One Home at a Time
Creating better communities
A new and better approach
At the center of change in Malcho Malchev are housing mediators like Turgaj Ahmedov, who was trained by Habitat for Humanity Bulgaria. A new type of social worker, Turgaj comes from the community. He knows what people need.
Turgaj starts by identifying existing problems. He then helps fill out applications, estimates the cost of the work, puts together budgets, and finds affordable construction materials. He's part of a pilot program in three communities around Targovishte that provides small loans to help residents repair their homes one step at a time.
For example, Turgaj has helped Ognyan Rajchev apply for and receive the money needed to improve his home. Ognyan took out a small loan to transform the interior. "I bought the materials and did everything myself," he says proudly.
Today, he, his wife Svetla and his two children, Anastasia and Rajcho, are much happier. The children can study and use the Internet in a more comfortable environment. Everyone is healthier. Ognyan is proud of what he has accomplished and is getting ready to apply for his last no-interest loan to finish the roof and the facade of his home. "I'll repay the loan over 10 months and my home will be completely transformed," he said.
the money needed to improve his home.
Basic improvements change lives
A few streets away, Svetla Hristova waits for Turgaj to come over and take a look at her home. She needs a €200 loan to raise and repair the roof on her home so she and her son and his family can live in a warm and dry house. "I'll even be able to stand while cooking," she said.
Svetla lives with her son, Marjan, her daughter-in-law, Julka, and their one-month-old baby, Serkan. The young couple with their baby live in home's original room that Svetla and her husband built many years ago. Svetla worries about her grandson and wants him to have the same living standards that other children in much of Europe take for granted.
According to the Bulgarian state national data, 40 percent of Roma houses are occupied by more than one family with several generations living together under one roof. Quite often, there are more than three individuals sharing a room. And, 70 percent of rural communities do not have inside bathrooms with another 40 percent having no piped water supply.
Many people in Bulgaria continue to live in housing conditions which are unacceptable under EU standards. Almost every second Bulgarian lives in poverty or at risk of social exclusion.
The large scale poverty is related to substandard dwellings that, according to Eurostat (EU statistics data), have one of the following problems: leaking roofs, damp walls, lack of insulation, bad doors and windows, lack of bathrooms or indoor flush toilets and insufficient light.
The Rajchev home had all of the above problems. "Our children, Anastasia and Rajcho, were always sick, coughing, and had runny noses,” said Svetla. "Three years ago we put in new windows, insulation, a bathroom and toilet,” she continued. “Touch wood” we haven't had to see the doctor since.” Now the Rajchev’s are hoping the community will create playgrounds for the children, so Rajcho can ride his bike further than the five metres in is his courtyard and play football.
This is a typical playground for children in Malcho Malchev settlement of Targovishte, a town of 37,000 inhabitants living in crumbling soviet-era buildings.
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