Cornett Ministries Inc

The Hope Centers come as an answer to the needs of Bulgarian children who fall behind in their schools.

The children we work with often come from families where only Turkish or Roma languages are spoken.  Because of this, many do not speak the Bulgarian language well, and are not able to understand lessons in class and in their textbooks well.  Every year in school is more and more difficult for them; many simply drop out of school. Without education, the children have no chance for a good job in the future. Many end up turning to a life of crime, or simply living on the streets begging for food.

The children that come to the Hope centers are between 7 and 15 years old. We work with an average of 20 children per group, with a total of two groups per day. All of these children come from extremely poor families. Some have no electricity in their homes and eat not more than twice a day.

Basic work in the centers – educational work

Speaking- We concentrate on teaching the Bulgarian language. Many are not able to construct grammatically correct sentences in Bulgarian and it is very difficult for them to communicate. We constantly converse with them – and not just on lessons. We listen to them carefully we correct them with love and patience.

Reading / Writing– Some of the students in 5th and 6th grade still don’t know the Bulgarian alphabet.  In the public schools the classes are large, and one teacher is not able to pay enough individual attention to every student. In the Hope Centers we have several teachers who work with smaller groups at a time.  We can then work individually with the children to motivate them to work, build their confidence, and eventually graduate school one day. 

For their writing exercises we use texts with morals (Mother Teresa’s quotes, Bible stories, etc.). After they are finished with writing we discuss it with the children and we let them share their thoughts and comments about the stories. We encourage them to keep thinking about them when they go home. 

One among many of our success stories is a boy named Victor. He is in 3rd grade and despite the fact he is the shortest boy in his class he is known as the school bully. In the center we know him as smart, hard-working, and full of energy. We had a series of conversations with him about fighting in school. Every day he was writing statements in his notebook: “I will not fight!”. “I will love my friends!” and “I will forgive others!” We told him that God heard his promise and Victor took that very seriously. Soon we found out that in a conflict with another child Victor said: “I don’t want us to fight. Let’s be friends!” Then he stretched out his hand in friendship to the other boy.

Another testimony we have is about a child with ADHD.  Annual testing in school showed much better results with that child since he started coming to the Hope center.  The boy’s parents are very thankful to the team of the centers.

We have seen great results in another student with whom we work. His name is Milen, 29 years old with a heavy diagnosis: schizophrenia. When he came to the Hope centers for the first time it was very difficult for him to speak and read. After a year of working with him, he speaks with full sentences now and loves to stop and read all the signs he sees on his way. He is improving his communication skills.

New programs beginning in the Hope Centers

Awareness program – We have begun to teach lessons for the children and for their parents about protecting the children from abuse, prostitution, human trafficking, etc.

Life skills lessons – cooking, setting a table, health lessons, etc.

We are extending and developing our relationships with the parents of the children. If we know the issues they deal with in every family, we believe we would be more effective in our work with them and will be able to help more.

If we can obtain the proper supplies, we want to have more arts and crafts time with the children: painting, coloring, making cards; we are trying to channel the creative energy of these children in a positive direction.

We put our efforts in helping the children of the Hope centers to grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We want to see them be happy, healthy, with self-esteem and confidence. We want to give them hope and a chance for a better future. We thank God for giving us the opportunity to be part of their lives and we take this as nothing less than a blessing, honor, and privilege to serve these precious children.