Group of 15 volunteers and representatives of Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe” - Momchil Baev and Radost Zaharieva organized a march to Holiday and vacation area “The Monastery” nearby the town of Lyaskovets on May 25th. The youths are members of the Volunteers group who are going to work in the field on Component 7 “Decreasing vulnerability to HIV of young people at highest risk (age 15-24) as part of “Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS” Program of the Ministry of Health of Republic of Bulgaria, funded by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The march and workshop in the field were part of the concomitant initiatives in organizing the only National Roma Children Festival, which turned into a tradition for the city of Veliko Tarnovo and is held for seven years in a row. The main goal of the march was youths of different age to work together in an environment different than the formal one. The mountain appears to be a suitable one. In the holiday area the students played role games promoting team work and then, divided into groups, they worked on hand-made posters, representing the activities of Center “Amalipe” and its partner organizations and institutions such as the Regional Inspectorate for Protection and Control of Public Health. The posters present campaigns, devoted to the fight of HIV/AIDS and young people’s acquaintance, as well as Roma customs and of course one the biggest events by Center “Amalipe” – The National Roma Children Festival “Open Heart”. The posters, hand-made by the volunteers in the mountain workshop are rich in images and will be presented during the Spring school camp “Peers training peers”, May 30th to June 3rd in the village of Dolni Lozen. The School camp is part of the activities on “Decreasing vulnerability to HIV of young people at highest risk (age 15-24)” Project as part of “Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS” Program of the Ministry of Health of Republic of Bulgaria.
