Miraculous Changes!

I reposted this from my friend Shelley's blog. What amazes me is that they only need $175 a month to hire a nurse. Wow! That is do-able! Please consider helping!

Pleven: The next steps to help!

Wonderful things are happening in Bulgaria in regards to the situation at the orphanage in Pleven! The new Minister of Health in charge of the baby orphanages made a surprise visit to the orphanage in Pleven on Friday. She found evidence of every single thing that was reported in the document provided to the Bulgarian government that I referenced here . She saw it all. She has promised a full scale investigation.

Here is a translation of a portion of a news article that was
published in Bulgaria this weekend: If you want to read more click here.

“Babies and young children are being left hungry for days, lie in urine without having their diapers changed for 24 hours, due to which most of them are severely ill. Only for a year and a half, 18 children have died, as evidenced by a Report of the CPA. This provoked an inspection by the Minister of Health Dessislava Atanassova. Yesterday she commented that she left there crying. At the moment, 154 children live in the institution. After the inspection, Ms.Atanssova found out that, obviously, the personnel had known for her visit, as the children were all dressed up nicely, the sheets were changed and the toys were new. The stench of urine, however, made a huge impression. “While I walked through the rooms and watched the children, I cried. After that, I got mad and was greatly upset that they were doing wrong things”, the health minister said. She made a hint that probably serious financial misuses had been done in the institution, as any accountability was lacking.”


One Heart Bulgaria has already begun to take action to assist with providing food, diapers and staff members at the orphanage through donations that have been made. Two nurses are being hired immediately to work with the children on the 6th floor. Once they are hired, they will be instructed on the specific needs of the children and their only responsibility will be to feed and care for the children on the 6th floor, which are the kids with the most significant needs.

Our goal is to hire TEN nurses through One Heart Bulgaria to work in the orphanage to ensure that the children are being properly fed, that all their medical needs are addressed and that any follow up care that is needed after they are treated at Tokuda is done. Special formula is being donated from all over the country and the first shipments of it will arrive in Pleven later this month. If you are interested in donating specialized formula, please leave a comment on this post with your contact information. Diaper and food donations are still needed as well. Donations for food and diapers can be made by clicking here and noting “for Pleven baby orphanage” in the notes section on Paypal. Diapers can be purchased cheaper in Bulgaria through One Heart Bulgaria.

To meet the need of having qualified nurses in the orphanage, we’re starting a specific fundraising drive to pay the salary of ten nurses for six months. The amount needed to pay one nurse for one month is $175, which is $1,050 for 6 months. In order to fund 10 nurses, we need to raise $10,500. Since this is an online fundraiser, Paypal will take out 3% of each donation. So, we’ve increased the goal to account for the Paypal fees. All donations are tax deductible and all money donated through this chip in is going directly to One Heart Bulgaria.

http://www.chipin.com/contribute/id/d87b3481096656e8

To date, the medical fund for surgeries and treatment has reached a total of over $33,000! This is so much more than we ever dreamed possible! We now want to ensure that the children continue to receive quality care once they are returned to the orphanage. Your tax deductible donations and help in sharing this need will help us to meet this goal for the children in Pleven.