A Meeting of Hearts

Last Wednesday evening we had Marianna over for dinner. Hanneke met Marianna in the local shop and learnt that she was a teacher at the only school in Gostilista with about 50 children. Soon after our return from Bulgaria last year October, we came across an article about the school titled: “Bulgaria: Changing Orphans’ Lives” (http://www.ethiosun.com/2011/06/03/bulgaria-changing-orphans-lives/). Below is an excerpt from the article which  describes the nature of the school very well:

 Mark and I traveled to a very small town in Bulgaria on Sunday, where we heard about a wonderfully innovative program for very poor Roma children in Gostilitsa. Surrounded by the Stara Planina Mountains and the hills and valleys of the endless verdant countryside of Bulgaria, we visited a very old orphanage, but one that was very clean and filled with evidence of love and care. We also saw a 160-year-old community school building that, too, felt like a place of warmth and love. Fifty-six Roma children live in the orphanage five days a week and go home to their impoverished families in the town on the weekend.

Marianna is a 25 year old part time teacher at the school. After witnessing her with some of the children after school I knew this was not a job to her, it was evident that children is her passion. (I guess it is in any case hard to think of an "activity" that pays the equivalent of about R40 per day as a job . . . )

 So knowing that we shared a passion and "a language" (the second is not as obvious as you might think) we decided to invite her over for dinner. We had the most wonderful time talking and listening to some of her dreams for the children. One of her dreams is to start a summer school for the children where they can be occupied in a constructive manner over the 3 month long summer holiday period. She also shared with us that it is a dream of hers to make a movie about the children and that she already wrote the script for it. The title of the movie: "Letter to God"

After a wonderful supper (thank you Hanneke) we watched an inspiring movie based on a true story with Marianna. The movie is about a 24-year-old first-time teacher who overcomes her initial fears and prejudices and makes a difference in the lives of the homeless children she teaches in a shelter's makeshift classroom. (How it happened that this is the one and only movie on my Laptop is a story for another day.)   So the evening ended with Hanneke and Marianna sharing a couple of tissues and an invitation to come to the school concert on Friday.  After reflecting on the evening, Hanneke and I were convinced that meeting Marianna is one of the reasons we had to come to Bulgaria for the 3 months.

 

 

 

Most of the pictures were taken at the school concert. The children and teachers saying goodbye for the 3 month summer holidays was a bit of an emotional affair at times . . . You can watch the trailer of "Beyond the Black Board" below.