardation” and have been raised in isolated state-run institutes. The Transitional Home for Adolescents in Varna is a modern apartment for six adolescents over the age of 18 placed in the care of the municipality of Varna. The Transitional Home is located in the central part of the city and constitutes a modern alternative to traditional bleak state institutes often located in remote villages without access to resources which can be found in the big cities such as adequately trained staff, proper facilities for rehabilitation as well as educational opportunities and opportunities for social interactions. Transitional protected homes in Bulgaria are a relatively recent attempt to make it possible for institutionalized children and young adults raised in isolation to be integrated in the community.
We run a volunteer program with 12 volunteers, mostly retired teachers, who help the six disabled adolescents at the Transitional Home to adapt to the world beyond institutional walls. Most of the inhabitants of the Transitional Home cannot speak not as a result of their medical condition but simply because nobody ever spoke to them. Our volunteers talk and listen to those who can speak. We pay attention to those who cannot speak and communicate only by gesturing and making sounds. Everyone in the Transitional Home is extremely enthusiastic about any form or music ranging from the Opera to Heavy Metal Concerts. Our volunteers organize regular visits to social and cultural events including films, concerts, crafts fairs, dance performances and the theater.
Our volunteers not only help the previously institutionalized adolescents to discover the outside world but also encourage the community to discover the world of institutionalized people. The volunteers invite the adolescents to visit their homes and introduce them to families and friends. The adolescents who are familiar only with bare institutional rooms are curious like toddlers peeking inside closets, drawers and cupboards and discovering “all the stuff” in a real home.
Our volunteers make sure that everyone in the Protected Transitional Home has fun on holidays and birthdays. We sponsor parties with homemade cakes, pastries and other food prepared by the volunteers. We carefully chose birthday gifts intended to stimulate the adolescents to develop their potential. For example, our last birthday boy, whose name is Gosho, is quite a handyman and likes fixing things. He received a set of tools on his birthday and was so happy that he slept with his new screwdriver under his pillow. Gosho used his tools to help make storage shelves in the closet.
Our volunteers also teach the inhabitants of the Transitional Protected Home to cook, to wash up dishes, to do laundry and other house chores. This is part of our strategy to help the adolescents to acquire various practical skills which can make them more independent adults despite their disabilities. All our activities at the Transitional Protected Home are coordinated with the Department of Social Services and Welfare in the Municipality of Varna.
