“Building sites of solidarity”: that’s the name of a project devised by Italian Caritas in Bulgaria and to be realized in collaboration with the local Caritas and the Bulgarian Catholic Church. To launch it, two young volunteers from Italian Caritas have arrived in the country; they are helping the parishes of the city of Rakovski, the only city in the country with a Catholic majority, to prepare the “Building sites of solidarity” due to be held this summer with Italian youths who will come specially to Bulgaria to provide voluntary service in cooperation with Bulgarians youths. They will also work with disabled persons. In the meantime an aid for animation is being prepared, because materials of this type are lacking in Bulgaria. “There are many activities in the parishes of Rakovski and many young people are active especially in the more properly liturgical field”, explains Fabio Boniglio, one of the two volunteers. “But organized volunteer services are lacking in the social field”. The two volunteers arrived in Bulgaria immediately after the country’s entry into the EU and note a situation very different from that of the other ten Eastern European countries that are already members”. “Wages are lower – says Boniglio – and I think that initially people will suffer from a great disparity, because earnings will not keep pace with the cost of living”. Irene Baldissari, the other volunteer, fears instead that now that the young can more easily travel in Europe many of them will choose to emigrate.
