A lesson on Bulgaria: How homeland inspires children of "Yan Bibiyan" School

In 2026, the dream of a family, tied to the love for the Bulgarian language and the connection with their roots, will celebrate its 15th anniversary. They are Bulgarian Rumyana Georgiev and German with Bulgarian roots, Ulf Georgiev, who, due to a combination of circumstances, was deprived of the opportunity to learn the language of his ancestors when he was a child. The two met 25 years ago and settled in Germany. When Ulf met his wife, he started learning Bulgarian and made a promise to himself:

"He said he would not allow his children not to speak Bulgarian. The lack he felt should not be passed on to our children," Rumyana Georgiev told Radio Bulgaria. And so in 2011, she and her husband, along with several other families, founded the Bulgarian Sunday School "Yan Bibiyan" in Münster. At first, it was a private parental initiative with the aim of systematically and consistently teaching children, mainly from mixed marriages, the Bulgarian language, literature, history and geography of Bulgaria. Since 2016, the school has been included in the official List of Bulgarian Sunday Schools Abroad at the Ministry of Education and Science and today its students are 153 children, distributed in classes from preschool to grade 10, who are cared for by a team of 13 teachers. The first teacher at the school is Katya Gancheva, who has been dedicatedly teaching children in Bulgarian for 15 years now.

With regular attendance, Sunday school students receive a certificate of completion of training in the relevant class and in the subjects studied from the Ministry of Education of Bulgaria, as well as the right to take the exam in Bulgarian as a native language, organized by the German school authorities after the tenth grade, as the grades from this exam are entered as points in the students' German diplomas.

"Yan Bibiyan" Sunday School is also an examination center of the Department of Language Education at Sofia University "Kliment Ohridski" and offers the opportunity to all interested students to certify their knowledge of Bulgarian according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In this way, young people who wish could also study at Bulgarian universities, and it also gives additional points for admission to German higher education institutions. Extracurricular activities are also strongly represented - the school has a children's folklore dance group and a children's choir, with which the school performs at numerous regional events in Münster and the region.

Motivation, especially from parents of younger children, is a key point on the path to mastering the native language, culture, and history. Especially in a place like Münster.

"Münster is a student city with a large Bulgarian community, mostly young people. We are part of this community," Rumyana Georgiev tells us. "It's not a big city, but it's very beautiful, with many churches, culture and history. I can say that many families invest not only time but also finances to take their children to the Bulgarian school - they travel 100 km one way every Saturday so that their children can attend classes."

Therefore, when we talk about students in high school classes, this motivation must be personally awakened and the curiosity about Bulgaria must be beyond the desire of the parents. This is exactly where the inspiration comes from, which is offered by the trips under the National Program "Bulgaria - Educational Routes" of the Ministry of Education and Science, says the principal and explains the reason why her school is part of the initiative.

"My motivation, especially for the older ones, was for what they learn in textbooks to come to life before their eyes. Bulgaria should not be just an abstract concept and the connection to be only with grandparents or the sea. In addition to the children seeing their homeland in reality, experiencing it, feeling it, such a trip creates an extremely strong social contact between them. Bulgaria is the thing that connects them."

In 2025, students from the Bulgarian Sunday School "Yan Bibiyan" in Münster made their first two trips under the national program. The first trip was in April, along the "Charm of the Black Sea" route.

"We flew to Varna and covered the area around Varna, Balchik, Cape Emine and we also went to Nessebar. The whole emotion was incredible. Everything impressed them! After the end of the trip, I launched a survey for feedback from the children and they all answered that the Dolphinarium in Varna was the thing that impressed them the most. Many of the children had never seen real dolphins before. Everything they saw and did creates a sense of belonging and these children are starting to show pride that they have a connection and roots in Bulgaria," the head of the school says.

The second trip to our homeland for the Bulgarian children from Münster was in October 2025. Then they visited cities associated with the Bulgarian Revival and the liberation movement - Panagyurishte, Koprivshtitsa, Kazanlak and Karlovo. The younger ones - from grades III to VII - participated in it and in addition to experiencing the natural beauties and historical monuments of Bulgaria, also learned to knead real bread.

The children from "Yan Bibiyan" also eagerly participated in the initiative of Radio Bulgaria "A Lesson on Bulgaria" and shared the impressions of their experience in our homeland. The entire sunny emotion is captured in a special video - watch it so that you too can experience this magical trip to Bulgaria:

Daliya Kamberova told us about the visit to the hometown of the Apostle of Freedom.

"In the town of Karlovo, there is both a house and a museum of Vasil Levski. In the house we can see how he lived and in the museum there is a lot of interesting information about the Apostle. In the yard of the house there is a monument to Kina Kuncheva. There is also a chapel in which we can see a blond lock of Levski’s hair."

"On the trip to Bulgaria, what I liked the most was the visit to the Museum of Rose. It is located in the town of Kazanlak," says Antonia Zlatev and adds facts about the importance of the climate of the Rose Valley, where the world-famous Bulgarian oil-producing rose is grown. Lilit Berger is also impressed by the centuries-old industry for extracting rose oil in Bulgaria:

"The rose picking lasts from mid-May to mid-June and takes place early in the morning. The flowers are placed in copper stills, where steam extracts the essential oils. For one kilogram of rose oil, 3,000 kilograms of rose blossoms are needed."

Viktor Kovachev told us about his visit to the hometown of poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev:

"In the Museum of History we saw photos where Hristo Botev and Vasil Levski plan the liberation of Bulgaria, his uniform and many weapons. We also visited the Hristo Botev memorial complex - it is located in a high and very beautiful place."

The age difference between the two groups also predetermined a significant difference in the "Bulgaria" experience, we learn from Rumyana Georgiev.

"With older students, exceptional friendships are created on such a trip and social communication between children is strengthened. With younger children, we observe a strong visual absorption of places, stories, facts. For me personally, this social contact between the children, this Bulgarian community, is very important because they grow up in a completely German environment. Our school and such trips are the light in the connection with the homeland, which we must preserve."

Rumyana Georgiev describes as a unique emotion the feeling of seeing the students go to the store themselves and communicate with the locals in their native language.

"Their curiosity, wanting to see and to learn more, was extremely important and exciting. I believe that the Ministry of Education and Science will continue such national programs and the schools abroad will be part of them, because our children have a great need for these trips. This is something that motivates them to continue learning Bulgarian and to devote their free time to the Bulgarian school. These routes are one of the biggest incentives," the head of the "Yan Bibiyan" school in Münster, Rumyana Georgiev, says.