Credit Crunch Causes Increased Crime In Bulgarian Villages.

The World recession has now reached Bulgaria and the problems associated with this not always fully realised, even in small tucked away villages in the Bulgarian countryside.

We had a big warning from friends in the village that there is a big crime wave right now and that we should really stay at the farmhouse full time if we want to ensure the house isn't broken into and pillaged. There have been many break ins locally with empty expatriate holiday homes, that stand out like a sore thumb with the rich picking that lay in wait. It's not only expatriate homes that area t risk, any empty home that these thieves find are at risk. This has always been the case in Bulgarian villages.

The threat of roaming gypsies that see opportunities of stealing from empty homes remains. The problem now is that it is not only gypsies that are the problem. With the worldwide recession hitting hard, many Bulgarians have lost their jobs both home and abroad. They are now desperate for money and turn to stealing to feed their families. The villages are excellent picking points as many of these 'forced criminals' now travel from village to village to prey on homes that beckon.

The homes that are at greatest risk of course are the expatiate holiday homes. These are not occupied for 90% on the time and they really to represent a major haul once broken into. In the villages security for these places are normally thin on the ground as it used to be a low risk area and it is only neighbours that act as an deterrent.

My neighbour has now spread the word in the that I am living there full time and occasionally pop into Yambol for business. I have been advised to keep an outdoor lights on at all times and get another dog to put in the yard. This will reduce the risk substantially.

Now I live in an road that goes nowhere, there is no passing traffic as such other than local villages on their way to the dumping grounds with their rubbish. My house is not visible from the main road and my renovations are such that it still looks like a typical Bulgarian home from the outside and the garden cultivated in typical Bulgarian fashion. Even if you pass my home, it still looks like Bulgarians that live there, this is a good insurance.

I know many expatriate houses that are so obviously done out in non-Bulgarian style that you would need to be an idiot not to realise that Bulgarians don't live there. Even if you were blind you would still know that this was not a Bulgarian home as there wouldn't be a barking dog as you approach.

So the bottom line is that crime is on the increase due to the world recession, even more so in the villages that are so vulnerable. Tougher security is needed to combat this, let's hope that the recession subsides and that the crime rate falls alongside this. Such a shame that another element of crime in Bulgaria villages that was almost non existent is on a changing platform.

Yordan Imen Den (Jordan Name Day) in Bulgаria

Today 6th January is Jordan name Day or Yordan Imen Den, yet another day of celebration in Bulgaria for all those who have the name or derivative to the name Yordan. The name day is not a coincidence as the Epiphany for the Bulgarian Orthodox Churches believe that Jesus was baptised in the river Jordan. Therefore the name day follows this belief and they have a Great Blessing of Waters on this particular day.

I went to St Nikolai's church early this morning and witnessed the ceremony. My neighbour, who is the priest of the church, was working very hard collecting money from all the brave pilgrims that travelled to St Nikolia's Church through the cold and the snow that had started up again this morning. More money was made from the sale of candles that were lit; on average I calculated that each person bought at least three, and not the smallest and cheapest either. My neighbour should therefore have enough to feed and warm his family this winter.

This was the second day in a row were I witnessed long queues, this time however it was mostly women. Only 5 feet 10 inches tall I still stood like a giraffe dwarfing the countless Old Bulgarian women who accounted for at least 70% of the crowd there.

As with most religious occasions in Bulgaria, the church is full of regular religious devotees that attend to be blessed and experience the yearly ceremony. The blessings are made amidst pre-recorded chant that echoed around the church with an antiphonal effect it was hard to distinguish that there wasn't a live choir there. I could see lots of food and drink that had been prepared ready to serve later including big barrels of wine. After being blessed myself, I left the church which was getting even more crowded and made my way to the Tundzha River that flows through Yambol town. This was where the church procession will make its way later to give a blessing to the waters.

I waited along with hundreds of other Bulgarians, this time all men and Gypsies. After the waters had been blessed, a cross is thrown in and volunteers dive in from the bank to retrieve it. The person who gets the cross swims back with the cross gives it back to the priest. The priest then delivers another special blessing to the swimmer and his family.

I find it very strange that Gypsies made up the vast majority of volunteers who went diving into the freezing Tundzha. After all Gypsies aren't Bulgarian Orthodox, more closer to Hindu. I asked a few people why there were so many Gypsies at this festival. Most said they didn't know, but one old man said that they like the event and it was now traditional for them to do it. This surprised me in view of the far removed religious roots. I've yet to see a Gypsy in the church, they are only outside begging for money, which incidentally I experienced once again today.

It was still snowing after smiling policemen who had travelled there in a Lada Police car had roped off the diving area for the swimmers. The cross was thrown and around 12 brave young souls dived in after it, a little mayhem in the river as the scrambling began, but one young chap called Ivan a 23 year old student managed to secure the cross. To be quite honest I wouldn’t have minded having a go myself, it looked great fun, but I’m too old for this now.

Slowly the river emptied of swimmers as they made their way back up to the bridge via the river bank, having to cut some ice on the river to get there. Most were greeted with a towel and a cup of rakia, well deserved and needed. Most of us couldn’t see much as we were standing on the riverbank, only participants in the ceremony, VIPs. Mafia and official press were allowed to have privy of the final blessing. No doubt it will be on regional television this evening.

The lasting impression of Yordan Imen Den was the number of people attending these ceremonies on this otherwise ordinary Tuesday. Why aren’t they working? Why wasn’t I working? Making time for numerous celebrations, name days and festivals are built into Bulgaria’s culture – Far more important than work here.

Bulgarian National Pride Insulted - Action Taken

Pride for your country and standing up for the protection of that is something that has fast disappeared from where I come from. So when I read about this story in Yambol where I now live, work and fell like this is now home, it is a pride that was felt for Yambol and Bulgaria as a whole.

There has been legal proceedings being taken against five Gypsy citizens who were witnessed tearing down the national flag of Bulgaria. This incident happened in a school in back in February 2008.

A 19 year old teenager (whose name was published) has had added charges of resisting arrest.

It took place is a local village school, but originally was prime news as the policeman who arrested the five was accused of beating them up. He was completely acquitted of the accusations a few weeks ago. The said policeman now confirmed that he would testify in the trial against the youngsters who as well as insulting the Bulgarian flag, now they had been found to have made up the story about being beat up.

There is strong support from Bulgarians across the country, as well as civil organizations and political figures publically in favour of the proceedings going ahead.

Talking to Bulgarians locally about this, they all agree that the degrading not only Bulgaria's national emblem (the flag) but the emblem of any country that looks after you, educates you and feeds you is blatant anarchy and should not be tolerated. They went on to say that it was an insult to the Bulgarian people.

Many gypsies in Bulgaria don't conform to Bulgarian law, segregate themselves away from Bulgarian society and many don't even consider themselves to be Bulgarian. This is an ongoing problem here with no resolution in sight. Bulgaria is seen now to be making a stand in this case namely that no one, regardless of their religion or other 'beliefs' is above the law and indeed the spirit of law.

Bulgaria has many faults, but on this my view I say "Good on you Bulgaria!"

Leftovers for Gypsies

Gypsies have a role to play in Yambol, they are the group who feed on the left over of Bulgarian. The have no qualms about this as you see the big wheelie bins being scavenged throughout the day by roving gypsies. Not only adults but whole families who go on Yambol treks on a bin crawl.

Each member of the family donning an improvised holdall for the reusable goods they find. The holdalls are indeed themselves recycled material ranging from a simple used supermarket plastic carrier bag to a large dirty duvet covering often with a branch of a tree to swing it over their shoulder like a blown up version of the seven dwarfs going to work. Plastic, wood, metal, food you name it they have a use for it. The food is usually eaten there and then and sometimes saved by stuffing it in their torn pockets.

They have a very useful role to play in the clean up of Yambol, ironic when you look at their own homes that are shrew with their own rubbish on their doorstep. This is rubbish that has been recycled at least once before and just left, there is no need to spend unnecessary energy moving material that serves no purpose so it stays there.

The extra cost of utility services to take away and dispose of the rubbish the gypsies remove would be a hefty sum so it is with some consolation to Bulgarians that the gypsy community is actually subsidising their household tax by doing this. This is incidental and not a conscious favour to anyone else other than themselves of course.

There are drawback as the gypsies don’t only take the recyclable material for the waste disposed of from Bulgarian households but they take the wheels from the wheelie bins a s well leaving many bins permanently tilted by the side of the road.

I have seen gypsy children ripping the rubber tyres off the wheels only because stealing the whole wheel was too much of a job for them. On one occasion I saw a Lada with a wheelie bin as a trailer, these can't be bought privately!

It's a clean up service they provide that help the environment, but again is incidental to the way the gypsy lifestyle affects. They are not doing this to 'save the earth,' but purely for saving and making money for themselves. Where there's muck there's brass as the saying goes.

It is a fortunate Brit who sees all this going on on a day to day basis living next to the biggest gypsy community in Yambol, it just makes each day even more interesting.

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Freshly Ground Coffee in Bulgaria

Everyday I see groups of big hefty Roma women wondering the streets of Yambol. Not what you think as they wear bright orange florescent jackets armed with a couple of traffic cones and a broom. They look like Roma witches as they make their way to work have you guessed what work yet? Cleaning the street and by jove to they do a good job. If it wasn't for the Bulgarian habit of dropping litter wherever they want they would be out of a job - remember that for the moment.

All this takes place before 7:30 as I usually walk alongside them from the Gypsy quarters in the north part of the town towards the town centre. They have a mustering point to start with something that resembles a Steptoe and Son junkyard with corrugated iron fence surround and well used steps they sit on leading up to the broom and cone stock room which is basically a lorry trailer. The steps are used as a seating place for their lunchtime break some 5 1/2 hours later. As I walk home for lunch I see bottles of beer being swigged at with used plastic bags on their laps as plates. As always the Gypsies are even louder than the Bulgarians it seems they are argueing all the time, that's not the case - they are just talking in their own way.

When they work in the streets of Yambol they are non-stop, picking every trace of litter then sweeping the dust left not leaving a speck behind as if their lives depended on it. Looking at them working you would think they pay was on commission or faced a deduction from their wage if rubbish remains were missed. I actually dare not think how little they get in the first place but know that minimum wages here is 180 leva month (around 15 GB pounds a week.)

This morning as usual I was following a group of four of these brightly clad Gypsy workers, why they are all obese is beyond me with the amount of walking they do everyday. One was sipping black coffee out of a small plastic vending machine cup. she took down the final sip and flung the clear plastic cup into the road! Now this was true Bulgarian style but coming from a street cleaner was quite bizzare at that instant. I suppose she would clean it up later that day!

For a fleeting moment I just didn't understand this, but then it made conmplete sense - Of course, this is the Bulgarian Gypsies ensuring there is always going to be work for them, essentially and action of job creation.