New Service Ranger Program - Mission to Bulgaria

The Program was initiated this past July when more than a dozen volunteers from the east and west coasts of the U.S. traveled to Bulgaria. WWO Chief of Programs, Dr. Jill Cole, led the planning and coordination of the trip. WWO Board Chair Janet Kagen and LA Leadership Committee member Ramyne Spire joined the Service Rangers on their way to site visits to three other WWO programs in orphanages in Targoviste and Ruse.

At Pleven, the Service Rangers had two goals: to resurrect an abandoned garden and transform it into a playground for the children, and, to paint murals in the children’s sleeping area. The team was joined by Bulgarian psychologists Jivka and Mitko Novkov from Milossardie, WWO’s partner organization, and by WWO Chief Program Officer, Dr. Jill Cole.

The group included doctors, psychologists, a master gardener, a pastor, a professor, and a graphic designer, with ages ranging from 9 to 74! All were ready to build something beautiful and lasting for the children in the Pleven orphanage – even though the heat was usually over 100 degrees each day.

One of the volunteers, Donna Swathout, from Bozeman, Montana, wrote in her journal:

"The focus of WWO’s work in Bulgaria is to fund granny (Early Intervention) programs at orphanages in Pleven, Russe, and Targoviste. Here in Pleven there are 10 grannies, known in Bulgarian as babas. Each baba is assigned to work with two children to help them with their physical, social and emotional development. It was the babas who asked WWO to create an outdoor recreation area that they can spend time in with the children. Now the babas have all come to meet us and to tell us about themselves and the little ones with whom they are paired.

We sit in the sweltering heat and listen as each baba speaks at length with love and pride about their kids. Then the children come in one at a time to join their babas. It is as if they are here to visit their real grannies, so evident is the affection and joy on their faces and the bond they share with these amazing women. The room takes on the festive air of a children’s party that could have taken place anywhere in the world."

Every one of the volunteers described the journey to Bulgaria as “life-changing” and “transforming,” and all are ready to do more. In fact, Ramyne Spire is spearheading the first-ever JUNIOR Orphan Ranger and Family Program, and will be taking a group of teens and parents from Wildwood High School in Los Angeles to WWO sites in Bulgaria over their 2009 Spring Break. As Ramyne and her husband Garry believe, “There is no better way to teach children the value of helping others, than by your own actions.”