Building a future in Bulgaria

Vita Europe speaks with Vanya Ivanova, co-founder of Tuk-Tam, an NGO that gathers together Bulgarians who studied and worked abroad and  later decided to return to their country. Tuk-Tam, started in 2008 as a Facebook group, soon became an active organization, supported by a team of enthusiastic volunteers. They now have six people volunteering, a part-time employee and many members who join in for specific projects.

Three years ago, Vanya moved back to Bulgaria, after spending five years in London, where she studied business administration. She didn’t have any friends and decided to found an NGO, for Bulgarians who have studied abroad and have returned back home.

What does Tuk Tam mean?

Tuk Tam in Bulgarian means here and there, because we are here but we have been there. It was started by 6 people but now we have a lot of members, all have been abroad and these people like me have come back home and started to build their lives here in Bulgaria.

Why return to Bulgaria and not stay abroad?

I decided to come back because I have a family business here but others have come back for different reasons, because they want to develop a business that they have seen abroad and that is not yet developed here, or because they have family and friends here and they always knew that they were going to come back one day.

Do you miss London?

I miss London a lot, but I’m happy because I’m doing purposeful things. I’m giving back to my community and I’m trying to make people happier in a way. Unfortunately there are many unhappy people in Bulgaria. With Tuk Tam we’re trying to point out how beautiful the country is and how much more beautiful it can be.

What kind of projects are you developing at the moment?

We have regular events every months and at the end of the year on December 22 we organize a big career fair for the Bulgarians who have studied abroad and are looking for a job in Bulgaria. We gather together candidates, companies and guests who speak about career opportunities. This is our biggest project, but we have smaller events every months, for example we collect clothes for the local orphanage and we organize cleaning days, in which we clean up parks, streets and public places. At the moment, together with the American Embassy, we’re supporting the “Manager for a day” initiative, which gives students the opportunity to meet top-level managers and to experience what their job is like. We spread the word about this initiative in small villages, where people do not have the internet and wouldn’t know about it otherwise.

What do you value the most about this experience?

Since I came back, I’ve matured a lot. I had unreasonable expectations about my life and now I’m trying to change my expectations so that they are reasonable and I am happy. When you graduate, especially from a good university in the West, they spur you so much that you want to change the world, but when you struggle with daily things, you do not feel very accomplished. I’ve learnt to hold down my expectations and now I’m happy and more appreciative of what I do.  At a professional level, I’ve learnt how to start up a new business because an NGO has financial details and budgets, this has taught me how to operate in the business environment.

2011 is the Europe Year of Volunteering. What do you expect from it?

I’ d like for volunteers to realize that there are other people working for the same goals and do not expect to be paid. In Bulgaria there is not a strong volunteering culture. If people invest resources and time, they want profit out of it. From this year I expect people to connect with each other, to see what other people are doing and to feel that they are not alone.

http://tuk-tam.bg/index.php?page=za-nas&hl=en_US