@Rene I did read all of your article and the fact that these orphanages still are still open today shows that unfortunately these forgotten children aren't the priority of the Bulgarian people/government. I know that the government have pledged to close all orphanages and I hope to god they do but what will happen to all the children/adults who have suffered from the neglect inflicted on them? The answer is they will be moved to an adult institution. Where you will no doubt see a 30 year old man who is the size of a 5 year old and the [...]

Read the full comment the mental age of a 3 month old. The reason? NEGLECT!
I've just come back from my time in Bulgaria and what I saw can only be described as entering a horror film. So I couldn't care less whether Kate had an Abba soundtrack over the film! Who cares? The pictures tell the story and I think you have 'issues' if you want to attempt to take away the gravity of these children's neglect. Again I say to you........ SHAME ON YOU!

Yes, the reporting may have been misleading but regardless of what you heard the translator or Blewett say the images that you saw were not digitally enhanced or superimposed or whatever. What you saw in the doco was true and still is true today. I have been to such places in the past year where such sights are a norm. This is not counting the 'better' places for the impaired or unimpaired, which by most country's standards are still simply not acceptable.
Just because we can spot the bad reporting does not make the problem go away. Just [...]

Read the full comment because we can spot someone on the high moral ground does not make the problem go away.

Recognising that there is a problem is a good start though!

@ Cosmos..."Blewetts morels have of course got to be far more superior than yours"....Morchellas, edible ascocarps, not a mushrooms, favored by gourmets, are a mass of apothecia fused together in single large structures or caps. OK COSMOS, now explain again about Blewett's "Morels"...Idiot!

@Sofi, I'm afraid you've misread the article. The point I made was about Blewett's inappropriate use of perfectly normal terminology by linking it to inappropriate use.

Also, the notion that only Blewett and her supporters are the only ones "doing something" is quite evidently false, as I point out in the last paragraph.

But I'm afraid you never read that far...

Western European doctors do not use the term mental retardation. Rene stated they do in this article but they don't! They don't use it because it is too much of a broard term to use on people with a wide range of disabilities. Which is exactly the point that Kate was trying to make.
I don't understand why all the Rene supporters & Rene don't channel all of their energy into doing something about what is happening to these children? If that was happening in the UK there would be people out on the streets, on strike and [...]

Read the full comment outside the orphanage protesting until the government corrected it. How many Bulgarian's have volunteered themselves to lend a hand. It seems they are happy to leave it to a struggling/corrupted government and not get their hands dirty. I am going to Pleven in March to volunteer, most of the children have never been outside!!! How much does it cost to take a child out into the fresh air? Your time would be better used to take a child out or actually take them out of their cot, as some have never left it. If I was a child lying in an institution with the only thing to occupy my thoughts every day is the contents of my own mind I would be pleading for help from my fellow countrymen, why don't you come and get me?
SHAME ON YOU

I am a British volunteer and I am amazed at how strongly some people feel against us British.
We do not mean harm or offense to be caused when we highlight the problms in the orphanages. We only want to create publicity. This is what Blewett has achieved, she created an international stir which has motivated many people from all over the world to give up their time and devote it to your children. Has this had a detrimental affect?
Although i cannot comment on how correct the translations are from the film as i do [...]

Read the full comment not speak bulgarian, i can comment on how emotive it was and has caused lots of money to be raised to help with the closing of the institues and re-building of the new family like homes. Without the film there would not have been so much support and maybe what has currently been achieved may not have been achieved if it was not for the film and our kindness. So maybe bulgarians should be grateful for what the British has helped with instead of showing hatred towards their generosity and hope for the future of mankind.
After all i have been informed that the BG goverment has cut the funds for baby and child orphanages by 60% and 30% retrospectivly. This shows that there is less support from your own goverment than you think. If the funds are not coming from BG then where do they come from? The answer is from international charities which people such as the British have estabilished.
I personally plan to come out and volunteer at an orphanage in a few months but I am reconsidering after reading your opinions on us British, we just want to help the children. If that such a wrong and hateful thing to do?

I agree with you big brother I will double check but as far as the report was concerned funds had been taken. You are correct I do not know everything about BG only what I read and what I see on my visits. Its your newspaper that does the reporting are they wrong ?

i am likely to agree about having no words in the movie, buuut please check your info sources again! i next expect you to say that they are closing schools in less populated areas because teachers steal money, gimmie a break!are NO or insufficient funds for many of these places in first place.

This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained foul, abusive or discriminating language

oh, how much i love generalizations like these: "you people are cavemen, and treat others like this or that...", it reminds me a lot of the another dumb presumption "brown people are terrorists, lets bomb them!" how can it not be true, they only show bad brown people on tv, we should be cautious if see any of them around us or in our mature wise society...

omg @Cosmos. So what you are saying is any means are acceptable? In that case, enlighten me - what makes you any better than those you so vehemently reprimand? Or are those two words too hard for you to read given you find it challenging to differentiate between "there" and "their"?!
Manipulation has nothing to do with telling a story. Manipulation has nothing to do making a point.
And abusive language can bring the speaker no glory.

Do you people not have eyes to see with ? those kids looked like something from Belson concentration camp run by the Nazis. Blewitt brought it to the attention of the world and it does not matter about how it was televised she showed how you treat your children the ones that are thrown away by there Bulgarian parents. It is a well known fact that you treat animals the same go back to your caves.

Mladost 54,
the term caretaker is an accepted and generic term for primarily a one person or more, which is to be responsible for the care and management of one or more persons in some form of health needs. The term certaker reflects no specific training for those who are helpers, it could be a doctor, nurse, but also a person who has no formal training in this job.

@Stefan, your "comparatively" good command of both languages should have helped you compare better :) The first film was indeed full of misinterpreted phrases and words - either by design (ie to manipulate) or by sheer chance (ie incompetence). Do read Rene's first article on the subject to see some of the notions totally lost in translation.
I am a woman, a mother AND Bulgarian, and in no way a fan of either the poor state of affairs at social homes, or - at the exact opposite end of the spectrum - of witch-hunting.
The default [...]

Read the full comment position of the likes of Cosmos is to hand out prejudiced, wildly incompetent accusations and insults, most probably due to his/her own disappointing experiences. I feel for you, Cosmos, but do not let that get in the way of actually reading and understanding what the main points of this article are about instead of twisting and turning to suit your views.
For the record, I do not agree that all Brits are the same. Just as not all Bulgarians would have been "still in caves" had it not been for the "superior morEls".

@Cosmos: "not much progress there then" - just because Blewett did not include it in her film and no one else has found it worthwhile to report about this, that does not mean it does not happen.

Unfortunately, many media in Western Europe are still only interested in Bulgaria and other countries in the region when they can report about crime, prostitution, child abuse and illegal emigration.

Staying in front of the tv might not be the best way to find out what is really happening in the world ;)
[...]

Read the full comment

@stefan: I am painfully aware of the reactions this film caused, because I do fully understand both sides of the debate.

I am also painfully aware of how this pressure can result in misunderstanding of and inappropriate adaptation of what is believed to be the west European model.
This is more than likely to result in more pain and suffering later on.

@Mladost54: I have deliberately avoided the use of the term "nurse" because it does mean two different things in the UK and in Bulgaria, a difference that Blewett and those who applaud her failed to grasp.

Bulgarian nurses are staff in medical institutions, which is exactly what the children had in Mogilino and was the reason why the staff there was helpless; there was nothing purely medically wrong with them - they had no diseases, no infections, no temperature, nothing like that (unless you consider a disability a disease).

In the UK, [...]

Read the full comment as in much of Western Europe, that term nurse means something different and comes with a different job description.

Good journalism is about a curiosity to understand and be able to critically examine despite this type of cultural, historical, contextual differences.
Thinking of a UK nurse when you look at the work a foreign (in this case Bulgarian) nurse does, is bound to get you into trouble.

Stefan, an excellant response. Renee has complained about bad journalism, when he cannot even get the English term for care/nursing staff correct. A caretaker maintains and cleans buildings and premises, such a person would not have anything to do with residents in a home. I worry how many homes such as this are still around.

Rene

You seem to be in total oblivion about the fact that the first film triggered an unprecedented amount of pressure for reform of child welfare from both outside and inside, from European governments and EU leaders to ordinary Bulgarians who had never before been confronted with the stark reality of the systemic abuse of disabled children in institutions.

Kate Blewett has allowed for this important debate to gain visibility.

I am sorry Rene, but your comments about mistranslations appear at best to be nitpicking, and at worst [...]

Read the full comment a conspiracy theory of which Emilia Maslarova would be proud. I speak both languages comparatively well and at no point did I feel that the mismatch between Bulgarian speech and its translation was problematic.

"There is no doubt that, in Blewett's mind, her morals are superior to those of anyone else. A"common disease of the politically correct

Not quite.
More like "a common disease for the British...." This is when Victorian colonialism, meets left wing activism .... time to change things around here for the Brits...

Cosmos, i think you are the one missing the point here, nobody here claims BG is paradise for the diasbled, the point is how a journalist reports an issue (obouvsly she didnt even make the effort to get good interpreter) let alone any objectivity as far as whats changed after her first move and more important WHO changed it and how. its just so convenient not to answer the questions we can give smart answers to or they dont work in her favor, like this one:
"The one question that Blewett carefully avoids asking in Revisited is where [...]

Read the full comment all those new homes that Didi, Milen and the 75 other children from Mogilino went to, suddenly came from."

Cosmos is a perfect illustration of why we in BG should start treating the Brits much worse than we do.

I've already started with my random insults when encountering them, but more needs to be done....

If as it states in the report that thousands of professionals and volunteers have been working on this for years why did Blewitt report this two years ago not much progress there then. O well back to the tv.

Well said guys but you are still full of crap, if it was not for reporting Bulgaria would still live in caves if you dont like it then stop it from happening. After spending time in Bulgaria it is plain to see that you need a lot of help from a mature country like the UK that has a caring society. Blewetts morels have of course got to be far more superior than yours i think you have missed my point she told the world of your failure to look after the weakest in Bulgarian society

Cosmos is just another victim of pop culture....

Cosmos, apparently you didnt pick a thing of what this article is all about, but ignorance is bliss, they say, so if you like Blewitt's films you can be happy you know everything about the BG society and live dumbass delusional. oh yes, and dont forget to watch more TV, its good for you.

You are full of crap you would not be writing this if this film had not been made, the reporting of the way these children in BG had been treated made us sit up and see what an inhumane society BG is. Bulgaria is a backward country that treats children that are different the same as the dogs they abandon all over the country well done to Blewett for bringing this to the attention of the world now is your chance to do the right thing so stop this moaning and do something.