Recently Bulgaria has been relying a lot on volunteers during natural calamities, technical failures and crises such as the refugee wave that has recently hit Europe. The Bulgarian Red Cross is the largest humanitarian organization which gives a helping hand to the needy. The number of its volunteers worldwide amounts to over 17 million people. In Bulgaria its volunteers amount to 19,000. 52% of them are young people.  The correlation between the volunteers and the people working at the Bulgarian Red Cross is 42:1. Is it easy being a volunteer in that country? The director of the Bulgarian Red Cross Youth Denitsa Baramova and the head of the National Voluntary Team for Reaction During Calamities and Crises Vasil Gurev answer this question.

“The voluntary activities have been changing fast over the years. The good news is that the number of young Bulgarians who join the Red Cross and the non-governmental organizations in humanitarian activities that favor the whole society has been growing. However, they have to go under training courses for several consecutive years, in order to be well prepared and act adequately. Each September we organize Academy for Volunteers with the Bulgarian Red Cross Youth. We study the foreign experience. This year volunteers from eight countries joined our academy. We are mainly discussing topics regarding the effective and ethical leadership, the prevention of risky social and sexual behavior. We also focus on healthy nutrition, psychological activities, first pre-medical aid and other fundamental activities. People study in winter and summer semesters in our academy. We train 120 young people from all parts of Bulgaria who later pass their knowledge and experience to other people in all 28 Bulgarian districts. We have been using this model for many years.”

One of the most difficult and responsible activities of the Bulgarian Red Cross regards the training of volunteers who provide assistance during natural calamities, technical failures and car accidents, because these activities require many specific skills and experience. Moreover, each volunteer must know how to survive.

“People act spontaneously when trying to help someone in trouble. However, it is important to provide effective aid to the suffering people and keep yourself safe, too. I have been heading the national team for reaction during various calamities, failures and accidents for over 20 years now”, Vasil Gurev said. “That is why we must be devoted to the cause and be ready to sacrifice our spare time. We should not regret the missed opportunities and benefits. When we are engaged with voluntary activities we miss something else, but feel in return the pleasure of being useful to other people and see the gratitude in their eyes. For the purpose we must be well trained. Rescuing people is a very difficult task. We can expect everything during a given calamity. That is why we select for our team people who are experts in first aid, use modern navigation systems, devices, radio communication systems, Alpine methods for evacuation and know how to identify a series of risky factors. Thus, our team becomes strong and successful.”

According to official statistics, nearly 3% of the Bulgarian population is engaged with voluntary activities. How the volunteers’ job can be alleviated?

“Bulgaria has to adopt a law on voluntary activities. The legislative norms should be well balanced and allow volunteers to act spontaneously. However, the biggest problem in the past 15 years is linked with the fact that volunteers find it difficult to leave work when they have to participate in various rescuing missions”, Vasil Gurev concludes.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov