Bulgarian Memory Foundation and Dr. Milen Vrabevski supported the “Bridge-Between-Cultures” Initiative of the “Bridges” – Eastern European Forum for Dialogue. It is held for a second consecutive year in Stara Zagora and gathers children from different religious communities to a summer camp. Its purpose is to teach the youngsters how to create a modern society free of stereotypes and prejudices. The project is implemented jointly with the Municipality of Stara Zagora.
The camp will take place between 17 and 21 July with the participation of 16 children from Sofia, Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, Belitsa, Harmanli and Plovdiv. They were born and brought up in different cultural environment – Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian and Bulgarian-Mohammedan.
During the camp the participants will be acquainted with the cultural and religious monuments in and around Stara Zagora. They will meet with representatives of each of the religious communities in the region and will actively participate in the workshops and the practical activities. The group will spend a day in Kazanlak, visiting the Rose Museum, the Kazanlak Tomb and the Catholic Church of “St. Joseph”. As a part of the program the kids will visit the Regional History Museum, the Orthodox Church “St. Dimitar” and “The Museum of Religions” (“Eski Dzhamiya”), which over the centuries has been a temple of various religions.
The children will also learn about the work of the international online youth platform from the United States KidSpirit through a direct conference call with the organization. They will be invited to join the media’s team of young writers. On the last night, all the participants will make “The Bread of Friendship” together with Ralitsa Georgieva from “The Bread House”.
“Bridge-Between-Cultures” is already part of the cultural calendar of Stara Zagora Municipality.
