CHILDREN in Bulgarian orphanages are facing a brighter future thanks to charities and businesses from the Okehampton area.

Local charity the House of Rachel has donated a minibus to a foundation that helps educate and care for orphans in Bulgaria, which has one of the highest numbers of orphaned or abandoned children in Europe.

The Hope and Future Foundation helps educate the children, allowing them to escape the cycle of poverty.

The foundation teaches children core subjects such as Bulgarian, English and maths, as well as giving them lessons in dance, art, sport and vocational subjects such as woodwork.

The House of Rachel's director, Andrew Morgan, said: 'The children are told throughout their lives that they are going to fail. They have few learning resources and are given no proper education.

'When they reach the age of 18, they have to leave state care, but because they have not had a proper education they inevitably end up in a life of crime and prostitution. They leave care with no money, no hope, no job and few skills.'

The minibus will help the Hope and Future Foundation continue its valuable work educating the children, but Mr Morgan said it has many more possible uses.

'Last summer we hired a minibus out there and were able to take a group of children from one orphanage to the local hospital — it turned out they had glandular fever, and if we hadn't taken them to hospital it would have just swept through the 70 children in the orphanage.

'Another time, we met a little girl called Bobbie, who we were told was going blind. We took her to the local medical centre, where they gave her some medicine, and we raised money to buy her some glasses. Now she's fine and she's not going to lose her sight.

We cannot be in Bulgaria all the time, but this minibus will allow the Hope and Future Foundation to help children in so many ways when we're not there.'

Andrew Morgan, along with Bob Taylor, Rose Briers, and Andrew's son, Rhys, drove the minibus 2,000 miles across Europe to hand it over to the foundation.

The journey took three and a half days to complete, with the team leaving Okehampton at 5am on December 14 and arriving in Bulgaria at around 2pm local time on December 17.

Mr Morgan said: 'It was a pretty difficult journey due to the snowy and icy weather and some appalling roadworks in Germany. We actually did get stuck at one point in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. In the end though, we only arrived about 18 hours behind schedule.

As soon as the children saw the minibus they were absolutely ecstatic, and it was all worthwhile. The bus was full of aid, so the kids who greeted us were able to empty all the boxes. They were so wide eyed, it was just wonderful. I'd do it all again at the drop of a hat.

We really could not have done this without a lot of time, effort and generosity from so many people and businesses.'

Christian life training charity the Gilead Foundation, based at Risdon Farm, was a key partner in the trip. A number of local firms and individuals also donated money and goods to the project.

Donations were received from the friends and members of Okehampton Baptist Church, customers of OK Leisure, and North Tawton Brownies and Guides.

Steve Bolt of FJ Glass carried out maintenance work on the minibus, and I G MacCulloch and Sons of Okehampton donated diesel for the trip. BITS in Cardiff helped the charity out with tyres.

Food for the journey and the children was provided by Costcutters in Okehampton, as well as Hallwood Farm. Games, toys and stationary were provided by Otterdene Products of Collumpton. Codford Primary School, near Salisbury, donated footwear and clothing for the children.

The project's work with orphans in Bulgaria is continuing, and donations are welcomed at OK Leisure in Fore Street, Okehampton. More information on the charity's work is available from http://www.houseofrachel.org">www.houseofrachel.org