Eurasia Snapshot of the Eurasia Region of the Global Church of
the Nazarene – Wednesday, 8 January 2014 “Roma families in Bulgaria receive
Christmas parcels” Written by Dorli Gschwandtner - Wednesday, 08 January 2014
Our bus leaves at a quarter to 7. It's so cold that the window
panes are frosted over. Every time the door opens, a blast of cold air sweeps
through the bus. We move through the dark hills, drop off teachers at local
schools in the villages, pick up a few children: Their village schools have
refused to take them in, because they are Roma kids, and nobody wants them.
Some don't even wear a proper jacket.
We reach Vidrare shortly before 8 a.m. and walk to the school, a
bright, friendly building painted in welcoming colours. Seventy-one kids attend
classes here and receive two meals a day. All of them are Roma children. Zhana
Georgieva, a Nazarene pastor in Bulgaria, has been ministering in this school
for many years now. Some of her duties include Bible classes and awareness
raising among the children, for example about hygiene or human trafficking, a
serious issue in this area. Zhana also supports adult literacy classes for the
parents and makes many, many home visits, spending time with the families,
giving advice, being a friend. The villagers have learnt to trust her. And they
know: When Zhana comes with the Helping Hands Christmas parcels, she doesn't
ask anything in return, like a vote or a membership. “Often I hear people say:
‘You're not like the others,’” Zhana tells me. “Others are buying their
dignity, using their poverty to take something from them. But with us, with the
Nazarene church they know: They are going to help us anyway.”
For many years now, Helping Hands Germany has been sending
annual Christmas shipments with Christmas parcels and aid goods (clothes,
shoes, linen, etc.) to Romania and Bulgaria. In 2013 the shipment included 667
Christmas parcels and 1,013 boxes with aid goods. A Helping Hands employee
travelled to Bulgaria in December to join the distribution in the Vidrare area.
Today there are no lessons at the Vidrare school: It's Christmas
party time. There’s lots of loud music, a cultural show and a free tombola
where the prizes are toys taken out of Helping Hands aid boxes. Later, the
Christmas parcels are distributed, one parcel per family. For many children,
the chocolate and gummibears in the parcel are the only Christmas present
they’ll receive.
Some of the children open their parcel right away. Gloria and
Veni break into smiles when they discover the sweets. Their cousin, 5-year-old
Lubo, is examining the toothbrushes with interest. Today he's a happy little
boy. But only a few days ago he had run, weeping, to his grandmother: His
father is an alcoholic and had attacked the mother with an axe. The
grandmother, Christina, takes good care of her grandchildren. Other kids from
the neighbourhood also like to show up on her doorstep. The family is poor, but
the middle-aged woman helps her neighbours where she can.
This year Christina also received a Christmas parcel. She works
in a home for disabled children that is situated at the edge of the village.
The employees have very small salaries. But they are not entitled to receive
financial support from the government since they are not unemployed. That's why
Zhana gave a Christmas parcel to each of the 70 staff members. “They were
really surprised and happy that we thought of them,” Zhana reports. “For the
people here the parcels are a great blessing. There’s something in them for
everyone. The families are very grateful!”
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