Hospital Project-The End

2-22-2007

Today is a good day; I am finally able to relax and my worries are gone(for the most part). Yesterday the container arrived in Chirpan

3-2-2007

It is Friday and I am in an excellent mood! OK……so………I will now finish off the story of the container. For some reason I have not been in the mood to write. Not sure exactly why that is; but anyways here ya go…….
After a lot of bad noise; things were worked out the Bulgarian way. We decided to start using Plovdiv Customs instead of Varna Customs. That turned out to be an excellent move. The customs guy in Plovdiv was on our side and basically showed us exactly how we could get the container through. I will not go into details about how this was accomplished……….the process was a bit too sketchy to publicly write about; however the ends justified the means and the container made it to the hospital. After all, that is what is important; and now the Chirpan Municipal Hospital officially has received over half a million dollars worth of medical supplies and equipment.
Everyone in the municipality and hospital are quite happy with the result of this project. I also have received warm regards from locals who have read about the story or have seen it on the local news. This project of course would not have been possible without help from family and friends in the USA. Huge thanks to Shirley Lake and Gloria Friant for their generous contributions of time and money to the project. Shirley Lake was responsible for getting the ball rolling; and the timing turned out to be crucial. The timing worked out for me; therefore I was able to turn this project idea into a reality(well I hit a snag obviously, but any later and the project would have been a failure).
Unfortunately there are 2 other volunteers that have been working over a year on a similar project, and have now learned that they will not be able to get their donations through to their hospitals. It is unfortunate that the government has essentially put a stop to all foreign humanitarian aid donations. The 20% VAT tax has been a deterrent that has been tough to ignore for any foreign NGOs. The battle is not over however; the wheels are grinding as we speak; and there are US government workers in Bulgaria who are working with the Bulgarian government to solve these new problems. So all I can say is good luck the other volunteers, and I hope that the Bulgarian government revises its import regulations soon.
The Container was a blast to unpack; it took all day but it was a joyous work day nonetheless. It felt a lot like Christmas in Chirpan; the 40ft container was jam packed with everything from casting supplies to an ultrasound. The contents of this container will make an enormous impact on the residents of Chirpan, as well as the 20 surrounding villages.
I should also mention that my colleagues and the hospital staff have been vital to the success of this project. They worked incredibly hard on this project and it was great to see their work pay off. Also the Mayor of Chirpan has been very supportive of this project from day one; and has provided us with everything we need to get the job done(cars for transport,cash, ect).

-THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW PICS FROM THE UNPACKING DAY-


Ivan, Ivan and I and the Anesthesia Machine

My Counterpart, Vice Mayor, Press