ADRA has been in Bulgaria for 30 years now. Following the long tradition of providing quality care to people in need, it established a new medical-social center in the town of Pazardzhik. The center was launched with multiple goals: to ensure the prevention of socially significant diseases; to provide free medical check-ups and dental treatments; to organize and conduct psychotherapeutic training, seminars, and conferences; and, finally, to be a place for development of social entrepreneurship as well as other social activities.
The Center for Medical and Social Services is located on a total area of 390 square meters and has 10 rooms with a yard area of 250 square meters, along with a parking lot. The overall cost of the project is US$17,200. For this amount of money, ADRA staff and its volunteers were able to not only build the premises but also equip it with dental and medical offices with Doppler, an ultrasound, ECG, bone density machine, screening devices, and more. There is also a separate room in which the organizing of social entrepreneurship with representatives of local vulnerable groups is planned. Canning of bee honey and lavender essential oils is also part of the social program.
The construction of the medical-social center is a miracle in itself. Marian Dimitrov, ADRA Bulgaria director, recalls, “Within one year, we went from a barren field to the current beautiful center, despite the pandemic, the war, the inflation … The main purpose of the project: [For] people from Pazardzhik to rediscover their health [and] to find some diseases early enough in order to prevent more serious consequences for their health … We remain strong; we continue to support!”
Thomas Petracek, head of Programs and Emergency Response for ADRA Europe, said during the inauguration, “We are here because we see the needs of the people and we want to meet those needs. My wish is that this center should serve in the future as we have in our motto: to share compassion, justice, and love.”
The center has been established with the financial support of ADRA and another Christian NGO, whose representative said at the grand opening, “Today, we celebrate a miracle: the incredible idea to bless the lives of many people. May the workers there be blessed to know that they serve humanity in need.”
What do people expect of this center? They expect it to smell like pizza, be an attractive spot for youth and children’s activities, and find better opportunities for meeting new friends.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by municipal authorities, not only from the town of Pazardzhik, but also other nearby smaller towns, who plan to send their vulnerable people to the center in the hope of finding cure and care.
This is neither the first project on which ADRA and the Seventh-day Adventist Church have worked side by side, nor will it be the last project. Milen Georgiev, president of the Adventist Church in Bulgaria, said, “Just [like] the church has found a way to support society through ADRA, so ADRA, in the face of the church, finds people who want to get involved in its projects.”
The medical-social center in the town of Pazardzhik is the second of this kind in the country. The first one was established 20 years ago in the Roma community in Kyustendil. Twenty houses for the most desperate families were built there. Thanks to ADRA and the Adventist Church, the local community has already been influenced to the point that there is virtually no family without an Adventist. Nevertheless, this is not the point. The point is helping people whenever and wherever they need help.
This article was originally published on the Inter-European Division’s news site