This year’s charity tournament of Murphy’s Misfits turned into a real sports holiday. The financial result is 2 350 leva, which will cover the costs for rent of the “House of Opportunity” observed home in Ruse for half a year.

Many of the participants played touch rugby for the first time, following the instructuions of the professionals.

Members of the team of the “Foundation for Social Change and Inclusion” and youngsters from the “House of Opportunity” programme also took part in the games of the tournament.

The donated amount of  2 350 leva will cover the costs for the rent for six months of one of the five “Houses of Opportunity” of the foundation, located in Ruse.

18 October is European Anti-Trafficking Day – a day to raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking and ways how to fight it. Sadly, thousands of vulnerable children and young people throughout Southeast Europe fall prey to human traffickers every year, who exploit them through forced prostitution or labour.

Imagine growing up with a violent father – without a mother to protect you – who sends you out begging on the streets. Imagine being taken to an orphanage because you are safer there than at home. Imagine finding out that your father was actually a trafficker who used to promise people jobs in foreign countries, take their money to bring them there and then abandon them without any job prospect…

How would you feel?

What chance in life would you have if the family that is meant to protect you is the one trying to exploit you?

Imagine some years after leaving the orphanage a family member suddenly taking an interest in you and offering you a really good job in a foreign country…

What would you do?

Thankfully, this real story of Valya* has a happy ending. But only thanks to FSCI’s House of Opportunity Programme that Valya had joined in Bulgaria to learn all the skills necessary for independent living, and thanks to the dedication and compassion of the staff team who helped prevent Valya from becoming another victim of human trafficking. Will she ever be completely free of the risk of being exploited? We don’t know, but we will do everything in our power to give her the support she needs to make wise choices. For now, we are delighted that Valya is doing well. She is working full time for a local business and living in a room of her own.

FSCI is actively working to PREVENT vulnerable people from becoming victims of trafficking by providing opportunities for dignified living and development of young underpriviliged individuals leaving state care. Will you join us in preventing trafficking in Southeast Europe?

Modern slavery is real. Be part of the solution by making a donation now.

Would you share this article to raise awareness about the dangers of human trafficking? Thank you. 

Once again, our Svetogled Support Centre in the Roma community of Fakulteta, Sofia, opened its doors for local children and their families. With flowers, toys, smiles, a little impatience and a few tears, a group of fifteen children aged between 3 and 5 years old gathered for the first time in the new school year.

This is the fourth year that the neighbourhood’s children will receive care, training, support and encouragement within FSCI’s Early Years Education in Vulnerable Communities Programme. The Centre’s team will be working intensively with educational materials approved by the Ministry of Education. Special attention will go to the parents and extended family of the children, whose attitude to education and care is particularly crucial for their children’s development, and their retention in the education system.

This project brings together two groups of marginalised young people: young men in the correctional institution at Boychinovtsi and participants in the “House of Opportunity” Programme. In addition this year some young people from SOS Children’s Villages Bulgaria also joined in. Each morning of the camp these young people travelled to the correctional institution for football games and afterwards returned to their base in Vratsa for workshops and leisure activities.

This year the start of the camp coincided with the start of the World Cup, but apart from the obvious emotions around the football games at the correctional institution, and on the TV, there was also lots of non-sports-related excitement. Along with the fun there was learning and heated discussion, and new friends were made too and the four-day camp was often emotionally challenging as the young people shared their experiences and learned from each other.

FSCI’s team uses sports as the main means for reaching out to the young men in the correctional institution and helping them think more carefully about the dangers of criminal life. The team also talk about the alternative –  about building a life around work and family, and how the “House of Opportunity” could help them transform their futures.

In 2018 Sofia Municipality provided BGN 1813 for partial coverage of the costs of the camp, as part of the Programme for the development of the physical education and sports in Sofia Municipality (Programme priority: Projects, related to free time sports for children and students – programme “Holidays”).

This year the team of the “Foundation for Social Change and Inclusion” sent four final year students to prom. Dimana, Plamen, Vesko and Toshko who are part of the “House of Opportunity” programme and live at the organisation’s observed homes walked out the door of the houses as high-school students for the last time.

All four of them combined work, school and participation in the foundation’s regularly organised activities.

“Our whole team is very excited and we always celebrate these moments together, because they are truly special. Finishing secondary education is a very important achievement for the young people, but it also means a lot to us. We believe that education is the needed basis for a young person to “build” his or her dignified life, to find a good job, have regular income and a stable, supportive environment.” the foundation’s team shares.

As the students live in three different cities, there were three separate occasions for celebration at “House of Opportunity” in Burgas, “House of Opportunity” in Sofia and “House of Opportunity” in Varna.

Valya* is not the most successful young woman in the history of the House of Opportunity.

Hers is a story of trial and error, about making choices and facing the possible consequences, a story about stubbornness and perseverance in an attempt to save one human’s destiny; to save Valya from getting lost among the statistics of young people who failed to escape exploitation at the hands of human traffickers.

Valya came from a medium-sized town in the countryside but she grew up in institutions. Her mother died when she was very young. Her father used to beat her and use her for begging when she was very young and eventually she was sent to a children’s home.

When she turned 18, a family invited her to live in their home. Even though she was receiving support and had a place to live, Valya just did not feel right there. At that time she found out about House of Opportunity programme from the young residents of an observed home in Ruse and whom Valya knew from the institutions she had grown up in. After a conversation with the manager of House of Opportunity, she was accepted in the programme.

The team at the House of Opportunity spent a great deal of effort encouraging Valya to finish her education but she failed all her exams. Inconsistency turned out to be a major problem for her in retaining work. In two years she changed seven jobs but she worked during the whole period of her stay in the House.

At the House of Opportunity Valya found not only support from the team, but also a safe family environment, where she was able to experiment and work to achieve her dreams, which were modest – a home and a family.

A month before Valya completed her time in the House of Opportunity Programme the team invited a specialist officer of the Border Police to tell the residents about the schemes and traps laid out for them by traffickers. He explained that offers of placements and employment from companies abroad need to be very carefully examined. He also gave them an international free-phone number that they could call if they needed to.

During that meeting, for the first time, Valya shared that her father is actually a trafficker who sends people to different countries, and, instead of delivering them a job, he takes their money and leaves them alone in the foreign country. The policeman confirmed that he knew Valya’s father, having been involved in his capture. He has been convicted and has spent some time in prison.

Several days after the meeting with the policeman and on the verge of her independence, her father’s sister contacted Valya. Her aunt offered her transport to the Czech Republic, accommodation and work. The two had not seen each other for years. When the team of House of Opportunity asked Valya where she was going to work, she told some of the members of the staff that she was going to work in a factory, and others that she was going to work in the fields. Then the team realized that she was not really aware of where she was going or what she was getting involved in.

The team tried to convince her that she was at high risk of becoming a victim of human trafficking, but she did not want to hear a word. Despite the advice, she was determined to go.

Having made up her mind, Valya asked the House of Opportunity team for one last favour – to contact FSCI’s team in Sofia and ask them to let her spend the night in a House of Opportunity in the capital because the bus to the Czech Republic was leaving early the next morning. They agreed, but they had an idea. They called their colleagues in Sofia, discussed the situation and decided to do everything possible to stop Valya going abroad.

The team in Sofia met Valya at the bus station, settled her at the local House of Opportunity and spent almost all night talking to Valya about her trip to the Czech Republic. At first Valya was angry with the team and didn’t want to listen, refusing to accept the likelihood of what lay in wait for her, but finally calmed down. The next morning, having considered the team’s counsel Valya decided not to go to the Czech Republic and returned to Ruse.

Thanks to the dedication and compassion of our team, we believe that Valya was saved from becoming another victim of human trafficking. Valya is still in Ruse, close to the House of Opportunity and the support it offers, but is working and living independently. And while living in this simple way might mean little for some, for Valya this means a lot and is perhaps the best thing that could have happened to her.

* Her real name is changed for the safety of the social service user

The Charity Foundation of the International Women’s Club – Sofia will provide support to the Foundation for Social Change and Inclusion’s Svetogled community centre for one calendar year.

The Charity Foundation provides the necessary financing to cover the basic needs of the early years education centre in Faculteta (Sofia), where a third group of kids is currently being educated.

Apart from the ten children, the team of experts at the centre also works intensively with the children’s parents and their extended families with the main goal of preventing the early school dropout of the children from this vulnerable community.

You can learn more about the “Early years education in vulnerable communities” programme here.

For the fourth consecutive year, the “Foundation for Social Change and Inclusion” gathered representatives of various non-governmental organizations from the Balkans and Southeast Europe to exchange experience on its Development Program with a focus on FSCI’s successful models, their replication in the region and the power of networks.

Seven NGOs from FSCI’s Development Programme took part, with delegates coming from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Switzerland and the UK.

The main purpose of the annual conference was to share the projects’ progress in the different countries, exchange ideas on how to build successful support networks at local, national and international level, what are the trends in fund-raising in 2018, and how to develop a successful organizational strategy.

Held in Skopje over three days, the conference included sessions and workshops where experiences of partnership in the programme were exchanged, good practice shared and the difficulties encountered in working with youth, children and families from vulnerable groups were discussed.

Under its Development Programme, FSCI is currently partnering with seven like-minded organisations in the Balkans and Southeast Europe. Providing a manual for work on its programmes, regular training and meetings, FSCI is helping to successfully replicate the House Opportunity project in Serbia (2 family-type homes), Croatia (2 family-type homes) and Albania (1 family-type home). The Greek partners run a day care centre for young people leaving homes for children deprived of parental care in Athens, while partnerships are now being developed in both Moldova and Macedonia.

Good mood, mulled wine and delicious food, made by the young people at the observed home, and catering from HOPe Restaurant welcomed the guests at the celebration.

Stoyan Stoyanov, Manager of “House of Opportunity” Sofia shared more about the results from the past twelve months and the goals that the team has set for the future, while the ex residents of the social service, who now live independently, shared their experience during and after the observed home.

Thanks to the efforts of FSCI UK and FSCI Bulgaria, 9,224 neatly packed presents reached children and adults who live in poverty across the whole country.

The size of the campaign keeps growing every year and the initiative includes more and more places in Bulgaria.The number of volunteers as well as the people who donated money keeps rising as well. The campaign ‘Christmas Boxes’ this year reached Kostenets, Varna, Sofia, Balchik, Pravets,Vidrare, Botevgrad, Hairedin,Boichinovtsi, Stara Zagora, Ruse, Trastenik, Novgrad, Sandanski, Biala Slatina, Burgas, Bobovdol, Lipnitsa, Pleven, Tarnava, Krislovo and Dobrich.

“To give presents for the birth of Christ means so much. On the one hand this symbolises the gift that humankind has received on this day. On the other hand, we show to the people who live on the edges of society, who are often forgotten and overlooked, that we still think and care about them.Because the most important thing on Christmas is to be good to each other, not only with our relatives and friends but also with strangers who need support”, says Teodora Koleva, the director of FSCI Bulgaria.

The gifts were donated by the people in the UK, and the transportation and warehouse costs were covered through donations in Bulgaria.

The gifts were given to children, adults and elderly in family-type accommodation, homes for children without parental care, old people’s homes, poor families, refugee camps, schools in very poor areas, community centres, prisons, juvenile detention centres, centres for children and youth with learning difficulties, clubs for disabled people, shelters and many other places where the need for Christmas cheer was essential.

“We are grateful to all of our colleagues at FSCI UK for the tremendous effort they have put in to organise the campaign in the UK. Just imagine how many gifts they managed to collect, sort and pack. Every single present comes with a label explaining what it contains and who it is intended for (for instance, a 5 year oldgirl or a teenage boy). We are also grateful to the Bulgarian people who donated 4700 lv. The cost of storage and transportation was 1,788,68lv., which means that we have plenty of money left over for the next campaign. For the unloading of the presents from the lorry we had the help of 50 volunteers”, added Teodora Koleva.