Sunshine Club

First of all, happy birthday America from an American in Bulgaria. I know it's a day late, but I hope it still counts.

In this blog, I want to highlight a Kids' Club that recently had its two year anniversary in our PST site. What makes this group of children extraordinary is almost everything. First of all, they began their club as a group of friends who wanted to learn more about culture in arts. They meet at least once a week to discuss culture, perform skits, read books, or anything else that is of interest. This is them:

The club translates to "Sunshine" in English. New people can join if they are 11 years old however they cannot be in the club if they are over 16. They have a president who was elected by his peers. They also have a secretary who is in charge if the president cannot attended. They pay "dues" in order to buy supplies and snacks for their meetings as well. These children are amazing as well because they have never had any adult leadership. They asked if there were any clubs like them in the USA however we couldn't really say there were as all clubs we could think of have an adult presence. It's impressive. They were also featured in a local paper for their two year anniversary.

Below is a current "exhibition" they are showing to any community members who are interested. It is a display of traditional Bulgarian outfits, household items, and culturally relevant material. It was just like many museums I've been to, well done.

This is their bulletin board of past and future invitations and happenings related to the club.

Sometimes it seems like there is a great deal of pessimism and problems in Bulgaria without people to solve them; but coming along a group of kids like these evens things out.