News
As from 1st January, 2011 Equilibrium will manage Ruse’s complex for social services and the small group home for children for a further three years. Once again, we’re working in partnership with the Open Society Club and with the welcome support of Arena Media.
After hearing the news, and even before David had signed the new contract with the municipal authority on 15th December, the team got together to share cake and champagne. It was great that there were plenty… Continue reading
Christmas is a time for giving and it is customary for the team at the complex to distribute ‘shoe boxes’ to our young clients containing gifts from overseas provided by the generosity of the Samaritans. This year, we ramped up our campaign and here is how it happened…
‘Hey’ says Galya, ‘Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation is providing funding to buy materials to support fundraising activity – let’s do something.’
So we did just that. Eli put together a campaign proposal,… Continue reading
On the 28th December 2010, the Council of Ministers announced the official closure of Teteven institution for children 0 to 3 (officially Home for Medical and Social Care for Children – HMSCC).
In the note explaining the reason for the decision there was a reference to Hope and Homes for Children / Equilibrium project which lead to moving all children out of the institution into family care and establishing alternative to the institution services. Out of the 32 children assessed… Continue reading
In 2008, Equilibrium hosted a study visit to Bulgaria for personnel of CCF-Moldova (see Archive) and our organisations have kept in touch primarily through providing technical support to one another and exchanging literature.
This year’s visit – financially supported by UNICEF Moldova – was significantly more ambitious. Both Moldova and Bulgaria have embarked on deinstitutionalization programmes that involve cooperation between NGOs and government at municipal, regional and national level. EQ plays a leading role in the Bulgarian process while CCF… Continue reading
On the 3rd October, 2010 the Complex celebrated its 5th anniversary. The party was on the 4th and took place in a very different way than before.
We’ve invited five talented musicians from the Music school in Ruse; also their teacher came to be part of the performance. They were joined by David and Antoaneta (our art-therapist) who also performed with their guitars.
A party isn’t a party without games for the kids. That’s why our friend from Arena Media,… Continue reading
It took place from 16 to 19 August, 2010 and was attended by 15 children, clients of the complex.
A team of 5 – David, Eli, Georgi and Pavleta plus an experienced mountain guide and climbing coach – Matthew Mateev, who, along with David (another experienced mountaineer), ensured the children stayed safe and secure in the Great Outdoors while also providing information about the natural environment and tips about life in the mountains, rock climbing and the climate at high… Continue reading
On 11th August, 2010 Equilibrium launched a new publication written by David in which he explores the issue of Child Participation – the background to the development of the concept and the practical difficulties faced when trying to apply it in practice.
The booklet is intended for use by all professionals working in the fields of education and childcare and you can find it uploaded at our EQ Publications section.
The Ruse municipal authority kindly allowed us to use a… Continue reading
When identifying Child Participation in action, we’ve grown accustomed to referring to a certain group of children who gather in the village of Dryanovets at weekends and during school holidays. They’ve been at it again!
A number of their public concerts have been staged in the village community hall with the blessing of the mayoress. The sign outside the hall badly needs repairing. Hoping to raise 120 leva, the kids asked the mayoress if they could stage a sale of… Continue reading
On 2nd July, 2010 a group of representatives of the Centre for working with street children (CRDU) and the Child Protection Department in the municipality of Suvorovo visited the Ruse complex.
The centre in Suvorovo is created to help children from families at risk aged 6 to 18 years old and has an operating capacity of 20 cases. The main goals of the Suvorovo social workers are to combat social exclusion and to ensure the children in question, who have… Continue reading
On Saturday 26th June, 2010 Ruse Carnival reached its climax. A team from the complex took a small group of children to take part in the traditional procession among masses of other children from the city.
The children had worked with our colleagues from Arena Media to prepare dolphin masks which they proudly wore.
Unfortunately, courage evaporated when it came to the time to step on stage and only the two bravest dolphins joined David and Tsveta Nenova (from Arena)… Continue reading