Radio Sofia’s new series “A home far from home” was launched six months ago with the financial support of the Bulgarian Fund for Women, under a project aimed at empowering refugees. Every Saturday, after the news at 12 noon, we air the stories of refugees in Bulgaria, in the Bulgarian language, and how the institutions can assist them in their integration in this country.
The series aims to open, by the means available to our station, a public integration forum for the people who have chosen to make Bulgaria their safe harbour, as they are demonized, and the myths of how different they are consume Bulgarian society, causing it to plunge into panic.
In a series of features, “A home far from home” discusses how society and the institutions can come to know and communicate with the people who have been given international protection in this country. Radio Sofia’s reporters present the way migrants in this country live, their lifestyle and cultural values, with a focus on the social environment and their place in local communities.
Another aspect of the project is to ascertain whether refugees are discriminated against, what they need in this country, what perils they face and what the existing ways to guarantee human rights in Bulgaria are.
It is our professional desire to provoke a positive change in general societal attitudes towards refugees and migrants, and by painting their portrait, their mentality, by bringing listeners authentic, genuine stories, to overturn the conservative fears in our society, and instead of pointing a finger at them, to lend a helping hand to the people who have chosen this country to be their home far from home.
The project is being implemented in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bulgaria.
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