As challenging as organising an event for more than 3000 attendees and hundreds of volunteers can be, the International Women’s Club of Sofia manages to pull such a feat off each year with its annual Christmas Bazaar.

And while visitors are enjoying the variety of crafts and treats from more than 47 countries, as last count had it, their money will be going to help those who are not so fortunate.

Happening this year on November 25 from 11.30am till 5pm at the Inter Expo Centre in Sofia, the event hopes to pull in even more than last year’s total of 230 000 leva from donations and stall income. Why? Because the IWC bazaar funnels all its profits straight to its charity initiatives, which currently fall into six categories: humanitarian aid, disabled children in orphanages, educational/scholarship programmes, social integration of teenagers in orphanages, a forum for directors of institutions, and women’s causes.

Marie Halbherr, IWC Charity Foundation director, recently met to talk about the bazaar and the foundation’s projects. She explained that the goal of the bazaar is to, in addition to creating a merry holiday spirit, raise money to finance the benevolent initiatives. “I’m happy if we have enough to sustain our on-going projects,” she said. “It’s a challenge, but each year (the amount raised) has been even more.”

Under the guidance of bazaar co-ordinators Miriam Flanagan and Vanessa Chatel-Kemp, IWC women have been preparing for months to have enough items that they have brought back from travels home, donations from businesses, and hand-made goods – sweets, savouries, textiles, art pieces – to sell on the day of the event.

Newly participating this year are Algeria, Belarus, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Serbia. “The beauty of the bazaar is to have such a multi-cultural event; from the smallest countries like the Seychelles to the largest like China or Russia,” Marie said.

And in addition to the country stands, there will be the “usuals”: themed stalls like the bookstall, toys and clothing stalls (new and nearly new, and another alternative in the bTV stall, where clothing worn by anchors on the broadcasts is up for grabs), a tombola and festive music.

There has been a great response from the business community this year in donating items to be sold, with club members actively soliciting companies from their native lands.

Goals realised
When relating the bazaar to its ultimate purpose – helping others to have more decent lives – the dedication that Marie has for the charity programmes shined through. Listening to her talk about the home for handicapped children in the village of Petrovo (near the Greek border) and the 97 children between the ages of three and about 20 who live there, it only seemed natural to contribute to such initiatives oneself.

The Baba Programme is one of the most successful stories of their participation in Petrovo. Grannies from the local villages each care for two children at the orphanage, like a grandma should care for her grandchild – with hugs, kind words, family outings, going to church or the cafe.

“We’ve noticed such an improvement in the conditions of the children,” Marie said. “Because they are disabled, most of the children are pretty much abandoned. It’s a stigma here have a disabled child.” Referring to the change-over of children’s social care homes from government to municipal guidance, she said: “But you cannot close down homes for disabled children, because there are not yet enough alternatives for them. Ideally, there would be family-type homes, but this requires funding, municipal space... This would be the better alternative, and a more caring and meaningful environment. The longer a child stays in such an institute, the more difficult it is to adapt to society.”

The International Women’s Club Charity Foundation’s scholarship programmes help children who have grown up in orphanages to further their education. Currently giving the financial means to 60 children around Bulgaria to go to university, they would eventually like to expand the programme to support 70. Priority is given to total orphans, followed by children with one parent and socially disadvantaged children. All students must have very good marks in school: at least a five (out of six).

In a similar programme, 18 high school students fulfilling the same criteria receive small stipends to help them concentrate more on their studies and less on if they’ll have enough money to buy a pair of socks.

“We hope that it is a motivation to the other children (in the social care home). Children in orphanages are simply not motivated to learn or study,” Marie said.

The outcry over the situation at the institution for disabled children in Mogilino came up in our conversation. Marie said that the BBC documentary showed things that reminded her of how the orphanage in Petrovo was five years ago. “There was nothing in the film that I have not seen before,” she said. “But it shook some consciousnesses,” which is what needed to be done. And as things in Petrovo have improved tenfold, she also believes that such can happen for Mogilino.

Children who live their whole younger years in orphanages have a hard time integrating into society when they turn 18. As such, the IWC Charity Foundation also has two programmes to assist them in the transition to the outside world.

As Mark O’Sullivan, director of Cedar Foundation, said: “Orphanages create an anti-family situation. The kids begin to think as ‘we’ rather than ‘I’, which is strange. There’s something inherently wrong with this.” To combat this mindset and to help adaptation to society, he favours mentoring, transitional homes and personal attention. “Most experts say to me that it’s too late, that it’s better to work with three- or four-year-olds. My response is that it’s never too late. You might be limited in what you can do, but what you’re doing otherwise is saying that it’s impossible. It’s not too late, and you cannot start from that basis. I’m a real believer in mentoring,” Mark said.

Because once out of the social care home, where everything is provided, where children are told what to do and do not have to make critical decisions, where “family” is a construction, skills needed to survive in the world are lacking.

The IWC has mother-baby centres to help prevent abandonment of babies, which serves two purposes: pre-emptive education, to encourage mothers to not make their babies “orphans”, and post-abandonment education, to encourage young orphan woman to not get into the same cycle.

Yvette Kancheva, the co-ordinator for helping orphans who are mothers at Bulgarian Mothers’ Movement explained the situation: “Many of the girls growing up in orphanages know very little about contraceptive measures; they’re not taught this in the homes. So when they get to know a boy, they trust whatever he says about getting pregnant or not. And then there are girls who just want to have their own children, and they do not recognise that it is a very hard job.”

When the girls get pregnant, Bulgarian Mothers’ Movement helps them with advice, friendship and, where necessary, medical care, and with supplies for the baby, like nappies or clothing. At the moment, the organisation is building a transition-type home in a village near Sofia where such mothers can live for a year.

Marie said that the IWC’s centre aims for the same thing, in a live-out situation, where mothers can receive education and bond with their babies, thus keeping them and preventing the cycle of abandonment.

The IWC Christmas Bazaar will be held on Sunday November 25 from 11.30am to 5pm at the Inter Expo Centre in Sofia at 147 Tsarigradsko Chausse.
To donate to or volunteer, contact Miriam Flanagan at mflanagan@actavis.bg ; tel: 089/ 831 64 24 or Vanessa Chatel-Kemp at nessandgrant@yahoo.com.au;
Тel: 088/ 834 30 18.