site.btaExpat Bulgarian Children in Educational Holiday

For the third year My Bulgarian Summer, an educational holiday for Bulgarian children from abroad, is organized, said project co-founder Elena Pavlova.

This year the program offers camps in Obzor and in Gabrovo. 

"My Bulgarian Summer" is an initiative of Elena Pavlova, who, as a mother of two children, born and raised first in the Czech Republic, then in Austria, understands the needs and difficulties abroad for both children and their parents. The project was founded by her and Irena Netzova, a Bulgarian language teacher. The organizer of My Bulgarian Summer is Turorein - an association for the promotion of transnational youth initiatives, which is registered in Vienna.

"We are aware of the needs that parents abroad have. They want to maintain some kind of connection with Bulgaria and they generally find it difficult and make a huge effort to somehow involve the children," Elena Pavlova said.

According to her, the idea of a holiday in Bulgaria is to preserve the language, to be more active and for the children to make some childhood memories and experiences that are not limited to the family. "But just to create friendships and mainly to get to know the culture, nature and history of Bulgaria."

She also said that they are contacting Bulgarian schools abroad and trying to reach parents who want their children to learn Bulgarian. "We can't offer them any great training for this one week, but just a more comprehensive experience," Elena Pavlova said.

The initiative is aimed at all Bulgarians around the world, and so far has involved children from the US, France, Finland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Interest in the program has been shown by England and Israel.