The Karin Dom centre provides professional services to 156 children (with physical disabilities, mental problems, learning difficulties, behaviour problems, autism, visual and hearing problems, multiple disabilities) and their families - consultations, therapy and teaching at the centre, home visits, out-reach work. The ethos of the centre is to break the system that leads to children being placed in homes, and to challenge the belief propagated by the old system that disabled children are ‘uneducable’. They emphasise the reinforcement of children’s abilities through art, music, play and games in a child-friendly atmosphere. Respect for the child as an individual and consulting the child’s opinion has become the centre’s main principle. Karin Dom is ‘one of a kind’ in Bulgaria, but it puts great emphasis in sharing its ethos and resources with other child-care institutions in the country.There is great potential for MCAB members to support the home in its work, and although the home maintains a high profile and attracts a good deal of foreign support already, there is much that its directors still hope to achieve. The centre has plans to develop its surrounding land into a park area with features specially designed for disabled children. The hope is that people from the local area will also be able to use the park for recreation and increased integration between able-bodied and disabled children will be increased. In this way the centre hopes to tackle the stigma that still surrounds physical and mental disability in the country. Volunteers may be able to assist in the ground clearance, planting and construction of the park area. They may work in conjunction with students from the local Engineering and Construction College who are volunteering their help in building a large play-ship - the main feature of the park. The Centre is however searching for sources of funding before the development can begin.

It is also hoped that a garden centre can be opened, stocked with plants grown by the youths that attend the centre - the produce of future ‘garden therapy’ programmes. MCAB may also be able to help in the future with plans to establish a ‘toy library’. The centre runs training programmes for the staff of other centres and homes, as well as for the parents of children with physical, mental or learning disabilities. The Centre is located on the Black Sea coast, the beach is a short walk from the grounds, the main city of Varna a walk or short bus ride away. Volunteers may be able to stay in the accommodation provided for families of children visiting the centre from some distance (if not already occupied by a family), otherwise alternative accommodation can be found. One possibility is that volunteers will stay with Ekaterinna Marinova an English, (French, Danish and Japanese!) speaking Disability Adviser who lives locally.

Trip Reports:

Summer 2005 Summer 2004 Summer 2002 Easter 2002

Last updated: March 2nd, 2008