Family portrait – The poorest children in the EU live in Bulgaria

It is mainly the Roma who are affected by poverty. According to the UN children’s fund UNICEF, 46.5 percent of poor children in Bulgaria are minorities, although Roma make up less than ten percent of the population. A large proportion live in conditions that some in the EU would not consider possible: in barracks without access to running water, electricity, sewage or waste disposal.

cycle of misery
Children who grow up in extreme poverty have little chance of breaking the cycle of misery without help. Of the 47 Roma schoolchildren in their care, perhaps 15 could survive, says Jordanka Ivanova, director of the Concordia day center “Malki Iskar” in a small village about 55 kilometers from Sofia. Ivanova counts Biljana’s Roma family among the hopeful people.

25-year-old Biljana has five children. Three of them visit the center every day after school, where children and mothers receive education, health care, psychological and social support, as well as food and showers.

There is no toilet or shower
Biljana lives with her husband, a forestry worker, and their five children in a remote settlement. The family of seven lives in a leaky former truck container of barely ten square meters and sleeps in only three beds. They do not have a toilet or shower. They have to fetch water from the only water point in the settlement.

When it rains, the path sinks into the mud
The refrigerator and the satellite dish work with electricity that they have tapped from a cable. The waste swells in front of the leaking barracks. When it rains, the path sinks into the mud. Despite these circumstances, three of Biljana’s children go to school every day. “Yes, they like to go and are never missing,” says the young mother proudly.

For five children, 200 euros per month from the state
Despite compulsory education up to the age of 16, there are children in Bulgaria who do not go to school. It is not known how many there are. School books and public transport are free up to and including seventh grade, but after that they must be paid for. Unaffordable for large families like Biljanas, who only receive around 200 euros per month in state aid.

For example, Bogy entered the school system late. “My parents didn’t let me go to school.” Bogy reports that “something bad” happened, and that’s why she and her two sisters ran away from home. They looked for help and said they found it in the day center. She now learns alone in a shared apartment with her sisters – even though it is very “difficult”, as she admits.

Propaganda and disinformation campaigns
Prejudice against the school system and aid organizations is partly the result of propaganda and disinformation campaigns, explains Georgi Bogdanov. The chairman of the National Children’s Network suspects actors from Russia and ultraconservative American circles of spreading lies. Aid organizations were accused by these circles of kidnapping children from schools and sending them to Norway, for example, where they would be adopted by homosexuals. “Parents became restless and took their children out of school,” he says.

The situation is viewed differently in Bulgarian government circles. Roma have full access to education and health care, but just don’t use them, it was said in Sofia. The existence of Roma schools is also officially denied. On the contrary, schools in Roma-majority areas are even better financially equipped than others.