Palm Sunday is anticipated and much loved by Christians all over the world, but it is also a very personal holiday for all Bulgarians with names of flowers. That is why today we have chosen to introduce to you a lady who celebrates her name day on Palm Sunday.

Tsvetana Balabanova‘s given name Tsvetana comes from Bulgarian “tsvete”, meaning flower.She is a woman with a lot of spirit, determination, a drive to always pursue the truth and... always question everything. She inherited all these qualities from her grandmother, who inspired her to take the challenging path of a foreign news journalist. And it became a calling from Tsvetana.

Since February 24, she has been living with the top story of the world - the war in Ukraine. In the first week of hostilities, she was a special envoy for the private national broadcaster bTV there and still keeps vivid memories of her experience in the capital Kiev.

"First impressions were very pleasant because we arrived the day before the war and saw a peaceful, normal-looking capital. All other impressions were connected with explosions, constant air raid alerts, insecurity.

Although it surprised the Ukrainian citizens and the world, the war seemed to have been expected by the authorities, Tsvetana Balabanova noted:

"When we saw the authorities' modus operandi, we realised that they had been preparing for such a scenario after all. They had hardly prepared for all possible hardships, but on communication level they were doing well. There were constant instructions on how citizens should react in different situations. They also distributed weapons to civilians who were ready to defend their country, and before that many Ukrainians had bought weapons themselves."

Her journey back to Bulgaria, which ended safely a day before the National holiday on March 3, left a mark on the journalist's mind. She was among the passengers on the one of the last buses organized for the evacuation of Bulgarian citizens from Kiev. One story Tsvetana learned was of a Ukrainian woman seeking refuge for herself and her three children in Bulgaria:

"She told me about her father and her husband who had stayed behind in Ukraine to fight for the country's liberty. All the time, however, she was extremely calm. I asked her how she managed to hold herself together like that and her answer was 'I've cried all my tears. Now I am just trying to look ahead'. This shows an extraordinary strength of spirit, - the journalist remembers. - Another thing that made a strong impression on me was that she, and the others on the bus, were keen to know how long it would take them to learn Bulgarian, whether they would be able to live and work in the country without knowing the language, because they wanted to integrate and earn their living immediately. To hear something like that from people fleeing war was truly amazing to me."

The journalist is sceptical to the possibility of an end of hostilities within the Holy Week (18-23.04).  "Hopefully, they will last months, not years" - Tsvetana says, not ruling out the option of the conflict becoming latent:

"It is possible that this could turn into a situation where certain groups control certain territories, but neither side has full control over Ukraine."

Who is Tsvetana Balabanova?

She has a bachelor's degree in Journalism with a major in Radio from Sofia University, and a master's degree in Television Journalism from Strasbourg University. She worked as an assistant producer for France 24 and when she returned to Bulgaria, she was an international editor for several print media and TV stations.

English version: Elizabeth Radkova