Bulgarians in Antwerp organize Christmas campaign for children in Gabrovo

For the first time, Bulgarians in Belgium's Antwerp are organizing a Christmas charity campaign to collect clothes, shoes, children's books, educational games, sweets, and Christmas decorations, which will be donated to children with disabilities in two centers in the town of Gabrovo, central Bulgaria. The initiative is driven by the Bulgarian Sunday School, the “Izvor” Association, and the Bulgarian church mission “Saint Zlata of Maglen” (Sveta Zlata Maglenska) in Antwerp. The campaign will continue until December 7, after which the donations will be transported to Bulgaria so the children in Gabrovo can receive their gifts for Christmas.

The idea for the charity campaign was born spontaneously. At the beginning of November, Pavlina Nikolova, a mother of two children attending the Bulgarian Sunday School in Antwerp, suggested to the school’s principal Polina Dobrikova, that they organize and send Christmas gifts to children with disabilities living in Gabrovo.

“People usually open their hearts to good deeds around Christmas,” says Pavlina Nikolova. “I have many acquaintances and friends, so I decided to share the idea with them. My children attend the Bulgarian Sunday School in Antwerp, and I shared the idea with the school principal, Polina Dobrikova, who immediately embraced it, and everything came together wonderfully. People responded quickly. In a short time they donated many things - clothes, shoes, sweets, strollers. The main drop-off point for donations is the Bulgarian Sunday School. Until December 7, anyone who wants to donate - even something symbolic - can do so, to help bring smiles to the children for the Christmas holidays,” Pavlina Nikolova appeals.

News of the campaign spread quickly within the Bulgarian community in Antwerp, and people began donating. In two weeks, about 20 boxes of gifts were collected at the Bulgarian Sunday School. The enthusiasm is great, says the school’s principal, Polina Dobrikova.

“People are very enthusiastic about this first charity campaign we’re organizing here in Antwerp, with the help of the Izvor Association, the Bulgarian Sunday School and its parent council, and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church mission ‘St. Zlata of Maglen’. Many people are donating and bringing what the children in Gabrovo need - clothes for children and youth, toys, packaged food, and Christmas decorations. The response we received has been incredibly inspiring, especially because we received donations from people who had never been part of our community before. They come, leave their donations with a smile, and with the desire to bring joy to the children in the two centers in Gabrovo… Bulgarians truly are people with big hearts and deep compassion. You can see it in everyone who brings a donation, and often people ask if anything else is needed. Such causes unite people - to be kind, to be humane in this world, to care for those close to us, for the people we feel are ‘ours’,” says Polina Dobrikova.

The charity campaign will continue until December 7, after which the boxes of donations will travel from Antwerp to Bulgaria’s Gabrovo. There, the gifts will go to children attending the Center for Special Educational Support and to children in a Family-Type Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities.

How the Bulgarians in Antwerp chose to support these two specific centers in Gabrovo is explained by Maria Dobrikova, secretary of the church board of the Bulgarian Orthodox Mission “St. Zlata of Maglen”.

“We chose Gabrovo because the main initiator of the campaign, Pavlina Nikolova, knows the director of the Center for Special Educational Support, and she referred us to the other Family-Type Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities. The first center educates a total of 36 students with special needs from 1st to 12th grade. The children have various physical and psychological conditions. Specialists work there - teachers, speech therapists, psychologists - and each student has an approved individual plan. Additional support is also provided. The second center, led by Daniela Nencheva, has a capacity of 28 places. Across two locations, 14 children each receive 24-hour care. Since I myself was born in Gabrovo, I embraced the idea and want us to help the children,” says Maria Dobrikova.

Because many Bulgarians from Antwerp opened their hearts and are donating large packages of gifts for the children in Gabrovo, the organizers are facing a logistical problem - how to secure transport for such a large amount of donations, Maria Dobrikova explains with coherncern.

“Transportation has turned out to be the biggest challenge in organizing the donation. We are still looking for options that would be more affordable. Shipping to Bulgaria is a bit more difficult, but with God’s support, since our intentions are so good, I know we will complete this cause successfully. I truly believe that,” concludes Maria Dobrikova.

Photos: Maria Dobrikova, Polina Dobrikova

English version: Rositsa Petkova