Dear members of the board,

I am sorry for not being able to participate in the ICCCPO meeting in Montreal. We would have had a chance to learn a lot and exchange ideas we have never experienced in our work before. Hopefully we will manage next year.

If  I would have been able to join you I would have put down some topics or comments to discuss which I am sending you now. This could be our "virtual" participation in the ICCCPO meeting. The following may sound a bit strange to you but maybe you can give us some practical advice for our future work.

I tried to write down some issues I found important in our work in comparison with what I have read about Western organizations and their activities. Here they are:

1. The ICCCPO members - as far as I read their newsletters - are very active. The members are parent organizations in which parents are the active and most successful and important part of their work. I read about the members of the Italian Parent Association who managed to fund raise for the set up of almost all bone marrow transplant centers in Italy.
How did these parents manage to get together? How did they organize themselves or who organized them to make them so devoted and effective?
Parents in Bulgaria either apply for support and go home or never apply for anything. Some jobless parents were offered a job by the Foundation or at the "Charity markets". A few agreed to get involved for some time in our work on their children's behalf. 
They usually are not willing to get together outside the clinic. The look of other parents reminds them of the difficult time they had during the treatment of their children. But they usually come together with their children at children parties where they enjoy the program, and their children take some presents away.

2. Why do cancer survivors in the West usually not mind to show their successful fight against cancer in public?. In the newsletters we receive from abroad they give speeches, show themselves on pictures and do many things together with other survivors.
Cancer survivors here in Bulgaria are not willing AT ALL to be reminded of what has happened to them, they will never allow anybody to take a picture or say or write anything about them in public. Why is it so ?

3. Signs or actions of charity are very much respected in the West. It is a part of everyday's life of many people in the West. It is common even to see young people in London to do fundraising on the streets. How and why does it happen that people on their own wish leave their quiet life at home? How and why are young people not staying in pubs and/or in cafeterias but shake the charity boxes along the streets of London?
Charity is very often laughed at in Bulgaria. It is usually considered to be a sign of stupidity. That's why people who are donating anything never agree to be shown in public. NEVER. They just need to get proof that their donation has been received.

4. Volunteerism in the West is developed to a very high level. Volunteers are an important part of the NGOs' successful work. Why are so many volunteers getting involved in the NGOs' work? What and who makes them coming and coming again and spend their own time and skills and sometimes money for others ? Are there any volunteers in the West who are poor and still involved?
Volunteerism is a hated word in Bulgaria since the time of the previous system, when everything was said to be "voluntary" but in fact was not at all.
Moreover, people in Bulgaria are very poor now. Many young people are looking for jobs - any job - to make both ends meet. Many adults are not doing even those efforts. They just accept that situation, and that's all. 
Young men are looking for any kind of well paid jobs and young women are looking for a quiet and simple jobs such as saleswomen or waitresses. And there are not many other choices for both of them anyhow.
So volunteers of the "Tashko" Foundation are usually young girls (school or student age or brand new graduates) who did not find work or do not want to be saleswomen or waitresses.
They feel happy to join such a well-known foundation and think that the work there is simple and easy and they will manage with it with no problem. They usually accept the volunteer contracts conditions as they do not have better chances.

5. In the West, there are special programs at Universities such as John Hoppkins and others where students are being taught to manage NGOs, to fundraise, to work with and motivate volunteers etc. Such education is not even heard of in Bulgaria. Most people involved in NGOs are doctors, teachers, students etc. But very often they create their own organization for the purpose of getting funds and not for the goal to help people. And as professional NGO managers are not available, these organizations are active only as long as their projects are funded, and they are not doing anything at all if there is no longer financial support.  

6. The latter is the reason why out of more than 600O NGOs registered in Bulgaria only about 600 are doing something. It is the reason why volunteers with the "Tashko" Foundation can not be organized enough well and kept for a long time - we have no professionals to work with the Foundation and no funding of the current costs of the foundation.  

7. Short and long term planning and communication among the team members in the West are considered the most important instruments for the success of each person and/or organization. Both are not very much known or practiced here. For generations we have been thought to think about going to work, doing something and going home after work. Planning has been practiced only for summer holidays or for passing summer exams or the like. How can we develop Western skills for planing and communication of the assistants and volunteers of the foundation. How shall we insure their living while educating and training them? Who will do this education and training ? 

In addition, a lot of our volunteers are orphans. They join us primarily because they have no place to socialize, no work, and moreover, for each orphan the state is ensuring pocket money of about USD 2.5 per month (equal to 20 bus-tickets). They find here some friendship, some meaningful occupation and some money they are paid for the work done.

And these are the topics which the "Tashko" Foundation would like to discuss as a "virtual" participant in the annual ICCCPO meeting.

Sincerely Yours,
Dimitar Tashkov, Executive Director 

You can find out more about our activities if you visit the "Tashko" Foundation Web site at: http://tashko.dir.bg