Hopes for the trip ahead.

The Beginning

Its 12.08am here on Wednesday evening and 2 days until i leave the UK for Bulgaria... the time when i take my journey to the next level of learning and improving the lives of the institutionalized children i have watched, read and tried to help from a far for the past few years...

I still cant really believe that i'm actually going, when i think about the time i first watched Kate Blewetts documentary in 2008.. it has been a long journey to making the change and actively doing something about it.

I have never watched such a powerful piece of television that left me physically aching for the children that had to endure such a horrendous life and more then anything a life that was so unnecessary.

Here is a clip of the documentary for anyone who hasn't seen it and therefore wont quite understand the extent of the problem Bulgarias Abandoned Children Documentary

It would be a lot easier to swallow had the country been poverty stricken and unable to fund a place for abandoned, disabled children to be cared for. Yet Bulgaria isn't one of them.. it has the funds to look after these vulnerable young people and choose not to.It's still something that i cannot get my head around and something that i wont ever accept.

My story so far..

I have made two fundraising efforts for the charity so far, one being a charity ball ' A Night For Freedom which you can read about here: A Night For Freedom Charity Fundraiser

Second one being a half marathon 2 week challenge ... the beginning of sport inspired fundraising challenges.. and boy was it a challenge.

My next fundraising challenge is a triathlon... a full distance triathlon... 1500m swim..40k cycle and 10k run.. i know CRAZY but hey Go big or go home! Watch this space for donation and training details!!

Where does the money go?

Through all the money raised over the two events i managed to sponsor several children for the Baba scheme.

Due to the fact that institutes can't just be closed with the click of a finger the charity have put in place the Baba scheme where children can be given real care whilst still living in the institute.

One baba has two children assigned to her, she goes in for 5 hours everyday taking them proper meals, interacting with them on a level suitable for the particular child - trying to either ease there needs or engaging them to the next level.

Essentially the child recieves the care that we would class as basic care in the UK, they are loved and looked after by one person that seeks to understand their needs.

The progress that i have seen from this program can be outstanding - it shows time and time again that you dont have to loose children to a cruel system - no matter what level of progress the children have it is still progress.

Why am i doing this?

So as you can see it took me 3 years to start contributing to the charity, when i first watched the documentary i had the feeling, as i'm sure 90% of people do in many of these situations, well what can i do? i am only one and whatever i do isn't going to make a blind bit of difference to a problem so complex and widespread as this.. this mindset fills me with rage, makes me angry that i even entertained such a narrow minded thought yet im sure that many people reading this have felt or feel this way.

What i really meant was it is easier for me to adopt this way of thinking so i don't have to face the problem and actually put myself out to help change it - because if you acknowledge it - you have to face it and change it.

My mindset now couldn't be any further from the one i had in 2008, we are so much more powerful then we ever give ourselves credit for. If we all spent 10 minutes a day actively working on something we believed in we would change the world... i truly believe that.

If Kate Blewett hadnt as one gone to Bulgaria and created this documentary 1000's of peoples lives wouldn't have been and be so drastically changed for the better - she opened 1000's of peoples eyes to a problem that we didn't even know existed and inspired them to create whole movement of positive change.

And we dont think that as one we can make a difference????

We have to be the change we want to see.

It's not that i think in 3 weeks i am going to change the system or save every child i touch - far from it.

If i can spend three weeks being apart of a volunteer movement that will see changes in the children IF people keep going... then over a course of time the children will have had consistent interaction on a greater level then they have ever experienced and hopefully will develop in their own way from it.

I want to go and understand the root cause of this problem for my own eyes and see what I can do to help, because lets face it if there were a 100 more of me doing this in the world and followed it through afterwards for this cause then we could make a real change.
 I am fully aware that there are people out there doing incredible things for causes they believe in - my hope is that if everyone does anything that they can, on a level that works for them... you could make such a difference. I don't class myself as any better then the next person, i hope to inspire anyone to believe that they can be the change they want to see no matter how big or small their contribution is to a cause - in the bigger picture it makes such a difference.

I want to come home emotionally scared so that no matter what i never ever stop helping this situation or accept it the way it is. Even if i just help one person, one child into a brighter, better future - that is one person saved.. that person could have been me.

Until the next time..

There are so many more thoughts and views that i have on the journey ahead that it is going to be interesting to see how i feel when i get there and am faced with the reality of the situation - after all it is easy to judge and have opinions from our sofas... its totally different when its staring you right in the face.

Maybe i will eat all my words above and have a totally different view come 5 days time... i cannot wait to find out!

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog and understand my thoughts and passion for creating positive change on any level.

I hope you continue on my journey with me.

Hells x