Our trip started off in the very early hours of Saturday 18 July and we had non- stop action packed days from the word go. Our first destination was Sofia where we stayed in the quaintly named Hostel Mostel.
Sofia proved to have good restaurants and especially good ice cream and fortified we got taxis to the bus station on Sunday and made for our main destination Stara Zagora. We hadn’t known what to expect, but were pleased with our hotel and even more delighted when we arrived at the youth centre to deliver our week of lessons and activities to Roma children. The building was brand new and opened early especially for our benefit. The vice mayor of the town was there to greet us together with the Director of Education and a number of youth workers who support the Roma community.
We couldn’t wait to meet the children and then the real fun began. The girls showed real resilience, as not only were they responsible for delivering lessons and activities to the children, but they were often doing in in the full glare of observers from the city council and youth workers. However, the week was a great success – the fact that more children came to our classes each day was the best feedback that we could have got and on Friday afternoon there were tears as everyone had to say goodbye.
Everyone we met could not have been more welcoming and I am sure that any future teams from BHHS going to Stara Zagora would have an equally brilliant time.
On Saturday we returned to our beloved Hostel Mostel in Sofia and were back in the UK on Sunday – tired but very happy in the knowledge that we had succeeded in giving the children of Stara Zagora a week that they will never forget.
Many thanks to all the students*who went and to Mrs Dowglass, Miss Plank and Miss Lyons for helping to make this dream a reality.
- Ellen Adamson, Reianna Agnihotri, Lily Belton, Chiara Crompton, Josie Grumitt, Lucy Haggis, Genevieve Hughes, Kate Hughes, Imogen Jones, Penny Majithia, Hannah Raymond, Bela Thomas, Theo Vamvas, Charlotte Woods.
