"I love coming here. Look at the smiles of all these people... when we are together, everything works out!" says one of the girls working in the garden, designed for young people with special needs. Various initiatives contribute to the garden and its people becoming part of the community of our town, we learn from Milena Boeva ​​- the creator of this inspiring and useful project, whose funding, however, recently expired and they are now looking for a way to move forward. This is the first sheltered employment center in Bulgaria, and its goal is to provide work and care for young people with special needs who would have difficulty finding their own social environment and workplace after graduating from school. 

The garden "Inspiration" is located 13 kilometers west of Sofia - in the town of Bozhurishte. It opened its doors in 2020 as a private initiative implemented by Milena Boeva ​​and her association "For the Children - 2017", with the help of the Municipality of Bozhurishte and the Agency for People with Disabilities. For nearly 5 years, young people have been growing vegetables, making winter preserves, weaving and pottery, and selling their products both in the garden's shop and at holiday markets. 

Here, people always work hard, but at the same time, friendships are made, laughter and jokes are heard. Perhaps this is the reason why many volunteers are happy to visit the Inspiration Garden to help with the various activities.

"This temporary sheltered employment that they receive here is extremely important for them, because they feel useful," says Milena Boeva, adding:

"Even now, since our funding for the project has ended, they come as volunteers, without pay, for which I am extremely grateful and happy! They say that I have supported them up to this point, and now they are returning the same support."

‎"And I really don't regret it, because I saw the effect in these five years - they became a team and there is no competition among them. They know very well that they are different from other people, but they also support and help each other. Friendships were born, there were even some who fell in love - all kinds of dramas. When they came here, they didn't know basic things. Now, every day we have cleaning staff on duty. We now have five greenhouses and we plant tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini and eggplants. We miss each other when one of them is not here, and when they are on sick leave, they don't want to stay home, they want to come to work. This is the greatest satisfaction for our entire team. They have improved on all levels. The very contact with the earth is extremely useful for them, because they are outdoors, not in offices. On the other hand, in the art workshops they learn fine motor skills of the hands."‎

Veselina Moneva - occupational therapist in Garden "Inspiration" explains that its main task is for young people to feel calm and happy to enter the greenhouses. She adds that a balanced emotional state is essential for this type of congenital disease, and in her practice she has found that good emotions are healing. ‎

"Sometimes it's very difficult to get into their emotions and state, because they're hyperactive, more easily excited, or for example, they came a little angry. My job is to make them laugh, calm them down, and bring them into a daily balance. Today, for example, Tony and my daughter were more emotional. We played some music, they both calmed down, we hugged, we danced... The mood afterwards was completely different."

Art director Hristina Misheva also takes care of the socialization of the youngsters, adding: "They are actually young people who need to be useful, to express themselves, even to find love. All these things I see here in the garden every day. ‎

The team of the inspiring garden receives moral support from the kindergartens and schools in Bozhurishte, who often visit them, and together they organize celebrations in the town center: "We are glad that they also create friendships with people who are outside this small community." ‎

And despite the fact that the funding for the project has ended, and the young people work voluntarily so as not to lose their place and community, preparations for a small art festival are currently underway. It will take place in the courtyard of the garden "Inspiration" on the beloved spring holiday of everyone - Palm Sunday. During a colorful carnival, everyone dressed as a beautiful flower will have the opportunity to receive a prize, and children from the community in Bozhurishte will sing and dance. In this way, the new workshop "A Small Seed of Kindness" will be solemnly opened. And about their voluntary work, the young people from the garden "Inspiration" share:

"I love coming here and I know that when you help people, your work is rewarded, not only with money, but also in other ways. Look at the smiles of all these people, look at Milena's joy! Her joy and her happiness are more important to me! ..... I come because of the support, the friends and the smiles. We are very happy, we love working together, we don't even look at our watches. We joked that we want to stay and live here. This thing has to continue over time, and I believe it will! Because when we are together, everything works out!"

Photos: Facebook /Be PART Foundation, private archive Facebook /Documentary film "The Garden of Kindness"

English publication: Rositsa Petkova