Yesterday, we joined up with the ministry Hope in Bulgaria, who are based in Nadezhda, Sliven. We all wanted to be united in being a blessing to those living in Nadezhda, and that is just what we did, with the clothes supplied by both ministries and soup supplied by Hope in Bulgaria. At the entrance, we loaded the horse and cart up with as many clothes as possible to be taken through the undrivable streets of Nadezhda. Then the teen boys carried the bags of clothes that couldn’t fit, and off we all went into Nadezhda. Nadezhda is the biggest Roma community in Sliven, Bulgaria. This village has a population of about 30,000 people in about one square mile. Parts of Nadezhda are built on a workable rubbish dump, where people live, children play, and newborns begin their lives. Yet this village’s name means “Hope” in English
Once we had arrived in the middle of the village, we stopped at the house of one of Hope in Bulgaria’s staff members. Here we met a young mom and her sweet baby girl, so we went through the clothes and gave her a little bundle.
Soon it was all go, with the man and his two horses and carts waiting outside ready to be loaded up with the different categories of clothes. We all either rode or walked through the rest of the streets to the area of the rubbish dump, where the poorest people live.
As soon as we arrived, there were already a lot of people. We handed out bin bags for people to fill with clothes and take home.
It wasn’t long until the word got around and the people came out of their homes with their whole families. The hustle and bustle began! People searched through the clothes, music played, and children danced while receiving their new clothes.
We had all separated into different groups. Adonna with the women’s clothes, Steve with the men’s clothes, and Anna & Natasha (Hope in Bulgaria) with the children’s clothes, plus a few of us snapping photos & videos for you all to see. At one point, over at the men’s area, Steve asked one of the men if he could pray for him. In an instant, the man closed his eyes to show Steve that he agreed. It was so beautiful to see the instant respect this man gave to God.
Over at the children’s area, I saw a little barefooted girl hug her new boots like they were the most precious item she owns. As I was about to walk away, I heard a young girl shouting, “I have a dress! I have a dress!” as she proudly held it up for people to see. Then I saw a little three-year-old trying to put on what looked like to be her first pair of shoes. I soon started to talk to her mom, who mainly spoke Roma, but she used the Bulgarian words she knew to tell me that she has a daughter (the three-year-old) and a little baby. I told her that her children were very beautiful, which lit up her face. The mom later came over to us again and allowed Steve & Adonna to hold her baby and pray for it.
After Hope in Bulgaria had given out soup to the children, we walked right through the rubbish dump to get to one man’s house. This man thought all the men’s clothes had been given out, so he had gone home. Little did he know that we still had some left, and it just so happened to be his size. It’s true that God knows and cares for every one of us.
The time in Nadezhda came to an end with the walk back out of this village called “Hope.”
