News from Bulgaria

As a history teacher I teach my students important events from the past, most of which are wars. The face of the war looks rather theoretical from the distance of time and space – we can calmly describe and analyze them. My generation has grown up during the Cold War, with military conflicts in different areas of the globe. The last wars, engaging the bigger part of the world, concluded in the first half of the 20th century. From February 24th however we live a different reality, the biggest war in the last 70 years has broken out. This war enacts before our own eyes and its “face” differs from this in the student books. We can feel it through the uncertainty for the future, the danger of mass destruction by nuclear weapons, the horrific media reports of destroyed cities and human lives. Bulgaria is one of the countries with tens of thousands of refugees, most of whom have witnessed violence and death. These are mostly young mothers with small children who have escaped from hell.
As believers our first and foremost priority during these difficult times is to help the needy however we can. Our church participates in all ADRA humanitarian aid campaigns – fundraising, transportation of refugees to different cities in the country and so on. The adolescents from Pathfinder Bulgaria prepared boxes with food supplies for children, victims of the war.
On the other hand, we restarted a project, interrupted previously due to COVID restrictions, and repurposed it to activities for socialization and support of refugees from Ukraine in Sofia.
We gather in a wonderful café in the city center, consigned at our disposal free of charge from two sisters from the local church, which gives us the opportunity to organize events, to build trust and to attract people – a wonderful center of influence for purposeful activities for the local community. The cafe is open daily and in the organization of the events are included the young adults from the local church, the pastor and other church leaders.
Reported by the Bulgarian Union