This year has been successful for the Bulgarian Youth Red Cross /BYRC/ – the youth branch of the oldest and most respected humanitarian organization in this country. The winning of the World Youth Award 2011 of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent is doubtlessly the greatest recognition. The award was established back in 2005 and it has nominations in 4 categories. The BYRC is the winner in the Principles and Values category. Funds from the award will be invested in the implementation of a one-year project in the town of Targovishte, entitled Together for a Better Life that is aimed at the fight with different forms of discrimination.
“Volunteers from different ethnicities – Bulgarian, Turkish, Roma, along with young handicapped people will go through a series of trainings in tolerance and fight with discrimination,” Head of BYRC Atanas Tsvetanski says. Mixed teams of all these volunteers will be formed then and those will create and run different workshops and interactive activities at the schools in the town of Targovishte and the region. There will be a couple of large-scaled campaigns – for the beginning and the end of the project, downtown Targovishte, in front of the community. They will send an appeal for tolerance not only to young people and students, but to the entire society. Thus they will show that together, no matter their ethnicity and social status, people can do many more good things. Anyone can contribute with his or her knowledge and skills. There has been a trend, observed over the past years by our members and volunteers. They notice that discrimination now comes first and tolerance lags behind. We set a priority task – to work for tolerance among children and young people in Bulgaria.”
Young boys and girls with a mission: that’s what BYRC volunteers are. “Moreover, our role amidst youth organizations in Bulgaria becomes a leading one,” Mr. Tsvetanski says.
“The BYRC is quite popular, regarding its international activity at the construction of structures and activities in organizations, similar to ours,” he says. “We have contributed to the establishment of Belarusian’s Red Cross, the ones in Tajikistan, Armenia and Serbia. We have also helped quite a lot national associations and we continue with our support. The Dutch Red Cross invited us a month ago for the building of their youth structure, based on our experience. We have an active cooperation with the Danish and Austrian Youth Red Crosses as we share common projects. Due to our active international role and the award, won this year, we will host the European meeting of youth red cross organizations in April 2012.”
Atanas Tsvetanski says that the campaign, organized due to the 90th anniversary of the BYRC was among the successful ones. It took place in October amidst students from the entire country. The Be One of 90,000 appeal of BYRC’s volunteers was aimed at Bulgarian students, who were invited to share some of their pocket money for the construction of kitchens for poor children. There was another project, related to the unveiling on January 24 in Sofia’s nearby village of Lozen of accommodation for young people, who leave social institutions. They will have the chance to spend a year there, while adapting to life outside the institution. In 2011 1,300 volunteers of BYRC were trained and took part in the National Campaign for Popularization of Foster Care in Bulgaria.
English version: Zhivko Stanchev
