Home for Our Children

Nikoleta is ten and still has difficulty spelling her name. She squats on the floor with a piece of red chalk in hand, her eyes fixed in one particular spot for a long time. She moves her arm and insecurely writes a large, wriggly "N." One wavy "i" follows but then she grows tired of the exercise and runs to the garden where she can play with the other children.

The weather this Sunday is calm and sunny, a perfect day for every child to go out and play until night begins to make its presence known. None of the 66 inhabitants of the building, carrying the label "Home for our children" is inside, apart from Ilian and his sister. She is 17 year-old and currently attends 7th grade. She says she hates dictations and yet remains inside a small study-room for almost an hour, attempting to write correctly. Words like "sorrow" make her sweat over the blank page and finally appear in rickety childish handwriting with a couple of vowels missing. And it is not because she lacks the brains. Nobody sat to help her in her studies before, it is that simple.

Around 10 months ago, the inhabitants of the so called "asylum for children deprived of parental care" in Blagoevgrad were seen as mere objects, providing somebody's wage. The more the children were and the longer they stayed in the asylum, the bigger amounts the staff got monthly. One woman is trying to change that since her arrival. The name of the woman is Evgeniya Yordanova. A Bulgarian philology graduate and a book writer, she is the current manager who puts incredible effort in turning the isolated building on the hill, close to Blagoevgrad's center, from an asylum into a home. A home for children and teenagers who, for one reason or another, do not or cannot remain with their parents.

"The wage is not small, so many people want such a job. They have to deal with the children on a daily basis for numerous hours," Evgeniya says and lights a cigarette. Her bleached hair does not suit her well, as she has dark skin and somehow thick eyebrows. Her features reflect kindliness and boldness at the same time. Evgeniya seems to be the kind of woman who gets everything done her way. Her confident and bossy voice reveals some of that personality. "Many of [the children] had been kept here on purpose and had not gone to school so that they had no opportunity in life but to remain at the home and respectively to bring more money to the people working here. Some of them still cannot read or still hardly spell words." The children sitting around the table confirm her words with nods. Later, some of them explain that the previous manager let them do whatever they wanted and told them to deal with problems themselves.

Nikoleta and Ilian's sister are only two examples of how much these children had been neglected. Most of the youngsters lack basic discipline and do not know how to behave in the presence of the grownups that occasionally pay a visit. They quickly grow affectionate to visitors but just as quickly can become hostile, even offensive.

Francheska is six or seven and as it turns out, nobody can control her apart from Evgeniya. Several children start explaining at the same time how she used to steal small items and money, when she arrived at the home. Calling other kids "bastard" or "gypsy" is a normal behavior for Francheska, she barely thinks about what she says. In return, she often gets beaten. Evgeniya has to shout and break up fights several times each day, forcing the culprit to apologize and never argue again. The reason behind the majority of these clashes naturally is Francheska.

"Now the children get involved and help. Before I could not get them to work on anything. The most important thing that changed since my coming here for the first time is the mentality of the children," Evgeniya says. Together with their help, she planted a number of fruit trees and a vine. Her dream, apart from ensuring some future for the children, is enabling them to produce their own food.

Momchil is the mastermind behind the planting operation. He is a skinny, tanned boy and is responsible for the garden. "He is a special boy, I will not be able to deal without him," says Evgeniya, patting him on the back. Meanwhile, Momchil screams at the younger kids to put some shoes on and help him water the trees. Everyone abandons their occupation and runs inside, creating a cheerful mayhem.

"Everything that you see has been done now with the help of volunteers," says Evgeniya, waving one arm to indicate the garden and the playground. A number of lilac bushes arch over the entrance, drooping heavy aromatic blossoms over the heads of visitors. Several girls sit and draw in a nearby arbour. The 12 year-old Janet tries to fit on an A4 page a huge willow tree and is forced to cut off the top branches. While drawing, she keeps on talking about different things. About her sister, who lives with a childless family in Italy. Or her mother who comes to visit only during weekends. Or the home near the Rila monastery, where she was on a visit some time ago.

"It was so bad I don't want to talk about it, it was not nice as here. They do not have curtains on the windows like us, they put blankets. Missis [that is how all kids call Evgeniya] may sometimes yell at us, but we do not get mad at her. She is cool," Janet adds, while putting artistically the final touches to her masterpiece.

Evgeniya explains her theory about the different kinds of orphanages in Bulgaria. "There are two types of homes in Bulgaria, and two types of people who work in them-- people who are born to do the job and people who see the children only as items that could bring them money." She adds that unfortunately there are much more people of the second type.

"These little sunny creatures are so often misunderstood. People call them thieves and criminals, but do they look like such? As a matter of fact we had problems with neighbors stealing from us, they even took away the laundry pins," she says and minutes later runs down the stairs to deal with an elderly woman. She apparently entered the garden with the intention to profit from the flowers and the nettle growing inside. The two do not reach to an agreement as Evgeniya can be heard shouting at the woman to leave immediately.

"Missis sometimes shouts when she is not in a good mood," Francheska says but is contradicted immediately by Ilian's sister. "She does it for our good." Then the girl notices that Francheska is eating sunflower seeds and piling the husks on a table. "Francheska, if Missis sees you, she will kill you, you know she gets mad when we make a mess. And you know that we are not allowed to eat sunflower seeds here."

The children soon get hungry and demand their dinner. Another half an hour has to pass before it is time for food. "You know that the ministry provides 60 stotinki per day for a child? This is supposed to be sufficient for their meals. I had to arrange something with the tobacco factory so now they take care of the lunches. Windmill provides dinners, we only have to buy some products like yoghurt." Janet hurries to explain that they had steaks for lunch yesterday.

Apart from the food, Evgeniya had to deal with two other major problems since her arrival at the home. One was a leaking pipe in the bathroom and the other- something much smellier. "The first thing that I sensed when I came here after accepting the job was the smell of sh*t," Evgeniya says. She followed the smell to a place, beneath the kitchen. She found 45 tons of sewer waste, accumulated there due to a broken pipe from the city sewerage. She had to find some volunteers and with their help to pump out all the waste.

Volunteers also aided her in renovating the building, cultivating the garden, and helping all children that go to school with their lessons on a daily basis. "The kids and the staff at the home become like one, we need somebody else they could communicate with and learn things from. A lot of work is required, until recently some children did not know that one hour has 60 minutes, or the colors and the names of fruits and vegetables." For that simple reason, she asks all visitors, willing to spend some time with the children to talk with them about the facts of life and proper behavior. "For example, what you have to do when a boy tries to kiss you," Evgeniya says, winking to a pretty blonde girl sitting nearby.

"We have to deal primarily with their apathy, until recently the kids were just sitting here for hours, not doing anything," she continues. From some time, the children have the opportunity to get involved in a number of activities. The second floor of the home houses a sports room, with several mattresses, hoops, basketballs and fitness instruments. These items are far from new but appear to be in relatively good condition. A computer room on the same floor is currently locked, but children have access to it for several hours each day. And since two months, an old storage room has transformed into a decent library.

Evgeniya fiercely encourages everyone to get involved in as many activities as possible. Most of the girls attend dance classes. The boys go swimming every Saturday morning. Ilian's sister talks about her brother's achievements in gymnastics. "He is good at it but at a point he decided to stop going to practice. When Missis found out she talked to him until she persuaded him to start doing it again. She told him he must continue at all costs."

As she talks excitedly, a car approaches the main gate. Evgeniya stands up and energetically moves toward the entrance. Her petit, slightly plum figure moves forward fast but with really tiny steps. A friend of hers arrives to bring one saw and several utensils for the garden. Together with him comes Zoya, another friend of Evgeniya, who is unemployed but visits often to take care of the garden together with the children. "I come here to take out the negative energy through digging in the garden. Last year I was a pedagogic advisor, as well."

Evgeniya has an explanation for this. She says that when somebody visits the orphanage once, they always come back. Because they fall in love with the children. "Aren't they precious?" are the words Evgeniya repeats most often in every conversation she leads. After a short pause she concludes "when we stop dividing ourselves into groups, parties, clans, organizations and so on, we will be able to achieve much more. The only thing needed is some good will."