Free Boarding School Bulgaria for children at risk

Since last report a lot has happened in our project. It can be devided into two categories, namely, building and refurbishment and School Documentary Premier.

We are really thrilled to share that we have received a very generoous donation from an American church to help with reconstructing our dormitory roof, where 46 children reside all year round and of course, heading into the winter season with a lot of rainfall, we faced an emergency crisis situation with as many as 8 different leakage spots. Fortunately, we reached out and knocked ont he right door and managed to secure this donation. We are now still in construction process. 

Furthermore, the church also agreed to finance the refurbishment of all children bathrooms in all 14 dormitory rooms. As you can imagine, this is a fantastic gesture and coming right on time when we have faced issues with the conditions of the bathrooms. 

The work commneced in the middle of October and is due to finish mid-December, just before the Christmass holidays arrive. Children are relocated downstairs, ont he first floor and are having to adjust for this short period, but they are all grateful that this work is underway and they will soon have repared/new bathrooms and a stable, well-repared roof to live under for many years ahead. 

On another note, and somehow seemingly in a different woorld, we are pleased to share with our donors, the great news of our new documentary movie which was released in the cinemas in all big cities in Bulgaria on 1st November 2024. The movie was filmed for the duration of one calendar year ont he school and dormitory premises back in 2019/2020 and tells an authentic story of how we admit our pupils and the process of them settling in and developing their skillsets int heir new enironhement, far from poverty and neglect.

The film is a trully amasing capture of the life in our school and we welcome all of you to watch the trailer in the attached links. With this movie we have started a campaign to raise 1,5 million BGN to build a second dormitory for another 45 children and maintain our costs for another year ahead. 

BIG thanks to all that support our cause!

PM, Kami Ivanova for Association Rusalya

Links:

• Link to the webpage of our new documentary movie trailer
• Trailer - documentary School for Hope- our school in Rusalya

New canteen and kitchen space up and running

Following a few campaigns in the past months, we were able to finally start operating from our new canteen and kitchen space which much more spacious and is equipped with modern cooking tools and machinery for a quicker and healthier meal plan. Out kitchen staff could not be happier!

We finally got our potato peeler machine, our vegetable cutter and some practicale storage kitchen shelfs for storing the food. We also purchased the new tables and chairs that go into the canteen and furnished with fire extinguished to enable us to meet the health and safety requirements. At about the 4th week of the second semester we got our athorisation and opened the kitchen for our all pupils, teachers and mentors. Being located out in the village, 20km from the nearest town, it is much better to be able to eat at the canteen and most importantly bond with the children over a nice hit meal. 

Our 7th grade pupils successfully admitted in some of the best national high schools

Since we are a primary school from kindergarden to 7th grade age 3 to 15, we support pur pupils to apply in the high schools of their chosen profession and continue to finance and support them until they are 18 years old. This year we had 3 pupils in 7th grade who applied and were successfully admitted in the Natiopnal Professional school of Arts in Plovdiw city, the National Folklor Singing school in Shiroka Luka town and the Transport school in Kazanlak town.

All pupils were accepted as per their first wish for a profile. Suffice to say we are extremely proud and lookign forward to see how they become professionals. Of course we are also working on helping them find soem work experience and internships. 

Current focus: The school year has now finished and we are focusing on roof repauirment as the rainy months will soon hit us. We discivered a small leak in the roof and will be fundraising to fix that as a matter. We also need to ensure that before the new school year starts, our dormitory undergoes a refurbishment of every room's bathroom as this hasnt been done for quite some time. 

Thank you to all our supporters! We wouldn't exist without you!

Links:

• Pupils were successfully admitted to their chosen high schools