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INTRODUCTION TO Silistra Orphanages March 28, 2009,

Hi Guys

Well it's time for us to start planning our next trip to the Silistra Orphanage. You will probably remember that Dougie and myself Berni sent a lorry load of goods over to the Orphanage in October 2008 and paid for all the transport ourself. It was a wonderful success, that we said we would do it again this year. Most of you followed the blog and seen the pictures.

I have had a small amount of participation from various companies I wrote to. They have send a few boxes of stuff which is a great help, but Freecycle and Netmums still remain our main suppliers. We have filled 79 boxes already but this is now shared between, our own Orphanage and a baby Orphanage in Silistra, we have been told about and what they need etc. We will visit them in Sept with some goods and see what it is like etc. We have also been collecting stuff for our villagers and the home for the elderly and also the Hospital - which we have a few wheelchairs, crutches and walking aids and a mobility scooter - although I am not sure what to do with the mobility scooter yet - I would like to trade it in for some wheelchairs, as they would be much more useful. We will have to look at that in due course.

I have approached our local TA and the WI and they are all collecting for us now, how wonderful is that. thumbsup Got the Brownies and possibly one school doing shoe box appeal for Christmas too. We are over the moon as we were donated an ex hire 40ft by 40ft marquee. All we need to do is buy the metal stakes. They are expensive here in UK £3.50 each and we need about 60, so we will get them made up in BG, which will help the local ironmonger business too.

Now that we have asked people to help, we are just delighted with the response and they are more than happy to be able to help in some way. Mind you, it is still very hard to get a foot in the door - Most companies have their own charities etc they donate to and believe me, it can be very disponding work, but then you get one that say YES, wow! it like you hit the jackpot thumbsup

We have people dropping stuff off and having a coffee and a chat and they are happy to see for themselves what we are like and get more info on our cause, nine times out of ten they will come back with more stuff.

Dougie and I wash, sort, pack the clothes and label the toiletries in Bulgarian. Then we label the boxes and store. But our spare room is getting jammed packed now so we are looking for a kind soul to donate warehouse space. The TA has offered to keep their stuff there until we find suitable storage space. so no panic yet. I am sure something will turn up. The RAF may also be helping us the end of April.

We will be paying the transport again ourself, although, when we are back on our feet properly we will be doing carboot sales, raffles etc to raise the funds. As most of you already know Dougie has had heart surgery in Nov 08 it went well, but he has to undergo another op. He is gutted, as he wanted to be in BG for April, still it can't be helped, his health comes first. I too went down with an illness 3 days after Dougie came out of hospital from his surgery, I was rushed in for another 8 days - We have been lucky in the past with only had minor ailments, the normal cold etc but for both of us to be struck down with major illness at once. it's just unbelievable. I am doing well too, again just a small op and please God we will be back to normal.

Bulgariabill has been a tower of strength to us and has build us a website and it will be going live in April, so hopefully we may get donations from there to make the improvements necessary in the Orphanage, but who knows what will happen.

I have written to various transport companies as they might be in a position to offer us some free space, but with the credit crunch, it is very difficult on them too. But I will keep trying.

I have contacted Opticians and now have 3 of them collecting recycling specs for us, I just need to find an Optician in Silistra to test for free I am working on that too.

I also need to find a way of getting the marquee out as the centre pole is about 25ft long with no breaks, so an all in one unit, the rest folds down - Could be, if we can't get it transported as a whole, we might be able to get a new pole in BG, but I have no idea of the cost, would that be possible??

Well now, you are all up to date again. Unfortunately, it is unlikely we will be moving to BG for another few years until Dougie health is all clear. But we can go for the summer months. We will start off by going for a month in Sept, naturally we want to be there when the lorry load arrives. Oh! it's so exciting I can't wait. We would love to have a big party at the Orphanage in our new marquee so might plan something around that -so watch this space.


Oddy [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Hi Both well first of all can I say I take my hat off to you both [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I think what you are doing and what you have done is totally incredible, and I just hope that more of us can be inspired by this, I'm sure that as a forum we could all get involved and help in some way? so if you have any ideas as to what we can all do to help or contribute in some way then please let us know, again I think you are both amazing and wish you both every success

ATB

this is a wonderful story,i have just very recently started to help out an english lady in one of our surrounding villages,who dedicates alot of her time to a baby orphanage just in next village to ours.all i do at moment is whenever someone i know contacts me to ask is there anything i need from uk,i just ask them to bring something 4 the babies,this orphanage caters from birth to 4,im going 4 my first visit soon,my husband is really worried,hes wondering how im going to cope seeing these babies (sometimes they have around 200 children there),everytime i c a stray dog/cat not recently though got enough now,i take it home for lots of T.L.C with the intention of findin it a good home,so far 3 dogs an 3 cats r still with us,NOT lookin 4 a new home.so well done these people 4 doing all these things i know the places the items go 2 r very very grateful.keep up the good hard work,when the web sites up an going please let me know would love to follow ur progress.

I too will be following this and would love to be able to help in some way so if I/we can help please let us all know what it is we can do ?

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sarah

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Thanks a million guys for your replies - The website is now up and running click below. I am just bringing you up to date before we did the trip in Sept this year. The blog on our website tells you of the two days we visited the website in 2008 when we gave them our first lorry load - but be warned HAVE YOU TISSUES READY!!! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Have a good look round the website, there is lots of photos from 2008 and again at the Garden Party in Sept 2009

Well done girls [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] anything you can do to help any in Bulgaria orphanage, believe me, will be greatly appreciated

I will continue to post the updates to give you an idea what we have been upto in order to get the second lorry load over in Sept 2009.

Oddy

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Good morning people I hope you all had a wonderful Happy Easter.

Thought I would share our good news with you all

firstly: Mr Oddy (Dougie) does not have to have a second op, they have given him some pills to dry up the water around his heart and with fresh air and good exercise he will be back to normal before we know it.

So we decided it was time for him to go to BG to recouperate. He is delighted. He will be flying out on Sat 18th with our friend Bulgariabill. He will be staying with Bill for a day or two and once we get the jeep sorted out, he can go to Silsitra. He will take things easy for the month, build himself up again ready to come home to sort out the Orphanage collections. By then, we will have lots more stuff collected for both Orphanages in Silistra. We expect lots of stuff from the TA and the WI end of May and various other organisation who are spreading the word. We will be very busy come June and July washing, sorting labelling packing and storing. So Dougie has to be fit for than. As you all know, we will be taking another load out in Sept. We have about 80 boxes collected so far, so have no idea how big the lorry will be, we are still hoping to get help with transport costs, but as yet, still no one has offered, but we have a long way to go yet, so who know what might happen. God is good headbang

The other big news is we have been donated a 40ft by 40ft Marquee from an ex hire company in Peterborough for the children in the Orphanage. They can use this as an extra room - What a wonderful gift we are delighted, actually overwhelmed, as is the Director. Now all we got to find, is a way of getting it over as the pole is all in one and 25ft long. Aw well, we will cross that bridge when we come to it eh!!!

Third bit of news is our Website will be live in a few weeks - we are so excited so watch out for it.

OK that's it for now - I thank you all again for your good wishes re our collections, our website and Dougie's health and speedy recovery. Hopefully, things can get better now.

Oddy

WELL DONE, GOOD NEWS DOUGIE JUST GET OVER HERE AN RELAX.GET 100% BETTER QUICKLY,,THE CAUSE NEEDS U AS WELL.

Next stage APRIL 2009

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Lif, you are a little darling, thanks for that idea, I will put books on the lorry. I will try to organise a open day or something like that in our donated marquee. Will try to work it around when we give the donations. We could donate our stuff in the morning and party in the afternoon, and sell the books - But that will be in Sept, would many people travel to Silistra?

Oh a plan is forming now Lif thanks a million. Bulgariabill will DJ and we can get live music too, now just need to sort the food - will speak with the director. Thats a wonderful idea Lif thanks again.

We are real excited our Dimcho Deblianov Orphanage Website will be live next few days. I am allowed to post on here thanks guys you are great! Oh, and there is a donation page on the website should you lovely lot wish to help out, haha!!

21st April 2009: Well, Dougie is in Bulgaria now He went on Saturday, missing him like mad but he has to make a full recovery and that is the best place for him for a while. He will be all on his own so should you fancy dropping into Silistra for a coffee, he would be delighted to see you. Send me a pm and I will give you his number

I have managed to find us storage space now for the Orphange goods. The local TA will take care of that for us. I am still searching for a kind donator for transport, but I guess that is a lot to ask. We have till August to sort it, so who knows what will happen. God is good so are you guys!

Now any other ideas you think might help us raise the funds we need. please feel free to let me know and what kind of books to take over ie romance, fiction, cook books DIY would help me too. Wonderful

Oddy

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April 23rd 2009

Hi Guys

After many hours of preparation and organisation with Bill and ourself we are pleased to announce that the Official website for the 'Dimcho Orphanage' is now ready for use.

Please click on the below link for all the information you need

[url=http:
//bulgariaorphanagesilistra.
webs.
com/:3arw61rn][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Please feel free to sign our guest book, register as a member, donate or help where you can.

We hope you enjoy the site

Many thanks


Berni & Dougie
Bulgarian Orphanages

Oddy [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

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May 3rd 2009

Hi Guys

Just an updated on how things are going with the site.

The response has been slow, have had a few people donating and thanks a million for that, we really do appreciated it, every little helps. Have had lots of people sign the guestbook, which is also wonderful the more the merrier. But I would be interested in what people have to say about the website, any hints or tips.

The secondhand book idea did not go too well, as I had no response from any of you yet, so maybe another time. We are hoping to do a garden party thing, but not sure if Brits will travel all the way to Silsitra, again would love your comments.

Look forward to your suggestions etc. Thanks in advance

Oddy

June 2009

Here is an updated I posted on our Freecycle Monday 1st June

Hi Guys

RE: Helping with moving boxes for Bulgarian Orphanage Orton Goldhay

I asked on Freecycle last week for help re moving the stuff we collected for the Bulgarian Orphanages to storage. Thanks to those of you who offered your services, we appreciate it very much. We just wanted to say a huge thanks to Freecyclers Colin and his son Dan from Baston who came all the way into P'Boro to help us move the 120+ boxes to the TA for storage. Also Lesley who took a load for us too. You are just great! Thanks a million times over. Again I have to specify that we cannot do this without your help. I am so proud of all you Freecycle guys, as ALWAYS, you have come through for us once again. We have more than enough products now for the Baby Orphanage so we will stop collecting for them now.

The TA has yet again come to our aid and offered to store the goods until we are ready to take the load over in Sept 09. Although we are still trying to organise funding/sponsorship for transport. We hope to start doing bootsales soon, so if anyone would like to add a box or two, to their bootsale, to sell for us, we would be delighted.

My next problem is the 'marquee Snowdens donated to us', how to move the marquee pole. Although it is only 134mm dia and ali, it is just under 22ft long, so a bit awkward, and try as I might, it will not fit on my Matiz HAHAH!!! We need to find someone to cut it in half and take it to the TA for storing, again I am trying to sort that out too. I hate the idea of cutting it but we cannot transport it unless we get a lorry longer that 22ft and that will cost us even more.

We have decided that we will also do some shoeboxes for the Children in the Dimcho ourself. However, we have the Brownies, Rainbows and Guides collecting a few shoe boxes for us for Christmas. Lesely has just contacted me to say she spoke with her pre-school and they are happy to collect a few boxes for us next year too. We have 80 children so we will start to make up the shoeboxes ourself too, hopefully by the end of Aug we will have one for each child. I did not realise how hard it is to fill shoeboxes, so thank you all so very much.

Time has gone so quickly I can't believe we only have 3 months to sort everything out now. Our website below, has been launched, we have a few people who commented on our guest book and a few donations too. It's all coming together but it does takes time to get established. We were offered 14 computers recently however, the hard drives were removed, such a shame really, they would have been wonderful. I was sharing them with the Balvan Orphanage too. But it would have cost us too much to replace the drives, but it was a wonderful gesture and goes to show how generous people really are. We are truly amazed.

OK that is it for now - Keep checking the website for updates, I also do monthly updates.

Thank you all once again, you are just wonderful people.

In additions to above I have had a email last night for the Cub leader in our area who has offered to complete more shoes boxes and help where necessary. Also my friend Scooby's her daughter Kay has decided to do school project to collect some boxes for us too, for next year. Kay has done this on her own accord and got the backing from the school so thanks a million Kay, you are a little gem

Berni & Dougie
Bulgarian Orphanages

Oddy

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Hi Guys

Got some great news!!!! Snowdens the donors of the Marquee have contacted me and said they will deliver the Marquee and its pole to the TA barracks for us - wonderful news eh!!! I will arrange some photos around that with the local paper.

It is wonderful how people pull together when needed. We are so blessed to have such brilliant people around us.

Oddy

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17 JUNE 2009

Hi Guys

Well things are moving along nicely. We have all the boxes stored now down at the TA barracks. Snowdens the donor of the Marquee have contacted me to say they are happy to deliver the Marquee to the TA. Therefore, I have contacted the local paper and asked if we can have photos around the delivery. it will be a bit of publicity for us all. I was hoping to get the Cubs, Brownies, etc in the photo too, but it is a school day and it is not possible. But I will try to organise another photo shoot when we pick up the shoeboxes, that they are all collecting.

Donation on the website are still very slow but we have around £175 which is wonderful. I am sure people will start to donate soon. So please forward the website to your friends etc. The more people that get to know about us the better chance of us getting the stuff to the chidrden. Thanks a million for that.

I had my final operation last week and can honestly say I am overwhelmed at being able to get out and about after been confined to the house for 6 months. Dougie had a wonderful trip to BG and is doing good still a long way to go to recovery mind but he looks much better. Allthough he is not out of the woods yet, they have found a leaking valve around his heart and will work on that shortly. They will not assess his 19 pill a day until Dec so will have to wait. But the change in him has been just wonderful and he said he has not been using the heart spray much either. So finally, thank God, things are looking up for us health wise. Now we wait. Just need to sort out the transportation and we will be on our way in Sept. yepeeeeeeeeeee

I am still hoping we can have a garden party or something like that when we get there. I have collected some English books as Lif suggested so can sell them there for small money. Any other suggestion you may have, would be a great help too. Would love to see you all at the Garden Party to support us. I will know more after I speak with the director so will keep you updated.

Thanks a million for your encouragement and support, We really do appreciate it very much.

Oddy

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27 June 2009

Afternoon Guys

I am so excited!!!!! as we are having our first bootsale tomorrow to try to raise funds towards the transportation of the good to the Silistra Orphanage in Sept, so wish us luck. Also thank you to those of you who have donated via our website below, we appreciate it very much, we have a long, long way to go yet but, with help hopefully we will get there. Also feel free to pass the website on, the more people that know of our casue the better. Thanks a million. Will let you know how we get on.

Berni & Dougiexx

Oddy

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29 June 2009

Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we had a wonderful day, the weather was brilliant all afternoon. Few people from Freecycle turned up to help us. We made £69.10 brilliant for a fete bootsale. plus we sold the mobility scooter for £350 giving us a total of £419.10 [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] which is just brilliant!!!!! We have to buy some wheelchairs for the Silistra Hospital from the sale, as this was the agreement we made with the donor if we sell it, otherwise donated the mobility scooter. Whatever is left after we bought some wheelchiars we will than donate this to the Silistra Orphanage.

So a great day was had - a good few more days like this and we will have a fair bit of the transport costs. yippeeeeeeeeeee [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Berni & Dougiexx

Oddy