On April 8, 2023, the International Roma Day was celebrated at the Plovdiv Cultural Institute. The event is part of the activities of the Roma Foundation, a partner in project No. BGLD-3.002-0006-C01 Creation of a one-stop center for integrated social and health services in the Stolipinovo quarter, for which the Plovdiv Municipality signed a contract worth BGN 2,310,451.09. – BFP. The project is financed under the Program “Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Improved Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups”, through the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2014-2021. The program operator of the project is the Ministry of Education and Science. The duration of the project is 24 months (11.04.2022 – 30.04.2024)
The program started at 5:00 p.m. with poems from the Roma poetry “ROMANI CHERHENI”/ROMA STAR/, and the audience was included in an interactive performance led by Donka Kyoseva and Melina Atanasova. The poems read in the performance were recited in Bulgarian and Romani.
The event continued from 19:00 with the “Tolerance Cocktail”. It was attended by representatives of non-governmental organizations working with vulnerable groups, of the preschool education system in Stolipinovo district, youth from the Roma community, as well as the project implementation team. The chairman of the Roma Foundation, Asen Karagyozov, opened the cocktail party with information about the project’s activities and goals, after which the Roma anthems and the Bulgarian national anthem were played in succession.
More than ninety people, guests of the cocktail party, also had the opportunity to attend a fire show “The Power in Me”, presented again by Donka Kyoseva and Melina Atanasova, with which the program to mark the International Day of the Roma ended.
The event is part of the activities aimed at increasing the level of acceptance between the Roma and the mainstream population and for countering discrimination and negative attitudes towards the Roma population. For the realization of these goals, a series of events are planned, within which the basic human rights, the achievements of representatives of the Roma ethnic group will be promoted, and the process of their inclusion and empowerment will be supported.
