First topic message reminder :

Have you got a success story or know of anybody who can share one with us all
I've got one, I took on the Bulgarian legal system and won, but I think that enough has been said and written in the past not to enlarge upon it
Another one that comes to mind is Berni and the Silistra Orphanage, perhaps she would like to tell us, why she and Dougie went to Bulgaria in the first place
The same applies to members like oldun, who from reading many of her interesting posts has a number of successful experiences, but what drove you to set up in Bulgaria in the first place is the question
Only positive responses please

krypton wrote:

I should think she never sleeps and when she does she's planning.

Ah Kryps you are getting to know me too well

I think most of Bulgaria know you Berni

I do a lot

Get your coffee and mate yourselves comfortable again!!
What a nosy begger this Willow is!!!

The question I would like to ask you Berni, is which came first the chicken or the egg, in other words did you have your house first and then found the Orphanage

Yes Willow, we found the house first then found the Orphanage and 9 other organizations

As far as the Orphanage is concerned were you interested in it because you are from a large family
Yes, you hit the nail on the head there Willow I come from a family of 12 children, we did not have much of anything really. Christmas was a special occasion because we had a big dinner!! It was not about the presents, although we had a Christmas stocking filled with underwear a whole orange each and some sweets and a little doll or car just fab!. We slept in beds head to toe. I even remember using jam jars for drinking out of. Ah the good days. My mother is the most wonderful compassionate, caring lady I have every met in my live – She never expects anything from anyone and I have never heard her say an unkind word about anyone. I hope I and my children have inherited these qualities.

Also which made you appreciate that there were children out there who needed, help, love and a Mother hen, or was it all an accident and it just fell into place, in other words, it was meant to be
When we visited Bulgaria it was clear that outside the holiday resorts there are people struggling to live. You cannot get near these organisations unless you know someone or the Directors are prepared to allow outsiders in. When we first asked people about orphanages or disability centre they were just amazed or stunned, might be a better word. They could not understand why we would want to be bothered with them. One of our new friends at the time said to me ‘Yes we have this place, but they have many children there with mental problems, but why would you want to help them. Naturally I was shocked at her reply, but then I cannot blame the people for this as this is a way of life for them and after all, charity really begins at home. However, our task was to let our cause be known and try to get the local people in BG to acknowledge these children need help. I can tell you it was not easy, so many doors shut on us Then Nominal Ltd came forward and offered to help. Boris has been with us since. The locals are helping now, we even had a new set of settees donated by a local business who did not want to be named. He read our website and contacted the director and offered to donated new settees.

No, it was no accident we ended up in Bulgaria I believe everything happens for a reason, and only God himself knows what the reason is.
We asked our friend Nellie to contact the orphanage on our behalf. We were very lucky Stilian the director was happy to meet us. He invited us in to look around. He was very proud of the orphanage and their achievements in sports. He took great pleasure in showing us the trophies the children won. It was clean and tidy and had a medical room, but what struck me most was it was dark and colourless and there was not a toy to be seen in any of the rooms we look at around. He answered our questions clearly. We like him immediately as he seemed very focused on the chidlren's welfare. He did not ask us for anything and to this day he has never asked for anything. I have to prompt him every time. He said we will be happy with whatever we give them. If they cannot use it, they will pass on to help other organizations. We explained we would not give money only items they needs and could he tell us what they were. He said they only need for the children clothes trainers, shoes winter coats. We knew than what we wanted to do.

When we visited the orphanage for the first time Dougie and I were heartbroken. I cried for days it bugged me that we had so much and they had nothing. I nearly drove poor Dougie mad because I wanted to get things moving. We already decided we would help.
We have seen a massive change since we first went there back in 2008 – The children are well cared for, they are taught to share everything. On our first visit we took two rucksack full of sweets and we emptied them onto the table expecting the children to take what they wanted however, not one child came forward. I was flabbergasted. Do that in our house and they would be gone before they even touched the table. I asked why they are not taking them and was told – Here we have to share everything. They will all be given some later. I was very embarrassed and felt awful I should have known that from my own upbringing. But you never seen such big smiling faces in your life.

Oldun Questions
I would like to know how you managed to get big companies involved? I believe I read somewhere that you got Tesco to help among others. Surely an ordinary member of the public would find this difficult if not impossible?

Oh Oldun you would not believe how long it took me to get people on board. I wrote to every company I knew hundreds and hundreds week after week and got lots of sorry cannot help. Then I tried ringing, again got the same replies,we have our own charities we support, which is great but did dampen my spirits somewhat, but hey ho! can’t let that stop me eh! Just had to keep moving on and this is what I did for months and months. now 5 years down the line we have companies, Tee Kay Packaging who supply all our packing boxes, PC Howard Ltd who do all our storing, Gap &
Next and the community who supply the goods, and this year we have sponsors for our transport costs LWM Consultants, This forum Ourbulgariaforum Admin allows advertising only to sponsor the Silistra Orphanage, A sponsored website and we became registered as an organisation ourselves. So we have indeed come along in leaps and bounds.

You must have a gilded tongue!
I rang 100’s of companies and spoke with managers, MD’s anyone who could help us and explained our cause and many of them said yes, they will help. We were very excited and expected people to follow through but unfortunately this did not materialise. We heard nothing. So I had no option but to keep going, I knew it would not be easy. Finally I got a call back from the lady I spoke with in Gap, who agreed to send us sample goods. Then Next ltd came on board. We were over the moon, not only could we send them children clothes, but we could send them new clothes too. I rang around all the big stores but again got 100’s of rejections. Then Tesco came back and they donated several boxes of items to us. The the community manager moved on and unfortunately we have not had help since. I have made contact with them again now and we will hopefully be meeting up with them after Christmas

How do you manage to fit everything in? You moderate this forum as well and it must take a lot of computer time to contact everyone. Do you ever sleep?
I do work full time in a call centre, not an easy job, it’s very stressful but I love it. Being part of the Orphanages is a real joy, we both love it and the children are crazy about us especially Dougie. He is such a softie :Hearts:of gold. Thankfully we are both well organized people and everything has to be done accordingly. (my way) only kidding

We all help on the forum, we have got such good members too Admin and the mods are fab! and a great support to our cause too. I also have our own Facebook group and the one for ourbulgariafroum and several others to keep up with so always something to do.
I do not have any help with admin, I prepare the accounts, contact people, deal with all emails and such like I do all that myself. It’s like everything else you have to keep on top of things. I do have help from Bill and Chris regarding the website. I give them all the info and they input it. I will add stuff on myself from time to time but they are both fantastic!

I tend to live on the computer these days as there is always a project ongoing or someone to contact. The bunk bed appeal project has just finished. Now I have to sort out the linen and under bed storage boxes. Then there are projects for next year to work out. I have a few ideas that we need to discuss and work out. Then we have the Children’s holiday again for next year. We need to organize the fundraising to help with their transport etc. Not easy trying to transport 40+ children and 12 adults. We would like to include our 3rd orphanage this year so have to use my glided tongue for that Oldun.

Then the big one! The Garden Party plans have to be made, contacts contacted and try to get help and sponsors for that. Again that is down to me. So you see Oldun it is constant work, but honestly speaking we love it all. I generally get to bed around 1am to 1.30 then up again at 6am so yes I get plenty of sleep – Funny I often get message pop up on facebook or skype to say ‘For God sake woman will you go to bed etc' No names mentioned Willow eh!!

Also, how did you manage to speak to those in charge of the institutions you support because I remember one childen’s home were very annoyed when a Bitish TV documentary was made about conditions there. It’s all of interest so hope you can answer these questions in your busy life.

We have tried to get into organization ourselves, I have email almost all of the orphanages on the list, but I never get a reply. If we do get in I send a Bulgarian and an English person along to see what is it like and what is needed. But of course they are very particular what they want them to see. The final outcome is always they want money – but this is something we will not give, as we have no control over this and we have no idea where it will go. We buy what is needed at our own 3 orphanages in Silistra. Once the establishment realize we will not donate money they really do not want to know. So do not make any contact with us from there. Now we go thought Stilain to contct them and let them know what we are about. Some they say they will contact us but they hardly ever do that.

We also have the Home for the Elderly, 110 people resident there. We brought and continue to bring them wheelchairs, walking frames, walking aids, boxes of linen, sewing machines clothing, shoes, chess games jugsaws and wool so the ladies so they can knit garments for the orphanage and the poor. Then there is the Disability Day Centre in Silistra which we also supply them with goods they have 48 residents from age 6 to 30. We have supplied so far 9 orphanages all over BG, Plovdiv, 2 in Vidin, VT, Dobrich, Shuman and our 3 in Silistra.

The first year we donated to the Silistra Hospital two new wheelchairs. Then later the local Doctors surgery with wheelchairs, walking frames, bandages, and nebulisers and so on and 3 villages with good second hand clothing and shoes. We are getting bigger every year. As of 3 weeks ago we have taken on the Adult Disability Home in Adyimer which is just outside of Silistra. There are 130 residents there. I have made contact with the director there a few weeks ago and explained our terms and conditions re helping them. As yet, she has not replied. The Social worker in there was one we met at the Silistra orphanage so that is how we got in so quickly. Things take so long to get anywhere in BG. In the meantime I am working on a plan. We have to go thought our own director Stilian – so he tells them what we want to do. Some are happy for us to come along others are not interested but will accept goods from us but do not want contact.

Then we have the shoebox appeal We have been doing shoeboxes since 2009 for the Dimcho, and 2011 was the 1st year for Malek Preslavetz and Dobrich Orphanage. We have done them again this year plus for another orphanage in Plovdiv. Dougie and I cover and fill every single box ourselves so each child has the same amount of goods. We are donated books and we do booksales at my place of work and use the small funds to shops for own brands of 100’s of things like toothbrushes pastes, coloring books, felts etc. We shop all year for the items. We love going to bootsale, warehouses, shops every week in the summer getting bargains, plus we add in all the donated items too. Through the winter months we fill the boxes, label and store them ready for Christmas, completing each orphanage at a time. We have friends who collect every year and we pick up or they drop off the goods. All the shoeboxes have new or nearly nearly new items in them. Our family and friends, work colleagues and friends of the orphanage Facebook. Facebook friends all send us goods and local community friends and Girls Guides, Rainbow groups helping with items for the shoeboxes too. We will be starting to fill the boxes after Xmas now as we have collected quite a bit of stuff. People tend to give us their unwanted gifts after xmas. This is a great help as we have all ages from 5 up to 18 years.

Right I think I have answered all your questions now. I don't ask people for help with funding as we are not about money, If we need something than we fundraise for it ourselves and of course it is the choice of the people themselves should they wish to help. We are always glad when they do. People are now come to us with items.

I will only say we are nothing special, just two ordinary people trying to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. It is a natural progression for us because we love what we do. We get great satisfaction knowing the children are a little bit more comfortable now. It never fails to amaze me how people can be so generous and help us in our cause. It’s thanks to all ours supporters that we can do this.

Lastly a special thanks to my Dougie He really is a gem. As all the stuff comes in, we collecting, sorting, washing, packing, labeling, palleting, organize the loading and unloading - and in BG we run around like lunatics too We do have great fun honest It's 1.28am now so time for my bed.

I just want to say well done and a pat on the back for all the good work you do ::

Many many thanks Oddie for taking the trouble to tell your story. It is inspirational but how many would aspire to do everything you have done and achieved in today's 'me' society? Many would have given up even if they had tried. Do not underestimate what you are doing. Its a good job there are still people like you around caring so much for others. I do in my very small way, but am humbled by everything you have written. I would like to meet up with you someday - perhaps attend your garden party in October. I will have to do my bit and work out the logistics of the trip having no car, and maybe even help somehow. Jolly well done as my old auntie used to often say.

What a nosy begger this Willow is!!!

I'll have you know that I've had people arrested for less than that, how dare you call me a nosy begger, did you mean begger or b*gger
Having got that off my chest I would like to :Thank you:for sharing you life style and commitment with us and bringing a ray of :Sunny:to us under privileged members (dictionary definition:- the right to say or write something without the risk of punishment)
All joking apart Berni, I :Thank you:for allowing us interested parties to share you success and how you are going about your duties. It has been said many times before that you are an inspiration to people you care for. Long may it last, but don't forget you are no different to all other ladies, you do need your beauty sleep, so no more 1.30am in the morning postings please

oddball wrote:

Make yourself comfortable this could be a long one
We are Douglas &
Bernadette Leggett and we would like to tell you a little about ourselves and our involvement in the Dimcho Debelianov Orphanage in Silistra, Bulgaria. We currently live in Peterborough in the UK, two ordinary people working to pay the bills and enjoying a holiday when we can. We have been visiting Bulgaria now for a number of years and we just love the country, the people and their traditions. Most of all, we feel very passionate about the children in the Orphanages.

We started off bringing a few extra clothes and giving them to various people, to give to the needy and the orphanages. Then, in 2005, we bought a small house in Silistra, in the North-East of Bulgaria, which we renovated in order to spend our holidays there. We got to know our neighbours, the villagers, their families and, more importantly, we got to know about the Dimcho Debelianov Orphanage.

We decided that we would bring what we could to help the children ourselves. Dougie built a huge trailer with the intention of filling it with goods for the children and driving over. We had lots of help and collected goods from friends, family, work colleagues and Freecycle. The results were wonderful. Before we knew it, we had boxes and boxes to transport to Bulgaria. The trailer was almost finished when due to sudden illness, all our plans had to be changed, and the trip was delayed for 7 months.

We collected more than we could carry in a trailer, so we had to find another way of transporting the goods to Bulgaria, therefore, I contacted a Bulgarian transport company and they agreed to transport for just under £2,000. We had no other option but to pay for the transport of the goods - we had come this far and could not let the children down now.

Finally, the boxes were delivered to the children on the 20th October 2008, the most wonderful experience we have ever experienced. We were so happy, even through all the problems we had encountered, the setbacks, Dougie’s ill health, extra costs etc., we achieved our goal. It was just wonderful. The children were delighted and our donations made them so happy. We decided there and then that this is what we wanted to do, to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

We Dougie and I do everything ourselves regarding the requesting of items, collecting, sorting, packing, labeling, pallet-ting, although we get help with with the loading and unloading here in the UK and BG. We cover al the shoeboxes and fill every single shoebox with donated items or items we have shopped all year for from carboot sales, stores, sales donated or new/nearly new donated items. it's hard work and I also work full time in a stressful complaints call centre. So you see what started out as a few extra boxes of goods now developed into 27 cubic meters of goods sending every year. Since 2008 we have send 4 lorry loads of goods over. We started off with one orphanage The Dimcho Debelianov and now we have 3 orphanages, 3 The Disability Centre, The Home for the Elderly 2 , 3 Villages, the Doctors surgery and we have supplied two new wheelchairs to the Silistra hospital. We also supply good to 2 Maternity units one in Silistra one in VT and an orphanage in Plovdiv and 2 in Vidin. We have also helped by sending boxes goods to 7 other orphanages in Bulgaria so yes, we have indeed come a long way. This year we will be taking on another establishment The Adult Disability Home 130 residents age 18 to 80+ just outside of Silistra. I am waiting for the details from the director. It is not easy getting information from any of the establishments, but we are getting there and of course getting know now so moving forward slowly.

Each year we hold a hold a Garden Party at the Dimcho. This Garden Party gets bigger and bigger each year and we are honored to have our very own Willow (Bryan as our photographer who is always there to support us)

We have had a fantastic year this year 2012. I did the usual, wrote to 100's of companies asking if they could help but this time it was for something massive - a holiday for our children, needless to say got lots of replies say sorry cannot help, or no replies at all. Than one hotel replied The Hotel Delta Beach in Sunny Beach and offered to take all the children and the guardians 12 adults on an all inclusive basis and for 2 whole weeks - Well, as you can imagine this was just out of this world, were just blown away at this generous offer. I checked, double and trebled checked the terms and yes it was an all inclusive holiday for as many children and adults we needed to send. I asked the manager what made him chose us and he said 'because you asked - This has never been done in Bulgaria before and you inspired me to do a project so I have invited another 2 orphanages at the same time'. So all in all there were over 200 children at the hotel for their holidays. The children loved every single minute of this holiday and it looks like they may be going back again next year please God.

We have now found sponsors who supply all our packaging boxes Tee Kay Packaging P'boro and we have a storage company who collect and store our goods PC Howard Ltd Kings Cliff P'boro. Now this year we have a company who sponsors our transport LWM Consultants Ltd - so with the funds we save from ours sponsors on ourbulgariaforuum.com and donors plus our fundraising we could help with the holiday costs and buy trainers for all the children. Our organization is not about money, but about the essential everyday items we can obtain to make life a little more comfortable and normal for the children and other establishments. Although it took us almost the year to raise the transport funds, whatever was left over would buy anything that was needed urgently, underwear, trainers etc.

This year, only this last week we have completed yet another project, which was to raise funds to buy all new bunk beds for the Dimcho. This project was to last us till next year but with our facebook friends and forum friends and fundraising we completed this task and the children will have all new bunk beds before Christmas - now we are looking at supplying all the linen including pillows. duvets and covers not sure if we can do this yet, even if manage to get them we still have to send them over to Bulgaria - so I will need to plan this out.

Our next project for 2013 will be to try to have donated or buy new cycles for the two orphanages in Silsitra another big task but God and our supporters are good and I am sure we will achieve this goal too, we have a year to do this.

We can do so much to help the children, but naturally, we cannot do it alone. Chris, Bill and myself build us a wonderful website and through that and our Facebook and this forum we are spreading the word.... Not only are the people in the UK helping. We still have our very first Bulgarian company Nominal Accounting Ltd in Burgas. They have been with us for 4 years now and still continue to support us. Bulgaria is opening it's eyes to the needy now, which is fantastic news but we have to take one step at a time. Every year we see a new change and that is going in the right direction.

So there you have it our success story Dougie and I are very proud of what we do, it may not be a lot to most people but as long as we make a dream come true and see happy smiling faces from our children, than that that is all that matters we have achieved our goals too. Hopefully 2013 will be even bigger and better.

willowsend wrote:

What a nosy begger this Willow is!!!

I'll have you know that I've had people arrested for less than that, how dare you call me a nosy begger, did you mean begger or b*gger
Having got that off my chest I would like to :Thank you:for sharing you life style and commitment with us and bringing a ray of :Sunny:to us under privileged members (dictionary definition:- the right to say or write something without the risk of punishment)
All joking apart Berni, I :Thank you:for allowing us interested parties to share you success and how you are going about your duties. It has been said many times before that you are an inspiration to people you care for. Long may it last, but don't forget you are no different to all other ladies, you do need your beauty sleep, so no more 1.30am in the morning postings please

Now Willow, you know me too well - I won't have access to the pc for a while now so you will be glad to know I will be tucked up in bed but 11pm That will be so strange for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well we bought our Bulgarian house back in 2006 the initial idea was to have a Holiday Home which is what it was. A bolt hole somewhere to go to so that we could get away from the routine that was our life in the UK. We did the usual thing spent a couple of weeks in Bulgaria here and there then we said lets try it for the summer months. What a great time loved it, we made Bulgarian friends who I may add are still our friends.

It was after the next winter in the UK that we decided that we missed our Bulgarian home so much that we would try and stay there full time. The first challenge was to see if we could survive a Bulgarian winter. The winter was in fact OK, very cold at times -20 on one occasion but it was not like the British winter not so damp so it did not seem as cold as it actually was. The winter even took us back to our childhoods when we used to get the good old peasoupers, well the fog in BG is much the same. We have been here ever since and as we live off pensions we have no need to work . We said we would stay here until the dream finished, now we say we will stay until the last breath is taken. Our only regret is that we should have done it sooner.

Truly delighted for you both :Thank you:for sharing. x