As of 2003, here is a brief description of how the money raised by OXAB has been put to good use.

Education Centre Computer Centre Project

OXAB was a major donor in the opening on an education centre in Veliko Turnovo, which will offer English and Computer lessons, a library and internet facities to deprived children in the area. The centre will be able to be used by the 112 children in Penyo and Maria, 40 deaf children, 30/40 homeless children in the city as well as, the 80 children from Balvan, 55 children in Sushitsa, 60 children in Gabrovo and 90 children in Staritsa. OXAB managed to co-ordinate a large donation of news computers from Hewlett Packard, and second hand donations from SOAS and Oxford University.

The computer centre will be a means by which the children could receive valuable computer skills training which they simply do not receive at school and which then creates an extra hurdle for them to get through when they eventually try and find a job. Many children who have families have computers in their home and are noticeably more computer literate than the children OXAB works with. There is also the dimension that, for whatever reason, the boys are better at using computers than the girls, and hopefully this centre would be a way of offering more equal opportunties. As well as offering high quality computers we would also hire a teacher so that daily lessons would be provided.

As well as being beneficial for their education, computers would also be a source of enjoyment for them. The children in Penyo and Maria who are within walking distance of an internet club love to go there, as any of the volunteers will tell you. Unfortunately it does happen that if you buy a TV or computer for an orphanage the staff either use it more than the children or don’t have the time to supervise them when using it. That is part of the reason why this idea has been developed over the past year as one of the best ways of improving the education of the children that we work with.

This project will raise some money for its ongoing costs by making the computer centre available to paying customers when the children were not having lessons there. It is not unusual for Bulgarian internet clubs to be open (and used for 24 hours a day). We are still fundraising to ensure this project is as valuable to the children we help as possible and so that we can offer a wide range of facilities.

Fairtrade Camomile Scheme, Veliko Turnovo

We started the year by investing in an innovative Fairtrade scheme to provide work, initially, for ten 18 year old young adults from socially deprived backgrounds. Unemployment in leading orphanages is rife and we were very interested in the scheme as it allowed the individuals involved to really help themselves. The scheme used paid for agricultural experts to train up 10 young people in skills necessary to plant, cultivate and harvest camomile seeds in order to produce valuable camomile oil. It is based in Novo Selo, Central Bulgaria. A large harvest was produced from 17,000m2 of land. We harvested 4kg of seeds which produced 8.86kg of essential oils and 300kg of camomile water. Due to these seeds and with the money that was made from the sale of the produce we are able to increase the land used this autumn to 40,000 m2. The camomile was initially sold in Bulgaria but we hope to sell it in England in the future. About 8.7 kg was sold for about £230 per kg, and so around £2,000 was gained to pay workers and invest in the scheme further. OXAB worked with Foundation Zov for this project. OXAB’s contribution to this scheme was £2000. The project is continuing and we think that it will be even more successful next year. This year we will employ 20 people so that we can offer a wide range of facilities.

Christmas cards

The children in the orphanages are given pocket money and it has been said that they do not realise the link between working and getting paid. We therefore felt that we could show the children the rewards of their labour by selling Christmas cards on their behalf. All the children in two orphanages designed a card and four designs were chosen to be printed and sold. We have made £400 profit this year and will be purchasing some outdoor toys for the children and a new boiler for their orpahanage. The children whose designs were printed will recieve a sum of about £25 to spend as they wish.

Summer camp

The children in the orphanages will never go on holiday unless someone takes them. For the past 2 years OXAB has paid for 40 children to go on holiday to the Black Sea coast (2002) and into the mountains (2003). All transport, accomodation and supervision is paid for. We also like to send student volunteers along to help provide activities for these energetic kids! The children have absolutely loved the experience. We would dearly like to provide for some of these children this year but it costs £1650 to do so. Please help us fundraise.

Dry Pool for Debelets Centre for Children with Special Needs

This dry pool is being used for the rehabilitation of children with physical difficulites in central Bulgaria. For around £1400 we were able to pay for this and transport it to the centre. About 25-30 children use this pool every day.

Toilet in Balvan

This project was brought about by the special requests of numerous volunteers who had visited Balvan and been shocked by the unhygenic state of the toilets that the children had to use. This cost about £2800. We would have loved to have renovated more of the orphanage but this seemed to be the most pressing issue. We believe that it will contribute to the a better standard of living for the children.

Volunteer Projects 2003

Volunteers are always very generous with the children and very often buy them food, drink, sports equipment and games for which both MCAB and the children are very grateful. It is not unusual for groups to do their own fundraising and to buy particular items for the children they work with.

During Summer 2003 we would like to give special thanks to:
One group who worked with the children from Penyo and Maria this summer gave £600, and a second group who gave £200, which was spent on glasses for one of the children and the rest was on school equipment and uniform for the new academic year.

Last updated: March 2nd, 2008