On the Occasion of the Feast of Annunciation the UNWE Hosted a Motorcycle Ride in the Name of Life

On the eve of the Feast of Annunciation the UNWE hosted a motorcycle ride and a conference in support of genetic material donation. Supporters of the campaign You Are the Life organized by the Foundation I Want a Baby are the Executive Agency Medical Supervision, the charitable motorcycle organization Widows Sons Grand Chapter Bulgaria & Masonic Riders Bulgaria and motorcyclists from all over the country. The President of the charitable motorcycle organization, Daniel Kapsazov awarded to Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov a symbolic wooden motorbike but for the sake of the cause, the Rector of UNWE rode a real motorbike.

To support the initiative came the Rector of Neofit Rilski South West University Prof. Dr. Nikolay Marin, Ivanka Dineva, Executive Director of the Executive Agency Medical Supervision, the four-time Olympic champion Dancho Yovchev and representatives of foundations for combating domestic violence and supporting deprived children, students, and teachers.

It is the second joint initiative of the Foundation I Want a Baby and the motor community after in 2017 the campaign For more Children in Bulgaria supported a number of families with reproductive problems. On the eve of the Feast of Annunciation and the 17th birthday of the Foundation I Want a Baby the inspiring event aimed to draw attention to the importance of egg donation and regular reproductive health prevention, especially among young people and to support all those in need so that every obstacle on the road to parenthood to be removed.

The main contributor to the organization from the UNWE was Chief Assist. Dr. Desislava Botseva, lecturer at the Regional Development Department and member of the charitable motorcycle organization Widows Sons Grand Chapter Bulgaria & Masonic Riders Bulgaria.

The main contributors to the event at the UNWE - Chief Assist. Dr. Desislava Botseva, Regional Development Department, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Georgy Nikolov, Head of the Regional Development Department, Daniel Kapsazov, President of Widows Sons Grand Chapter Bulgaria & Masonic Riders Bulgaria, Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, Rector of UNWE, Ivanka Dineva, Executive Director of Executive Agency Medical Supervision, Radina Velcheva, establisher of the Foundation I Want a Baby, Dr. Georgy Nikolov and Maria Yaneva, Chairman of the Management Board of the Foundation

"Today we have gathered for a great cause - the cause of life, because you are the life, because we are the life and because we all, today, will say a big "Yes" to it”, thus Chief Assist. Desislava Botseva gave the floor to the Rector Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov.

Prof. Dimitrov pointed out that the issue of the demography of the Republic of Bulgaria is very serious. "We are in a demographic crisis. It has a great impact on the economy of the country because every investor is interested in having a workforce. The state starts to consider how to pay pensions to the elder people. The number of potential prospective students has decreased from 100 thousand 10-15 years ago to 50 thousand now. And this number will continue to decline. There are a lot of things we should be concerned about, and I hope today's event will be one important step towards reversing that trend. We shouldn't ask for money to encourage births in any way. You know that Bulgaria used to have a population of 9 million whereas now it has 6 million. It is is a huge problem. We are one of the fastest vanishing nations in the world and I hope this will send a warning to those who govern us. I hope they will listen to us", said Prof. Dimitrov.

The President of the charititable motorcycle organization Widows Sons Grand Chapter Bulgaria & Masonic Riders Bulgaria Daniel Kapsazov emphasized that he has 4 children and 5 grandchildren which brings him great happiness. "We are quite significant in terms of informing society and forcing people to think about the issues. The problem with the demographic crisis is huge, but what worries me personally in Bulgaria is that egg donation is reduced to a minimum. We lose our gene pool, we lose our DNA. We need to preserve Bulgarian identity, the identity of a nation with 14 centuries of history", added Mr. Kapsazov.

The Executive Director of the Executive Agency Medical Supervision Mrs. Ivanka Dineva started with words of gratitude abou the initiative whose main co-organizer is the Executive Agency: "I believe that the rulers, who take care of their country, should focus exclusively on health and education. That is why I am happy that today we are at a university. Let`s all together wish more health to fight for higher quality education. Only then we could be truly useful to ourselves and to society".

Maria Yaneva, Chairwoman of the Management Board of the Foundation I Want a Baby - the other main organization of the veent event, expressed her joy at the commitment of so many different organizations and reminded: "We have been fighting on the silent front for 17 years so that every Bulgarian family that wants but cannot have their own children to implement that dream. From our work 25 000 children were born. These are a few small towns that we have populated with a handful of people. We are here today to launch a new initiative - to help those who need donor genetic material to have children", added Mrs. Yaneva.

Dr. Georgy Nikolov, specialist in medical assisted reproduction also greeted the organizers. As a Master's of Economics from the UNWE he pointed out that there is nothing more valuable than human resources - "they are very valuable because they are productive, because they can improve, especially because they can reproduce themselves. We are bad in terms of human resources and it is evident. There are not enough people because not enough children are born. On the one hand, the reproduction is delayed until an age when it becomes difficult and on the other hand, many young people who are of reproductive age emigrate and do not have their children in Bulgaria. It is the job of politicians and experts who create policies to organize our society in such a way that people want to stay in Bulgaria and create children, and where they cannot have children for purely clinical reasons, to remove all possible obstacles, including the financial ones. Let's make it so that one day we won't have to ride our bikes on empty roads", concluded his speech Dr. Nikolov.

Prof. Dr. Nikolay Marin, Rector of the South West University expressed thankfulness to Prof. Dimitrov for accepting this event to be held at UNWE. He also expressed his gratitude to Mrs. Ivanka Dineva for the institutional support. "Today, we all consciously say that we have understood what the leading issue is - the priority of priorities - life comes first. This awareness is crucial for determining the future of our society. Donating life, even as a donor, is now more than compulsory. He wished many good tidings on the occasion of the Feast of Annunciation. The South West University will host the next event of the Foundation I Want a Baby.

Through an emotional tale, the establisher of the Foundation I Want a Baby Radina Velcheva told her personal story and presented the woman who became a donor so that other women could become mothers – the radio journalist Milena Zlatkova. She in her turn shared the worrying fact that the number of egg donors in Bulgaria is around 1 700 while the number of people in need is around 15-17 000.

"Today the UNWE has turned into the centre of a very important dream. Individual people turn the tide. Let`s all leave this hall with the conscious decision to be consistent so that Bulgaria continue to exist", appealed the radio journalist Milena Zlatkova.