CHILDREN AND YOUTHS in Vidrare, Bulgaria

Peace Corps Volunteer Jacob Agran, from Pennsylvania, completed the Orphan Train application to match the orphanage at Vidare with an Orphan Train conductor. We would ask, if your organization is interested in working with the Vidare Orphanage, to contact us first at edf@itis.com . Needs may have changed. The actual name of the Orphanage is “Children and Youths’ Home with Heavy Physical and Mental Handicaps.”

Ninety-one children ranging in age from 3 to 18 yrs. live in the vidrare home. Vidrare is a small village located 84 km north east of sofia. All of the children within the home have plural malformations and commitment diseases including epilepsy, neurosis, and psychosis. Twenty of the children and bed ridden and have difficulties in moving. Forty-one of the children have a declaration for refusal of parental rights. According to documents 50 have parents though only 10 of them are in contact with their parents. There is a very gracious and caring staff in the home consisting of 56 individuals: 8 nurses, 1 doctor, 10 teachers (2 w/ specialized education), 1 social worker, 20 administrator and workers, and 16 people who look after the children. The director at facility, Evgeni Georgiev Dimitrov speaks english and has been the director for one and a half years.

Needs

Along with the needs below the orphanage has daily needs from sheets to blankets to clothes, disinfectants, hygienic materials, food, medicines, school supplies, etc.

- Fertilizer for the growing of vegetables in the greenhouse
- Building a water-supply piping system for both drinking and other uses.
- Changing the central water heater and the water boilers in the orphanage
- Renovating of various rooms in the Orphanage (kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room, etc)
- Building an indoor learning and play center for the children
- Opening the orphanage grounds and providing playground equipment specifically to be used by the handicapped
- Building a system to provide heating to the greenhouse for winter production of much needs fruits and vegetables
- Buying a mobile minibus for transportation needs

The water system needs repairs to the existing reservoir catchment system. Changing the concrete fittings in the collecting reservoir and changing the worn out asbestos-concrete pipes with zinc-cased ones. Currently the water supply is not adequate for an entire day and even with the repairs the building of a new water main is.

A new central heating system will help to reduce current fuel expenses by 50%. These expenses presently account for 70 % of the total budget and through these savings it will be increasingly possible to buy much needed food, medicine, clothing, hygiene supplies and other items necessary for the home. This will lead to better living and working conditions for both the children and the staff members.

The existing kitchen was not designed to handle meal preparation for more than 15 people. Currently it serves more than 90 people 3 meals a day. It needs refrigeration, freezer and dry storage space and should be remolded in order to provide a safer and more orderly working environment

The bathrooms lack handicap toilets and sinks, the current ones being often to high for the kids to use. At present the children are forced to depend on help from the staff to use the bathroom facilities.

The laundry room needs to be redesigned and re-equipped with more energy efficient machines that can handle the load of laundry coming from the 91 children that live in the orphanage seven days a week.

An indoor learning and play center would be of great value to the staff and children provide family time. The staff is in many cases the only family the children know. Currently the Children spend a large portion of their day in bedrooms.

The current playground and outdoor facilities is used by a limited number of children do to its design and much needed repairs. Different equipment should be provided based on the different needs of the children along with a fence.

The existing greenhouse is not connected to the boiler system and therefore not able to be used during the cold winter months. During these months the children have little source of much needed vitamins and minerals available from fresh fruit and vegetables

The current mini-bus has 8 seats and it transports 12-13 people daily and is in constant need of repairs. Based on the need for more qualified staff, a bus is necessary to transport staff to and from the orphanage every day.

· Water Supply System $ 30,240.00
· Central Heating System $ 42,000.00
· Renovation of Orphanage Buildings $ 13,452.00
· Indoor Learning and Play Center $ 2,890.00
· Greenhouse $ 8,056.00
· Outdoor Area and Playground $ 16,262.00

Special conditions of the area where the orphanage is located Vidrare is a village of 400-500 people located about 22 km from the town of Pravets. Because of it location they have problems with the qualification of the pedagogical staff. There's a lack of qualified pedagogues within the village and the transportation from Pravets and neighboring towns is extremely difficult

The budget for 2002 was 279, 500 leva (~$155,000). Of this amount 167,500Lv went to pay for the salaries of the 56 employees and to cover insurance while 112,000 leva was for maintenance.

The maintenance includes: Food 7,938leva, Medicines 1,904 leva, Water & fuel for heating 89,415 leva, Telecommunications and postal services 1,794 leva, Repairs 1,191 leva, Materials 2908 leva, Trips for the children 1,235 leva, municipal services 3,664 leva, Other expenses of services 1,951 leva. Sheets, blankets, bedcovers and many other expenses were provides through charity.