Archery in the Rhodopes.

Some of the early complaints I heard when I first arrived at my site were, "the kids are always playing computer games"; "they are becoming lazy and less active"; "do you know these teens are already smoking and drinking?!". "..they need to play more sports", remarked someone. During those early weeks I also received various requests from the kids as though I was mystery Santa doling out benjamins. One of then said, "Shah, can we have archery..?". To that I blankly replied, "sure, why not!". At that time I didn't want to spoil the child's mood, but knew that I needed more than just a wish to create a sustainable environment. As I started to learn and live and play in the community, it became more apparent that the children were in fact spending less time in any after-school activities, and simply turning to video games or something else. It was not because they lacked motivation, but that opportunities fell short before them. There aren't much after-school programs other than volleyball and futball at the school gym, the latter un-utilized during winter. This problem in itself provided an opportunity. I recalled what some of the kids had wished months earlier. And so naturally came the idea of using archery as a mean to promote physical activity and diversion from bad habits. The school and the community were excited by the idea, thought it would work among the children and were seemingly proud to start a "unique" sport for this part of Bulgaria. Well, as we know that money sometimes make the world go around as was particularly true here because we needed to buy equipments. So I wrote a project proposal for the last remaining USAID grants in BG. This morning, I learned that the archery project is approved. Now I can't wait to see the kids' faces when I break the news to them!

What a "sneshna", wonderful world...

When His messengers conveyed God's words to mere mortals in the form of scripture, I believe they intended for His heavy invocation for whatever matter needed resolve. To which book one subscribes to or a total refusal of it, is another topic of discussion. The fact of the matter is that I've been wishing for heavy precipitation in my village since January, after hearing about the snow-storms and shut-downs back home. Some may find it an ill will. But you see, in the past couple of weeks the temperature buoyed somewhere in the upper 60s, bright sunny days to make even Droopy happy for once. As comfortable as that was, I wondered to myself, "what kind of a winter is this?! An effect of global-warming I suppose..." "Well, at least I can throw the Frisbee around....", I carried on about the days. But what I secretly prayed for was a bit of snowfall, heavy snowfall, perhaps. The effect of snow, albeit miserable in the villages when the streets turn in to a muddy slush, is also very charming. The entire landscape in Borino is a mystic white place. And one can never have too much fun in the snow! So I prayed (I actually didn't. Just wishful thinking). I complained about it to my villagers and friends. Some laughed, some snared and some even sympathised. Call it awesome mind power or just plain expected, snow finally came on Monday. And it's been snowing since then with a total accumulation exceeding 21 centimeters!