About 6,000 children are born prematurely in Bulgaria every year, which is about 10% of the newly born in this country. The sight of a premature baby may be frightening for some people, but parents of such children view them as the most beautiful and tender human beings, whose life begins with a great struggle. Everyone is involved in this struggle for survival – the little heroes, the medical specialists from the neonatal intensive care units, as well as their families.

One year ago in February, an idea aimed at supporting parents of premature children was born in Bulgaria. The voluntary initiative allows all people who feel empathy with the problems of the premature babies to support their families. The Foundation “Our Premature Children” organizes the good cause campaign.

“The purpose of the campaign was to collect 750 martenitsas (a small piece of adornment made of red and white yarn) for each premature infant in the intensive care nurseries”, explained Monika Zlatanova from the Foundation “Our Premature Children” (on theft in the picture). “Fortunately, more than 1,300 martenitsas were collected during the initiative. We were quite enthusiastic and decided to repeat the initiative this year. Everyone took the noble cause personally.”

The idea was not born accidentally, because the traditional Bulgarian martenitsa is a symbol of health, warmth and a blessing. Apart from being part of the Bulgarian folklore, the twined red and white threads herald the new life and symbolize the hope for a brighter future. When martenitsas are made with plenty of love and good wishes, they can make everyone smile, warm people’s hearts and make them believe in good deeds:

“In fact, there are not that many requirements”, continued Monika Zlatanova. “We allowed the volunteers to give vent to their imagination. The whole thing requires dexterity and enough materials only. The main idea is to make larger Pizho (the male doll) and Penda (the female doll) dolls, rather than small red and white wrist bands. When we receive these martenitsas, we attach them to special hand-made cards. We write the name of the person who sent them on the back. Thus, the families of the premature babies know that someone is thinking of them and is supporting them.”

If the number of collected martenitsas exceeds the number of the premature babies in Bulgaria, the extra products will be available for charity sale in support of the foundation’s activities.

Compiled by: Darina Grigorova (after an interview of Vesselina Milanova from BNR-Horizont Channel)

English version: Kostadin Atanasov

Photos: Foundation “Our Premature Children”, BNR, library