This year on Baba Marta Day the citizens of Bulgaria’s capital Sofia have the chance to exchange martenitsas (small adornment made of red and white yarn) and wishes of good health and happiness and at the same time become part of a charity cause which aims at raising funds in support of refugees in Bulgaria. Baba Marta in Support of the Refugees is an initiative of Caritas Sofia and CVS Bulgaria non-governmental organizations which joined efforts four years ago, in order to help the refugees who seek asylum in Bulgaria adapt easier. Volunteers of different age and with different professions, united by the will to do good deeds, organize weekly lessons in Bulgarian and English, as well as workshops for applied arts, music, sports and computer skills. The lessons are held in the three reception centers for refugees in Sofia in Ovcha Kupel, Voenna Rampa and Vrazhdebna districts. The money raised by the initiative will be used for the purchase of materials for these workshops. Diana Nedeva from Caritas Sofia has more about the idea and the purpose of the initiative.

“Baba Marta in Support of the Refugees is an initiative which aims at assisting the activities carried out at the refugee centers in Sofia. We also want to focus public attention on the refugee issue. The event includes a race in Boris Gardens which is to be held on March 1 at 11 am, as well as a series of entertaining workshops for children and adults.”

All participants who bought tickets will receive T-shirts and accessories, in order to dress into the traditional Baba Marta characters-Pizho and Penda. The winners of the race will get unique hand-made medal-shaped martenitsas. The event will be carried out with the assistance of the Sofia Municipality and is in support of Sofia which was named European Capital of Sport in 2018.

The refugee flow towards Bulgaria still continues. In January only just over 1,000 people from 24 countries sought asylum, data of the State Agency for Refugees show. Most of the refugees come from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. In the past four years the NGOs managed to help over 1,000 refugees. In fact, most refugees who seek asylum in Bulgaria are planning to reach Western Europe later, hoping to find a better life there. Are refugees motivated enough to benefit from the opportunities provided by the Bulgarian volunteers. More from Diana Nedeva:

“Many highly-motivated people attend our initiatives. On one hand, this is due to the fact that the volunteers themselves use interactive methods and make the event very interesting. On the other hand, the refugees’ presence is due to their will to learn what volunteers offer to them. Of course, many of the asylum-seekers are planning to move to another country, because they have relatives who already settled there. A lot of refugees already live in Western Europe, because the main refugee flow over the past years was directed towards this region. However, there are many refugees who want to stay in Bulgaria permanently, because Bulgaria used to organize student exchange programs with some of the countries today’s refugees come from, and there were people who established their communities in Bulgaria even before the start of the military conflicts in the regions most refugees come from nowadays. In other words, people manage to find friends and relatives in Bulgaria, too”, Diana Nedeva concludes.

English version: Kostadin Atanasдэ

Photos: courtesy to the organizers of the campaign