[Bulgaria] Students shocked by scenes of poverty

from IC Surrey Online

By Glenn Pearson

A GROUP of students from Reigate College have produced a film about their experiences of visiting a poverty-stricken town in Bulgaria.

Members of the college's student union along with community and welfare tutor Susie McGraw visited the Roma quarter of Rakitovo in December and were appalled at the conditions people were living in.

The group is turning its video footage into a short film that will be shown at Reigate College in Castlefield Road and at other schools in the borough in an effort to raise awareness and support for the Rakitovo Self Sufficiency Project.

Miss McGraw said: "The students and I have been profoundly affected by the experience of visiting the Roma quarter in Rakitovo, Bulgaria.

"The conditions that the families in the Roma quarter are living in are inhuman.

"The only way we can see to make a difference is by sponsoring the medical centre and school. The first provides immediate aid and the second gives the long-term chance of escape."

Miss McGraw said some of the homes they visited in the deprived area were no bigger than most English kitchens but housed six people.

She said the shacks had no electricity, no running water, no glass in the windows, an open sewer outside their ill-fitting door and were often on a hillside with no maintained paths.

She added: "The stench in the summer must be appalling. The conditions we saw in the winter were staggering, as three foot of snow fell in 48 hours and we saw women trekking through this up the hill with bottles carrying 20 litres of water which they get from a well. The men trek to the forest to collect firewood; this is illegal but it's their only source of fuel."

Students at the college said the experience had a huge an effect on them and life back in Reigate was incomparable.

Oli Wilson, co-president of the students' union, said: "The thing that really got to me was the smiling faces of the children at the school we are sponsoring, even though they really had nothing and were going home to poverty. That has shocked me to my very core."

If you would like to sponsor a child's education and a medical centre in Rakitovo visit the website at www.rakitovo.co.uk