Mogilino, Bulgaria – November 2007
(Documentary director Kate Blewett)

Those of you who watched the documentary “Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children” shown on BBC2 Sunday 18 November would no doubt be left shocked and disturbed by their plight.

Most of these children have never stepped foot out side since entering the institution. They spend their days rocking back and forth to relieve the boredom, nobody speaks or plays with them and they are so malnourished from their poor diet that many are too weak to walk.

Here is what the director of the documentary Kate Blewett has to say:

“I am overwhelmed by the response to my film Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children. Thank you all for making the effort to write down and share your thoughts and emotions after watching this deeply depressing film. It is the very reaction and help that you can offer that, for me, is the purpose of putting such tough viewing on television. There is really no point in spending months on the road filming and bearing witness to such neglect and unhappiness – if then nothing changes. Perhaps I can take the opportunity to tell you a little more about the actual filming.

Filming was immensely depressing! Day in and day out, watching the children’s empty lives and seeing their minds trying to cope with the total lack of stimulation and love, by self-harming and rocking in such a purposeful and often violent way. I knew their misery was deep-rooted once I learned how long each child had been there. As the filmmakers, we were often in a difficult position because we needed to keep our access open in order to document life in the institute over a period of time, rather than just dropping in and out of the children’s lives. We needed to be calm and unobtrusive so that we did not change the routine, so depicting an accurate picture of life at Mogilino. I must say I did get more and more angry with each visit – frustrated and speechless too, sometimes.

Most of the staff were fairly welcoming – and showed no shame for the way the children’s bodies and limbs were wasting away. It was as if all was fine. This was something I witnessed in China too when making The Dying Rooms – the staff were not embarrassed to let us film dying children, as it seemed the norm. The Director’s absence in Mogilino and her lack of information about individual children said it all.

I think something very important to mention is that to anyone visiting the institute it would look “pretty ok” on first viewing – because the walls are painted, the place is bleached and the children have clothes on their bodies and quite often shoes on their feet. The actual physical environment is surprisingly acceptable – because the staff know how to clean! What really matters is the condition of the children themselves – wasted limbs, bed sores, chronically dry and cracked skin, soggy thumbs that are sucked for a long period of time without medical help, relentless rocking and self-harming, cuts and bruises to the body.

The children lack access to sunlight and fresh air and they are deficient in vitamins, mineral and nutrients for essential growth – so they are all a lot smaller than they should be. The Director and staff put this down to “their disease”. Their disease is the institute.

The children that particularly disturb and upset me are the blind. Imagine being dumped by your parents just for being blind and then living the rest of your childhood in the darkness at Mogilino. We all know what blind people are capable of. But not at Mogilino. They fade away. Some die. Vasky and Stoyan will die if they stay there.

The film has had a massive impact both here and in Bulgaria (although it has not yet been screened on television in Bulgaria it has been all over the newspapers) and I am exploring how best to help the children of Mogilino and others like them elsewhere in Bulgaria. The charities and organisations linked to on this page are doing marvellous work and I hope to respond to your many letters by providing more information, as well as updates about my personal plans to help the children, on our production company’s website.

Warm regards, Kate”

For more information on how you can help visit The campaign for Bulgaria’s abandoned children