Three Months As a Volunteer in Post-Communist Bulgaria 1996

What motivates a woman to give up her electric toothbrush, dishwasher, icemaker, microwave oven, washer, dryer, air conditioning and car - - and go to a dirty, decaying, poor, and financially depressed, former communist country -- as a volunteer (meaning no salary)?

It's the chance to "make a difference" in the lives of the people who have lived for 50 years under the rule of communist promises -- that were never fulfilled. I had that opportunity and would like to share it with you . . .

Two and a half years ago I applied to the National Forum Foundation (now Freedom House) to volunteer to go to a former communist country or Russia and offer my "expertise." This spring my skills were matched with a need in Sofia, Bulgaria. Bulgaria is a Balkan country just north of Albania and Greece, and bordering on Turkey and Yugoslavia. It is about the size of Tennessee.

The need came from the Union of Bulgarian Foundations and Associations (UBFA) -- an umbrella organization that supports more than 3400 non-government organizations (not government and not business) but everything else. These 3400 organizations include organizations supporting orphanages, children with cancer, lovers of tulips, and lovers of rottweiler dogs. It is truly a mixed bag.

They were looking for help with strategic planning, lobbying, media relations, fund-raising, and marketing. And they got all of that from me. I gave them 6 major proposals to help with their problems. I'll share just one proposal: When a person leaves any Eastern European country, that country's currency can't be converted to any other currency (Western or otherwise). It becomes "dead" money. One of my proposals was to put a "bank" in the airport at the international departure gates for persons leaving the country to drop in their unused currency. That money would then be used for Bulgaria's orphanages. I also showed them how to promote the bank -- by asking the major hotels to distribute a card to departing guests telling them they could help Bulgaria's orphanages by putting their unused currency in the bank, etc. They liked that idea and will implement it along with the other proposals.

I had a 4th floor walk up one-bedroom apartment with no air conditioning and no shades on the windows -- a 15-minute walk to the office. My apartment had two balconies. Balconies in Eastern Europe are not used for plants and chairs. They are used to reach the clothesline in the summer and as an additional refrigerator in the winter. I had a waist-high refrigerator and a 4-burner electric stove. My apartment was in downtown Sofia on a main street with two tram lines.

The largest food store is the size of an American 7-11 and was stocked about that much. Most stores are much smaller and sell only one thing: bread or cigarettes or vegetables or liquor. Milk comes unrefrigerated in plastic bags, which you then pour into your own container and then refrigerate after opening. For breakfast I had bread, fig jam, and Coke (no diet Coke in EE). For lunch I usually ate in a restaurant and had two salads -- one with cucumbers, tomatoes, and cheese and the other with cold potatoes, onions and parsley. For dinner I usually made my own cucumber and tomato salad, had sandwich cookies, and Coke. At night I would read until dark (I couldn't understand the TV because it was in Bulgarian.), then didn't want to turn on the light and let bugs in through the opened windows (there were no screens), so I would go to bed early.

The Bulgarians are warm, happy, and friendly people. They were very helpful with my difficulties with the currency and I always felt they were honest. In stores we used gestures to communicate. In my office the professional staff spoke excellent English. The staff was mainly 30ish women and eventually we bonded. The staff took very good care of me and made sure someone was available to translate when I needed something important like a haircut or to know which bottle in the store was vinegar.

The capital, Sofia, is beautiful with magnificent old cathedrals, Roman ruins, and state buildings and mountains in the background. But it is very polluted with 20-year-old Russian cars with no antipollution devices or restrictions and old factories. They have no leash laws and packs of dogs and cats run wild and defecate on sidewalks. Gypsies beg on the streets with their children. There are many high rise apartments (or "flats" as EE folks call them) circling the city, built during the Communist era.

I rode the trams all over the city of Sofia and always felt safe. I enjoyed walking the streets near my apartment because it reminded me of 26th Street in Chicago when I was a child.

Communism left some terrible legacies... In the workplace: "Feel good" was not when you worked hard, solved a problem, or accomplished a goal. "Feel good" was when you cheated your Communist bosses by pretending to work when you weren't and lying about what you were doing and getting away with it. Unfortunately, that legacy persists. I tried to share my "feel good" at work: working hard, solving their problems and accomplishing things.

Another communist legacy -- they believe in their version of the "tooth fairy" -- or someone else taking care of them. Communist theory is to take care of people cradle to grave. With communism's collapse, much of their survival is based on Western funders’ support. When I asked my colleagues what they would do if Western funding dried up, they said they would look to businesses for money. (The businesses don't have any money.) I had hoped the answer would be that they would take care of themselves. But communism didn't develop self-reliance. The communist legacy is terrible.

Bulgaria, with a population of about 8 million, has about 50,000 orphans. These are not adoptable infants. Many are children abandoned by their parents because they can't afford to take care of them. Many are physically, mentally, or emotionally handicapped. The Soviets hid the orphanages as they hid their other social problems. Most orphanages are hidden deep in the mountains or woods -- far away from society. And if they are near a town, they are shunned by the townspeople. When these children are 18 they are sent out on their own and have no social skills with which to cope, so they frequently turn to crime or drugs. The state, which is now responsible for the orphanages, frequently doesn't pay the oil bill in the winter and some orphanages are limited to 2 hours out of 24 with heat. They also don't have enough clothes or medicines. While I was there the Czech Republic sent 6 trucks of humanitarian aid. The bureaucrats kept the trucks from crossing the border for three days. Another holdover from Communism -- bureaucrats wielding power!

Gum and cigarettes are sold in a pack, but they are also sold by the piece (one piece of gum or one cigarette) if you can't afford a pack.

They have wonderful parks and people of all ages and dogs and cats all use the parks, because the apartments are hot in the summer. There is a 6-block long park across the street from my apartment. It has everything…playground equipment, sculptures to climb on, go-karts to ride…they even had 6 metal ping pong tables! They also had 4 restaurants (serving sandwiches and liquor) Liquor and cigarettes are very cheap -- they don't tax them like we do! When I discussed taxing them with some Bulgarians, they were horrified.

The agency that sent me there encouraged me to contact the American Embassy which I did. My first week I has lunch with the cultural attaché at the Embassy. He asked what I do in my other life. When I explained I promote and sell Government books, he asked if I would make a presentation to Bulgarian publishers. Under Communism, university graduates got a job at a publishing company and stayed there for life. Now books must not only "sell," but make a "profit" too -- and the publishers don't know how to do it. My presentation, which was interpreted, was attended by about 35 Bulgarian publishers. We then had lunch with about 6 of the largest publishers.

I got on the embassy email newsletter list which lists out-of-town trips on weekends. I went on several of these outings with embassy staff members, including their Rose Festival. I spent July 4th at the embassy picnic. It was very moving to be celebrating July 4 so far away from home.

I also gave several speeches to the UBFA staff including a one and a half day seminar where I taught teamwork, brainstorming, role playing, promotion techniques, project management, lobbying, and conflict resolution. I also gave several presentations for the orphanage managers at a weekend retreat for them. I was interviewed on national radio and by one of their newspapers. I saw a beautifully staged outdoor version of the opera AIDA that included 16 live horse-drawn carriages. That opera cost about $6. Unfortunately, that was much too much for Bulgarians to pay.

My last two weeks I took each staffmember out to lunch or dinner to say a private goodbye. One staff member had never been to McDonald's because she couldn't afford it. So I treated her to lunch there.

I worked extremely hard, played hard, and had the most wonderful time. I didn't want to come home. I wanted to stay and continue to help those folks who suffered so much under Communism. My flight departing Sofia was at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Five staff members got up early enough to take two trams and a bus to see me off at the airport. I was so moved. I've been in touch via email with several of them.

Back at home I marveled at how clean the store floors are, how many choices we have in the food store, and had new appreciation for our leash laws and air pollution car checks. I am also thinking about how I can go back there to make my small contribution toward helping these wonderful people overcome the terrible legacy of communism in Eastern Europe.