Jewel & Esk College - Bulgarian Orphanage

Bhagavat Educational Trust works on the territory of four different continents and its activities include the furtherance of education and the general relief of poverty.  The Trust’s project in Bulgaria called “Help today Hope tomorrow” began in 2002 and has involved four institutions for children with physical and mental disabilities.

A team of eleven students on the community and care course at Jewel & Esk College raised funding to travel to a Bulgarian orphanage for two weeks in August-September 2010 to take part in a project that they describe as “adventurous, challenging and relevant”.  The students ran daily play sessions which enabled the children to participate fully in enjoying the outdoors and feeling valued and cared for. They observed the importance of giving attention to the children and made it their daily priority. The students were creative in engaging with the children and also assisted in the refurbishment of the orphanage interiors.  The orphanage environment was improved as the students were shown a number of areas that could be decorated and they prioritised, organised and completed the tasks as a team.  They raised funds prior to the visit to pay for the materials.  Confidence grew as they each lead their teams, contributed to the daily tasks and reflection sessions. The orphanage was delighted with the impact on the children and the refurbishment.

The students described the experience as “a mutual sharing of fun and smiles. We developed our skills by having the opportunity to put our learning from our community and care courses into practice.  Our core skills were implemented when we used problem solving and working with others to work out our finances. We communicated with each other and the Bulgarian community. We became confident when we had the opportunity to be the leader of the group and allocate tasks.  We became responsible citizens when we respected each other and the different traditions that we experienced.  We were supportive of each other especially when it was quite tough climbing to the orphanage at the top of the hill each day and back down.  We were effective contributors by playing with the children and working harmoniously with a bit of humour in teams to motivate the long hours of volunteering in a different environment.  We felt we had become successful learners when we achieved our goals and we continued to set goals when we returned home e.g. new volunteering opportunities, applying for higher level college courses or gaining employment.”