Feeding and literacy project for children in Bulgarian Gypsy neighborhoods

Since 1998 Mission Possible has been offering regular meals to the children of Gypsy neighborhoods. App. 250 children are fed daily.

Unemployment and chronical poverty burden a large portion of the population in Bulgaria. Hunger and cold are a continuous trial for the people living in Gypsy and Turkish territories - and children suffer the most.

For many of the children of the slums, the food served by our kitchens is the day's only meal. We have seven kitchens in different cities of Bulgaria. The food serving is organized in the local Evangelical churches of the Gypsy neighborhood. Voluntary women from the congregations serve as cooks and take care of the children.

Literacy project

The children also receive literacy teaching. These classes are meant mainly for 9-15 -year-old, but even adults have participated in the teaching. The teacher are voluntaries who have been trained to this service at special seminars.

The most of the Bulgarian Gypsy population are illiterate. Only 50% of the Gypsy children begin school, and as few as every tenth of them finish the public school. For those who have fallen behind their age mates it is practically impossible to start school.

Our goal is to help the children to be enrolled in a public school and to also give the illiterate adults a possibility to learn to read and write and to receive a job. The reader also includes lessons on mathematics, personal hygieny and job acquisition. After learning to read, a part of the children have been able to go to a public school. The work in Bulgaria is led by Rumen Ivanov.
Articles:	At the great Spring Festivity of Mission Possible's literacy classes, Rumen Ivanov hold the microphone as one of the pupils demonstrates to the audience her reading skills.

Children abandoned in the slum: "Father went to collect firewood"
First Delivery on the New Van
Meetings
The Day’s Only Meal for Traynka and Roza
The children of the slums
The boys named Jesus
The Letters