Motley House has been providing shelter, food and above all – friendship and support for lonely mothers, who have decided to fight their destiny and to raise their children. Zhani Kovacheva and her husband Ivodor established years ago the Mission – Salvation foundation, believing in their responsibility as human beings to bring happiness, consolation and to provide support. They take care of lonely mothers and also work with prisoners and ex-prisoners. In 2011 they opened House without Bars in Sofia, where they accommodated for a while ex-convicts. Their goal was to help such people get back on their feet and enter the society again.

A total of two homes have been constructed under the Motley House – Home for Moms and Kids project, currently accommodating 3 women with 7 children. Zheni Kovacheva explains why motley:

It’s because the feelings of a single mom are motley, along with those of the children. On one hand you get thrilled, when you meet someone as desperate as those people. On the other, you realize that the situation can change and they can start their life all over again. It is an unbelievable feeling to see the smile of the child and the eyes of the mother changing. We already see changed fates here and women, ready to go on.

The idea for Motley House was a spontaneous one, when a young mother with two small kids, who was unemployed and homeless, turned to Zhani and Ivodor for help.

She lived in our office several months. Then we came up with the idea that if we found the right people, we could easily create such motley houses across Sofia and Bulgaria. Then we managed to hire an apartment that wasn’t motley at all at first, but that mom didn’t care. Later on other lonely mothers appeared. We have had a second Motley House in Sofia for 6 months now that we maintain. Different women come for different periods of time due to the different situations. They stay from several weeks to several months and a mom even spent almost a year and a half here, because she had to finish her education with two children. She has been an independent, working, self-confident woman ever since. We try to link with different organizations that can provide food, home-based activities etc. We believe that everyone of us can be a sort of a bridge between those, who are in need and those, who can help. Last week we tried to help several women with their own flats, but without a job. They literally didn’t have money to feed their children. We can’t simply blame the institutions or the state, we share the view now that things depend only on us. Thus we came up with the idea about a food bank – I think we can connect with food chain stores, restaurants and friends, creating a place, where food is stored for everyone in need.

© Photo: Mission – Salvation foundation

Sometimes the organization has to recommend a certain woman, since many landlords refuse to let into their properties even women, who have a job at the moment. Zhani gives us more details on the needs and problems of single moms:

They are usually totally desperate and perplexed. In most cases we see that these women need mainly our friendship and support. Many of them have just gone through a divorce, a breakup or the death of their husband. The kids of one of the mothers are teenagers that are now opting for the bad side of life and she is desperate. That is why we try to help, we meet them, we talk. I must say here that our entire philosophy is based on Christian values. We do believe that following these values we can reach a really deep change in people’s lives. We do not only want to help them, but to give them the chance to help in their turn to other people after some time. Some mothers do exactly that and we are happy with this.

The foundation also takes care of the kids. They can visit for free the Happy Children art school with Mission – Salvation. The last charity concert with the participation of stars like Miro, Maria Ilieva, Angel and Moisey provided money for a summer camp for the kids in the Troyan Balkan. Zhani wishes that they could provide a short vacation to the entire families till the end of the summer. All activities of the organization and the names of all donors are published online at www.missionbg.org.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev