St Mary’s Oxted

Home Page Baptism Bell Ringing Bereavement and Funerals Calendar Christians around Oxted Church Activities Parish Map Money Matters New Community Hall St Mary’s School Services Social side The Review Weddings Weekly Bulletin Who’s in charge Young Ones

THE RAKITOVO PROJECT

Martin and Julie Peniston-Bird spoke to St. Mary’s congregation recently about a project they have initiated in Bulgaria to help the residents of a small town, Rakitovo. Martin has written the following article about the project which may be of interest to our wider local readership.

My wife, Julie, and I paid a visit to Rakitovo (Bulgaria) in October 1998 to meet a child we sponsor there, and whilst there we were saddened by the poverty, and the hopelessness of the people to find any employment. Rakitovo is a small mountain town, south of Sofia, with a population of some 10,000 and 90% unemployment. For three months in the winter snow covers the town and temperatures can drop as low as -20C. We felt that we would love to help families (living in shacks and trying to survive on 50p per day social security) by finding a way to make them more self-sufficient. We discussed possible ideas with the Mayor, the Bulgarian Christian Childrens’ Fund staff and a local consultant Stefan Hristove, and from this “project Potato” was launched.

Notices were put up in Rakitovo inviting families to apply to jioin the scheme. From the more than 400 applicants, 65 were selected for the pilot scheme which we financed. The families each had to negotiate to “rent” a plot of about 700-1,000 square metres from local landowners. The plots, which have not been used for agriculture for many years, were ploughed (twice) and harrowed by machinery. The families were then given training by agricultural experts, 220kg of seed potatoes, 1kg of seed haricot beans, and onion seeds. Tools (spades and hoes), fertilisers for the land, and chemical sprays for insect, weed and mildew control were also provided. Then they were launched into action!

Universal enthusiasm

On a subsequent visit in May 1999, we were treated to the sight of vigorously growing potato plants plus beans and onions, together with other vegetables that participants had used their own initiative to grow. We were welcomed by the grateful “new farmers” who were universally enthusiastic about the project.

This is how it has worked out. Each plot, on average, produced 900kg of potatoes. Of these, 220kg were stored for “seed” and 80kg sold to pay for fertiliser and chemicals for the following year, and 50kg paid as rent to the landowner. 400kg of the remainder will feed a family of five, plus grandparents, for the entire winter. The remaining 150kg were available for trading for other supplies such as bread. The cost of the above is £100 per family. Thus for only £100 a family can be set up to be self-sufficient on a continuing basis.

The beauty of this scheme is that it is NOT a once-off food gift – on the contrary, it enables them to care for themselves for henceforth! Equally important, it gives the families some meaning in their lives and for the parents to feel that they are able to care for their families.

In 1999 we raised enough money to start off another 70 families in the following year’s spring planting season.

Rabbits

The other little project we have started there is rabbit rearing! During our visit one of the participants said “we are all very grateful for the potatoes but it would be marvellous occasionally to have a bit of meat with the vegetables”. We explained that meat animals were expensive and needed considerable areas of pasture so were not possible at this time. Then, as we were walking across the fields, we suddenly thought of rabbits. Rabbit meat is the most nourishing protein of virtually any animal, and rabbits breed fast and can be fed largely on weeds such as dandelions. So a pilot project was started whereby five families were provided with hutches, a breeding pair of “Belgium Giant” rabbits and training on looking after them. Each family was committed to provide a pair of rabbits from their first litter to enable another family to start. This has progressed very successfully and we now have 40 families with their rabbits and a long waiting list of others waiting to start!

During a visit in October 2000, we identified a number of new opportunities to help Rakitovo families to become self-sufficient. Whereas the Potato and Rabbit projects are excellent social ones, there are also projects which could be launched in which the participants are required to pay back (and recycle into new projects) the capital provided to launch their businesses. In 2001, three such projects were initiated. The first was to set up a chicken farm for egg production. The second has been to help two families to produce charcoal as a business (on this one, 50% of the loan has already been re-paid). The third business loan has been to a lady skilled in hand-woven rug production. With the money, she has purchased looms and materials and is training six “apprentices” in her art. In 2002, we helped a family to start a taxi business in nearby Velingrad, and another to develop a dried wild herb business.

In 2003 we have purchased on old building and, after repairs, it will now be used to run training courses in speaking English (to help employment opportunities) and sewing classes for mothers. Each year we aim to start a further 50 families on the Potato project as well as helping two or three new small businesses to start – but this is of course dependent on funds being available!

The Christian Childrens’ Fund (a registered charity) initially provided administrative support from their own resources and so all the money raised went directly into the projects. However as the projects developed, they suggested that it was not appropriate for them to continue to offer this service. Hence in the autumn of 2000 we set up our own registered charity – The Rakitovo Self-Sufficiency Fund – to help these and other schemes. This charity will operate with no overhead expenses taken from the fund, and we and other trustees travel to and in Bulgaria at our own expense. Thus any money raised will go directly to the projects. We started the fund with a donation of our own money, but badly need significantly more funds if the Potato and Rabbit projects are to be extended to other needy families, and to enable other initiatives to be progressed.

Could you run a fund-raising event to allow needy families in Rakitovo to have new hope and the chance to help themselves?

Please send any funds to “The Rakitovo Self-Sufficiency Fund via the church office.

Editor’s postscript – In 2003 Mr. and Mrs. Peniston-Bird spoke to the children at St. Mary’s School about their projects. As a result the children collected £208 which bought three goats which were given to the children with the best marks at the local school.