Volunteering & Volunteer Students

I'm back from vacation! So now commences the search for an activity for the rest of the summer. One thing I'm thinking of doing is going to Bulgaria.

Speaking of Bulgaria, I think I need to write at least one blog post about the orphans in Bulgaria. Recently there have been quite a lot of international media outcries about the plight of the orphans in Bulgaria. The 'original' documentary was BBC's 'Bulgaria's abandoned children'. Here it is, but I think all viewers should bear in mind that Bulgaria's government is actively working to better conditions at orphanages, and many volunteers go to help these 'abandoned' (I think this word is way too strong for this case) children.

Recently, a French documentary also came out about the plight of Bulgarian orphans.

Bulgaria's government, though, is trying to improve the conditions that the children live in:

The support for orphans, living in special homes is going up from BGN 3947 to 5961. The increase would become effective beginning July 1, 2008 and includes all 1461 children living in the specialized homes till they finish 12th grade, but are not older than 20 years of age.

Plus, the dedication of people like Hyeon make me very optimistic about the whole situation:

This summer, I will be going to one of Plovdiv’s orphanages, Rodopski Pansion, that have been significantly reformed since 2007 through a volunteer organization. The fact that it has opened up to receive help from international volunteers to stay with the orphans who have no relatives to stay with during the summer shows the significant extent of the reforms. Although I know that this is an opportunity for me to help these children who are in need of personal attention, I am still troubled by the thought that there are many more orphanages in more rural villages that don’t even have the bare minimum given to the orphans at Rodopski Pansion.

However, still more needs to be done.  I applaud those helping orphans in need, and I wish the best of luck to them.