Vlad’s Dreams Beyond the Sea

Vlad is from Odesa. Three years ago, he arrived in Varna with his mother and their dog, escaping the war and searching for safety. 

This year, he started school in Bulgaria. At first, he couldn’t speak Bulgarian, but with the help of his teacher Zhana from the “Wings for Our Children” project under UNICEF and the ADRA Foundation, he is now learning fast. “I still make mistakes,” Vlad says, “but fewer than before.” 

In class, he studies grammar, learns to build sentences, and discovers the beauty of a language that has become essential for him. “Bulgarian is necessary for communication,” he says. Zhana has seen many children like Vlad transform. 

“Just a month after entering Bulgarian schools, they changed,” she shares. “We achieved socialisation for these children.” 

Today, Vlad has friends from both Bulgaria and Ukraine. He remembers how happy everyone was at the end-of-year celebration, where Ukrainian children wore Bulgarian folk costumes, sang, and spoke in Bulgarian – proud of how far they had come. 

He is grateful for the Bulgarian lessons and the support he received. “These are great courses,” he says with a smile. 

Vlad dreams of becoming a marine engineer, working with ship machinery and mechanisms. But he carries another small dream in his heart: to help elderly people who struggle to survive. When he sees a grandma or grandpa selling flowers on the street, he buys them and gives them to his mother as a gift. 

UNICEF in Bulgaria supports the provision of services and assistance for refugee and migrant children from Ukraine with the generous support of the USA Government.