Sofia, January 31, 2022
When asked "How do you measure the effectiveness of health and sexuality education programs?" we honestly answer that we will know if we have achieved real and complete success when today's teenagers - peer educators and participants in our educational sessions, grow up and become in turn sucessful adults, good parents who approach their own teenagers with understanding and respect. And as BFPA turns 30 this year, we have promised that 2022 will be marked by 30 inspiring products. After three new episodes of the podcast " Of Rights and People", we are pleased to present the project "… and thank you for the fish!" It’s obviously inspired by the third book from the Douglas Adams series “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”. We really wanted to answer the question "What happens to our young volunteers when they grow up and become young adults? How do they progress? Has what we have been doing left a mark on their lives? ”And because social media connects people, regardless of distance and busyness, we keep in touch with many of them.
Some we found recently, with others we have always been at keyboard distance, for some we know that they are far away, but they are well. The idea to make short films about a dozen of our volunteers occured to us before the Covid pandemic. We succeeded with 5, although we were ready for at least that much more - I strongly hope that in a next moment we will be able to pay tribute to Theo from Ruse, who is in St. Louis, Mira from Dublin, BNT reporter Ayşe Sally (yes, she too is "one of our children"), Maya from London, Nedko from Pleven and his band of musicians, and more, and more… Lockdown stopped us and postponed the premiere. We thought it would be live, but it will have to be online. But it will mark our 30th anniversary and that makes us very happy. The moments were captured for us by the filmmaker with capital “F” Nikola (Kolyo) Boshnakov, and the final version of the editing is the work of our colleague Ventzi Kirkov. Based on Kolyo's idea, each of the protagonists of the series wrote a letter to BFPA and read it live, telling us about the most memorable things from the time she was our volunteer, and talked about the benefits of health and sexuality education and sent 
us love. We also love them unconditionally and thank for the fish!
The first one presented to your attention is Lana, Svetlana Foteva-Bojilova. In the exact style of Douglas Adams she recently answered the question of what the meaning of life is with the right answer: 42. She and her SMG classmates were one of our first volunteers more than a quarter of a century ago. We are grateful that life has connected us with them, that Svetla, her wonderful husband, classmate Milen, her best friend Lyubka, whom she talks about and who is now a mother of a teenager, and all the rest.
Our second grown-up volunteer is Iva, Dr. Iva Kumanova from Plovdiv, a representative of the next generation, who became part of us when she was 14, then attracted for the cause her younger sister Maya, who represented BFPA and the whole International Planned Parenthood Federation at European and global Level. Iva is part of our volunteer team to this day and is a source of joy and pride for us. Her patients in endocrinology are very lucky. We thank her and her wonderful friend Gabi from youth volunteer times, 
who was also active in working with us - in the field and as part of our board. Thank you, dear Plovdiv girls!
Our third girl is Adi, Adriana Slavova. She breaks the cliché of the typical volunteer. "Our" children most often choose the path of medicine, helping professions or communications, and she is a person of art. Her legendary condom dresses got applause and admiration. However, as you can see, we have marked her path. Keep going, dear Adi!
Fourth in a row we present Geri, Dr. Gergana Dikova. We have known and loved her since she was very young, because she is the daughter of our wonderful colleagues Daniela Dikova and Dr. Ivan Dikov, who are among the founders of BFPA and who to this day continue to work tirelessly and competently for the health and well-being of patients. The young Dr. Dikova makes her own paths 
in obstetrics and gynecology, but she does not forget the "educational" part of the vocation to be a doctor. Keep going boldly forward and up, dear Gery! And we remember her sister Nadya Dikova and other children of our colleagues who grew up through our eyes and who as our students were great volunteers - Iva Pavlova, Totina Tsirovska, Mihail Tsirovski, Nadezhda Dikova, Krum Marinov, Magdalina Kichukova, Maria Simeonova and many other wonderful young people who are respected professionals and great people today.
Our fifth goldfish is Rali, Ralitsa Hristova. The journey accross time for a virtual meeting with different generations of young volunteers is approaching the present day - Ralitsa seems to have been with us only yesterday and went to schools, seminars and international forums. With a disarming smile, a gift of speech and a gushing energy, Rali is a born communicator and it is no wonder that this is the basis of her present work. In addition, we also remember Boryana Kepedzhieva, with whom they were inseparable and a great pair. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Hopefully in the future we will find a way to introduce you to more of the wonderful people of BFPA!
