As we previously informed you, IOM Bulgaria’s Safety Zones in Sofia RRC are hosting an exciting theatre initiative for the unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors accommodated there. We are glad to share some more information about the project together with photographs of the process.

The theatre workshop is implemented within the framework of the REFUGE-ED project - an international collaborative research project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 framework programme. The consortium consists of nine partners located in seven European countries. In Bulgaria, the project is run by Cermes (Centre for European Refugees, Migration and Ethnic Studies) at New Bulgarian University.

Refuge-Ed project links the two fields of education and mental health and psychosocial support, with the aim of implementing effective educational and psychosocial practices to improve the academic performance, well-being and social integration of refugee, migrant and asylum-seeking children, including unaccompanied minors. For more information, please visit https://www.refuge-ed.eu/ 

Last week the children accommodated at the Safety Zone in Ovcha Kupel, tried on their costumes and the bespoke masks designed and made by the children themselves with the help of Mina Hristova - Doctor of Sociology, Anthropology and Culture Studies, IOM Bulgaria’s social workers at the Zone and an IOM psychologist, specialising in the field of psychodrama.

The theatre performance is being developed through weekly devising meetings where the children by means of play have the chance to openly express their emotions, ideas and thoughts and develop characters, themes and a storyline. The unaccompanied minors openly express their enthusiasm about the project and enjoy the creative process. More than anything, the children appreciate the opportunity to feel free in their imagination while having fun.

IOM Bulgaria's Safety Zones are managed within the framework of the project “Support for unaccompanied minors, seeking international protection” funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2020 under the Programme “Home Affairs”.