Moni, who sleeps at the railway station in Prague
This is the third time Moni comes to us. He calls us every time he gets in trouble.
The last time he left our House of Opportunity Programme was about a year and a half ago.
At that time he went to see his mother and sister in a village near Montana. The reason he went there was because his mum told him there was a court case he needed to attend. However, when he reached the village he realised that there was no court case, but there was definitely a very complicated family situation. His mum had remarried and his stepfather was treating her badly. To make matters worse, his sister was having quite serious mental health problems. Mony was deeply concerned about her and wanted to help her. He took her with him when he moved to Sofia. He started work on a farm looking after cows. His salary was very low and they were barely able to buy the most essential things to survive. His sister often ran away from home or got herself into serious trouble. Not long after, his desperation and helplessness were too overwhelming and he finally gave up.
“I wanted to help my sister, but she didn’t have any willpower at all. I didn’t know how to help her anymore.”
This was the moment, when Moni called us for help. We took him into the House of Opportunity in Sofia, Druzhba. We gave him some time to calm down and settle in. After that we started to think together about his future.
During his time away from us, he learnt various different lessons. He has twice been abroad in the Czech Republic. The first time was a success. However, the second time, he trusted people who turned out to be fraudsters who scammed him. They bought him a ticket – but when he arrived at the train station in Prague, no-one was waiting for him. The group of workers (7-8 people) who had been scammed waited for two days at the railway station trying to contact the organisers – but no-one turned up and, eventually, everyone went their own way.
“Those who had money went back home to Bulgaria,” Moni says, “but I was not prepared for this and had to stay in Prague by myself.”
This is why Prague’s railway station unexpectedly became Mony’s home for nearly a month. During the day he would be looking for a job so he could buy some food and at night he would sleep at the railway station. He met many people, among them many Bulgarians, who he describes as the “local mafia” – “they are people who have different criminal schemes to trick people and don’t care about the damage they cause.” Mony tried everything – from harvesting garlic to all sorts of heavy physical work. But no matter how hard he tried to turn this journey into a success, it just didn’t happen. After a few weeks of misery and hardship, Moni called a friend in Bulgaria, a lorry driver, who often drives through Prague and was able to give him a lift home.
Today, only a few months after his experience in the Czech Republic, Moni clearly sees his mistakes and advises everyone:
“Don’t believe everything you see on the internet, double check everything and don’t let yourself be misled like I was since it was really hard and bad.”
Together with the team at the House of Opportunity, Mony is already making plans for his future – evening school, work and new real friends.
*The House of Opportunity Programme provides young people who have grown up without parental care not just a relaxed family environment where they can stay until they feel more stable, but also provides them with support in finding and keeping a suitable job, learning new skills that they weren’t able to learn while in the orphanage, building good relationships and preventing risky behaviour and involvement in organized criminal networks.
