In the year of 2008, when the project was developed, Caritas Ruse had been managing Center for social rehabilitation and integration of disabled children and disabled youths “Milosardie” for 9 years. More than 50 children and youths with heavy physical disabilities were attending the center.
Most of the children who came to the center did not go to school. Though the disabled children had the assistance of the volunteers supporting our organisation, their social contacts were extremely restricted. The participation of children volunteers from Bulgaria and other countries in joint events showed us that the children can easily and quickly find a common language and that they readily participate in joint organized activities.
Caritas Ruse is an organization experienced in the development of interest clubs as an alternative of the extracurricular activities. In 2009 Center Milosardie won a state grant and changed its activity to Daily center, which set limits to the access of many children to the center and also limited the resources of the staff. The project “Equal rights and equal opportunities for all children in Ruse" intended to provide a good opportunity for integrated participation of an equal number of children with and without disabilities.
Integrated interest clubs were established under the project and children with and without disabilities participated in them on equal basis. Specialists with professions interesting to the children were invited to become leaders of the clubs. The team included not only Caritas employees, but other people as well, which brought considerable variety to the activities. Some of these people were representatives of public and cultural institutions, which resulted in the involvement of the institutions in the activity.
The meetings of the clubs were held every day as part of the everyday schedule of the disabled children attending the daily center. What made the daily life of the center different was the fact that the clubs also allowed the participation of other children in them and these were children not using the services of the daily center – children from schools in the town, young volunteers, and children from institutions.
In the course of the joint interest activities, the project provided the opportunity for communication between different children from different social groups. The activity of the clubs included hiking and organized urban events such as exhibitions. These initiatives made the activity known to the general public and showed that the equal participation of different children is possible when there is a will for this and good organization.
The projects affected all participants— the children with and without disabilities, the team of hired volunteers, the partners and the followers.
As a major result of the project one can point out the fact that the children without disabilities participating in the project later became volunteers of the organization. They discovered the pleasure of communicating with disabled children and participating in joint initiatives.
The disabled children succeeded in overcoming the difficulties in communication and learnt new lessons of life. One substantial result is that after the project all people involved in its implementation got motivated to find ways of continuing the integration activities, because they saw the effect of them on the personal development of everybody.
Contact information
Joana Terzieva, Social activities and practices expert
Tel.: ++359 82 82 15 12
Fax: ++359 82 82 15 13
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