17-10-2023 16:01
Today we would want to share with you about our meeting with the mediators from the project "Social Inclusion Hub Stamboliyski" with the beneficiary municipality of Stamboliyski. Our meeting with them left us with full of hope and a warm feeling of satisfaction that when you put your heart into your work and put all your knowledge, motivation and humanity into it, things happen in the best way possible.
The municipality of Stamboliyski is part of the Plovdiv district and is the administrative center of the five settlements within the municipality. According to data from the NSI census in 2022, the population of the municipality amounts to 17,865 people. The city of parks, that's how people describe it.
Under the project "Social Inclusion Hub Stamboliyski" financed under the "Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Enhanced Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups" Programme, through the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2014 - 2021, a center to support marginalized communities will be created, which will become a hub for social, educational and cultural activities, offering psychological, social, health and educational support to vulnerable groups in the municipality. The center will provide Bulgarian language courses for all ages, labor, social and educational mediation, medical examinations for people without health insurance, as well as opportunities to participate in seminars, talks and other mass or individual forms of work on various topics, significant for society. The preliminary analysis of the needs of the municipality of Stamboliyski shows that there is a huge deficit in these directions.
We meet some of the mediators on the project - Krustanka Angelova, Nadka Filyanova and Ekaterina Kerkenezova. They consider themselves not colleagues but friends, since the work brings them together and unites them.
Nadia shared with us that the main purpose of their work is to serve as a bridge between institutions and people from vulnerable communities, as access to this type of service and timely prevention are of utmost importance.
Many of the people in the neighborhood do not have financial stability, there is a language barrier, as well as a lack of information about who to turn to when a problem arises in their daily life, whether it is of a health or domestic nature. Providing information and building trust is a key point in the success of the mediator’s work, says Nadia. The people of the community welcome the establishment of the center and the designation of such a place as the need for it is great. The more information is shared and learned about the benefits and services, the more people accept it and are willing to be involved in the center's initiatives and activities.
"Key to success, that's how I categorize it - because knowledge is the most important thing. When you get information that is correct and accurate, you start to think and see that you can get the necessary help in this direction, you become open to the world and the information starts to be transmitted at high speed. All this is a beginning, which brings only positives, because the results may not come instantly, but when you follow through, you reach sustainability," shares Krustanka.
"I am happy to be a part of something so human and meaningful. I am last in the team, but last but not least I want to work for this cause, because for me it is a cause. In my opinion, there are three stages in a person's life - understanding, awareness and implementation. We all understand the problems that are there and have realized them, that is why we have taken this path. But the most difficult is the stage of implementation, because building trust and creating this bridge between the institutions and the community is at the core of success," says Ekaterina.
Working from the heart is the most important thing to be a successful educational mediator, Krustanka, Nadka and Ekaterina conclude unanimously.
