We organized another youth initiative, this time organized by students from the Professional High School of Mechanoelectrotechnics and Electronics. Kaloyan Velev, Toni Zhecheva, and Brendan Atanasov are the students who submitted their idea to us and wrote a project proposal for the initiative. The theme is ecological and it concerns the pollution of the forest areas in Strandzha Mountain. Therefore, the young people proposed a hike combined with a cleanup, where a group of volunteers could simultaneously enjoy the nature of Strandzha and do something valuable and beneficial for it – namely, to clear the selected area.
Kaloyan Velev, the president of the Student council in the school, was particularly active in organizing this initiative. With the help of the school psychologist Maria Bedrova, he managed to gather 43 volunteers for the eco-action in the mountain! The organizers of the event (the students who won the project) chose their mentor and mountain guide to be Vladimir Dimitrov from Zelena Strandzha, and we at the Youth International Center helped them with organizational matters, discussions with institutions, as well as providing food and water for the hike.
We walked through the forest with the students, enjoyed its autumn colors, and even visited a gallery in the rocks that turned out to be the home of many geckos! During the hike, we had the opportunity to explore the area and make notes of the litter that we would collect on the way back. The dense vegetation initially gave us the impression that there wasn’t much litter, but as we ventured further into the bushes and trees, we realized that there was a need for a large group to clean it up. In the end, we filled one full trailer and another one on our way back to the village!
The youth initiative was highly successful not only because we left Strandzha cleaner than we found it, but also because this experience showed the young people how important it is to preserve their environment and take care of it, just as it takes care of us!
This youth initiative is carried out as part of our activities, thanks to the Local Development Programme.
*Project № BGLD-2.001-0002 “Establishment of a Youth International Center – Burgas” is implemented under the Local Development, Poverty Reduction, and Enhanced Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups Programme, financed by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA FM) 2014-2021.
