Projects we support
GOOD NEWS: the Gospel of Jesus Christ has power to change individuals, families, and communities. This is the engine that drives all that we do and is our core principle. There are many ways that KRASIF AID people have helped Bulgaria, and continue to do so.
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THE BLUE HOUSE CARE CENTRE…. For many years this has been the flagship project we have supported. Launched from Sliven Baptist Church, since 2003, the Blue House has provided a range of welfare services to the people of Sliven from a caring Christian centre. In a very real way, the love of God has been demonstrated through the Blue House.
Sadly, the founder, our good friend Genka Ivanova, died in 2023, but the work continues under the new leadership of her daughter Plamena, who is married to Yuri, the Pastor of Sliven Baptist Church.
This is a very new season for the work at the Blue House and we value your prayers. For many years, there has been a group, with various disabilities, meeting daily at the centre, and this has become a special “family” for them. This group is expected to continue, but, in addition, plans are coming together for some exciting new initiatives, including professional After-School and Holiday Clubs with a Christian ethos. With working parents, there is a demand for these services. A Christian Book shop & Cafe on site is also being considered.
SUPPORTING CHURCHES
Most Bulgarian churches are cash poor and few are able to fully support their own pastors financially. Our support can make a huge difference to the ministries of our church partners around the country. This remains a major ongoing need and we value your support.
HELPING UKRAINE
HELPING IN DEVON… We have been actively involved in helping Ukraine from the very start of the war two years ago. In the Devon area, we have been responsible for finding many hosts for refugees, under the government’s “Homes for Ukraine” scheme, and providing ongoing care and support.
HELPING IN UKRAINE… Through our church partners in Bulgaria, we have been able to provide aid resources which have been taken by minibus from Bulgaria to Ukraine... a much shorter distance than shipping from the UK. This has included generators, medicine, food and even bottled water at the time the Dnieper River dam was destroyed. The needs, and help required, continues.
SHELTERED HOMES
When the large Children's home at Kermen finally closed at the end of 2014, the children and young adults were all moved to new sheltered family units, each having around ten residents. Some of these facilities were in the Sliven area, while others were further afield. With all the changes going on around the country, it has not been easy to track who had actually gone where.
Yambol is a town around 30 kilometres from Sliven where, we understood, two of the disabled young men we had known since 1998 at Kermen, Peta and Sevgin, had been moved. The first time we took a group to visit them in their superb new surroundings, it was an absolute delight to find that we knew all ten of the residents. All were from Kermen. It was a joyful reunion with old friends.
The new family units are a great improvement to the big old homes but some challenges remain. The biggest concern has been the level of ongoing funding from the local authorities following the initial two year set-up grants from the European Union, and whether the new staff and the higher standards of care can be maintained long-term. Do please pray for these delightful young people and their situation.