There’s something here

This town, is coming like a ghost town…

The north-western region of Bulgaria is the poorest region of the poorest country in the EU. In the rural areas, you will find villages that are half empty. Some have no children at all. The village square where you expect to find the mayor’s office, shops and post office is usually an empty run-down space with broken paving, overgrown planters and peeling frontages. There will probably be just one shop left, struggling on. The school, if it is open, will have children from other villages attending, but will likely be half empty.

In some villages that had populations measuring in the low thousands 35 years ago, there remain only a few dozen elderly residents.

The towns, although there are more people around, have a similar feeling. There are simply not enough people of working age living here anymore. The old factories and collective farms that sustained the local economy during communism were never replaced, the jobs and the people moved elsewhere. No jobs, no services, no investment, no real hope. For the young people that still live here, the options are limited; leave, or leave. There’s nothing here for them.

“Bleak” is the word that comes to mind.

Vanessa grew up in such a place. Her family life was a reflection of the town where she lived – broken and devoid of hope. Vanessa’s mother suffered with a severe psychiatric illness, and the girl was raised by her great-grandmother because her grandfather was looking after her mother. Vanessa’s father was an alcoholic who lived elsewhere. Life was hard.

It got harder still when the family had to leave their house and move into a small apartment. There was not enough room and conflict between Vanessa and her great-grandmother became a big problem. Vanessa was 13 when she ran away from home, back to the old house. After two months in foster care, great grandma’s insistence to social services that Vanessa be returned to her won out.

When she was 16, Vanessa’s great grandmother died, and she was taken into care. There she completed her schooling and when she turned 18 this spring she requested to join the House of Opportunity programme in Sofia.

Vanessa still has a close relationship with her grandfather, and visits often, but his time is dedicated to looking after her mother, and they both know that there is no future for Vanessa in her hometown. Now, however, Vanessa needs to get to grips with the idea that she can have a future. Beyond recognising that there is nothing for her at home, Vanessa has no clear idea about what she might do. Before now she has hardly dared to dream.

As it happens, the House of Opportunity teams know a thing or two about dreams. Now that Vanessa has a home with us, and has started a new job, we can help her find her own dream. Perhaps it is possible to get something from nothing.