“Man has a deep, innate need to share not only his outer affairs, but his inner world too. The natural good with which one is born is expressed through manifesting this need to share.” Petko Hinov 

When you protect your purpose, your purpose protects you … This is what I wrote in my diary on the 27th of July 2024  …. the start of one of the most anticipated events of this year, personally for me and for a few more. Why? What?

I will start with the ‘Why’ before I share the story behind the ‘What’. My purpose has always been related to inspiring the unfolding of human and collective potential via inner work (intra and interpersonal transformation). I have been doing this work with adults in the last 10 years and, when I include my corporate jobs, even in the last 25 years. During that time, I would add that my inner voice has always been whispering to me to work with youngsters. Why? In a world torn apart in conflicts, wars, evil and egotistical materialism, I believe they will co-create the future, through an understanding that we are all interconnected. After all, love, cooperation and the ability to co-create something meaningful and good for all of US is what actually holds us together.

That inner whisper grew and when the voice within me became a crescendo, the initiative of the Petko Hinov Foundation ‘Together for the Children of Bulgaria’ was born. Petko Hinov is my late brother, who was a source of inspiration to me and many others. His lived values, his courage and his commitment to do good in the world was manifested through channeling his countless talents and touching so many souls. 

Dear reader, I trust you now are eager to learn more about the ‘What’ … curious how these ideas take shape and form. We all have this intrinsic calling to do something meaningful and impactful for the world. However, we know only too well that ‘the matrix’ within which we all exist pulls us back into the mundane activities that secure our ‘survival’. So I ask “Are we just meant to ‘survive?”

I have always believed we are here to thrive and better yet, thrive on purpose. What we need is clear meaningful purpose and strong drive, which I call wholehearted commitment, by choosing to let go of something in our ‘busy’ lives, so that we allow space for a meaningful project/activity to happen. What else? The right Team, which maintains the same level of commitment and passion for meaning and purpose. Building the bridge between an inspiring idea and actually implementing it is the most difficult part. We all need courage, love, support and togetherness. I am so grateful to our Team which worked so hard to make ‘Together for the Children of Bulgaria’ 2024 in Stokite, Bulgaria a reality. My dear friends and co-creators of the programme are Keti and Neli, both humans with big hearts, driven from our shared purpose, and brilliant professionals in their respective areas, Keti as an expert in fitness, pilates and nutrition, and Neli as a mountain guide and expert on the natural habitat in Bulgaria.

The environment which we co-create to implement a successful project is the most critical factor for it to grow and thrive. In this regard, I have always been a strong advocate for role modeling and doing the inner and collective work with ourselves first, before we dare step out and do it with others. And so we did! Our team activities in preparation were focused on crystalizing our CORE – purpose, vision, core values and how we can enable ourselves to become a thriving team! Belbin Ltd. who supported us for the second year, donated access to Belbin Get Set for the youngsters and Belbin assessment for our Lead project team. Our Belbin Team Roles results unlocked an honest, fun and courageous dialogue where we explored not only our ‘super’ powers when collaborating for good, but our allowable weaknesses…to learn how to hold them in a way that doesn’t hinder our success together. We needed to go deeper and be vulnerable. 

Having co-created the conditions for us to operate as a thriving team, we were eager to welcome our 12 young participants, and day one started with enthusiasm, some physical exercises (as developing physical culture is an important pillar in building a whole thriving person), laughter and team work building our camp tent village… and of course reflective work at the end.

The Inner Development Goals were intertwined through the whole programme. We were moving from Being (Day 1) to Acting (Day 5) through activating positive and impactful change in the local community and in nature.

Our Being (Day 2) was focused on building awareness about our youngsters’ individual strengths and allowable weaknesses when working in teams and how they can harness their strengths collectively. I want to express my huge gratitude to the CEO of Belbin JoKeeler,  for supporting our initiative for a second year. After a group session on Belbin Team Roles, our youngsters split into small groups to build their ‘Super Hero’.  Gaining self-awareness is so important for young people. In this way they can make informed decisions about their own life and how to impact the world positively. By acquiring self knowledge about their own abilities and limitations, they can identify opportunities and set goals that align with their talents and passions, leading to a greater sense of fulfilment and success.

Being in nature while doing individual and collective work is another factor that unlocks a sense of joy, enthusiasm and connectedness. So, we took off on Day 3 to climb one of the most beautiful peaks in the Balkan Mountains called Maragidik (Beautiful Mara). Its altitude is 1889m and the challenge we took on was an overall 25 km hike with a 1200 m elevation. Climbs are very symbolic! It is always tempting to fast forward to the summit – the desired end goal. With intent, we discussed and agreed that it’s not the climb that matters the most, but the journey…. in togetherness, with presence and with an appreciation of nature. We had a wonderful opportunity while hiking all together to share thoughts about our camp ‘summit’ – the impactful project the youngsters would have to implement during the last days of the camp. We gently moved into the CORE work of the youngsters’ team and shared the critical importance of a team vision in which everyone is inspired and aligned with. We beautifully linked this with the knowledge about the importance of a physical compass and how to use it. 

Unsurprisingly, on the climb, we had to take some tough team decisions that made sense to all. For example, at one point we needed to split up as not everyone could realistically continue on such a steep forest route. We all have different personal limits. And it is so important to feel these limits, to know when the timing is right to resist the temptation to over reach and to be present and embrace what is in the here and now. So some decided to stop, and descend to the town of Apriltsi  for the drive back to our camp village, while the others pressed on to reach the peak, which they did.

The gentle morning sun on Day 4 at ‘Stokichkite’ village (the new name of the village creatively given from one of the youngsters which gained popularity) touched us and we managed to find strength after the long and tiring, but fulfilling hike (which ended at nightfall) to rise and shine. This was our strategic day for crystalizing the youngsters’ Team CORE and to do some strategic planning for the project to follow the next day. We split this into two sessions. The morning session was focused on CORE work, while the afternoon session was enriching as it connected all the pieces of the puzzle to the whole framework of the Inner Development Goals… so that it all made sense. After much dialogue and co-creation, we arrived at the end of the day with crystal clear vision, purpose, strategic steps, roles and responsibilities and knowledge of the 23 skills and capabilities outlined in the IDGs framework…. and how to use skills to work with our inner compass in the direction of finding the place where our inner treasures are hidden. Literarily and metaphorically. There was a lot of Thinking, Relating and Collaborating. This day ended with a hearty sing-song next to our camp fire and gratitude to the team and to the local people who were supporting us wholeheartedly.

Day 5 was all about action! Our youngsters,  supported by us, embarked on a day of charity work. After their research on what is of most need in the local area (the day before by the camp fire they interviewed a prominent local Lady, as the Mayor was on vacation) they collectively decided to split into small groups and 1. clean the Church yard 2. clean an area above our camp village 3. to do home visits and support local elderly people who need help, and 4. to visit the Home for Elderly people to sing some songs, have a conversation with them, and bring some joy and optimism in their lonely days. 

The youngsters shared with the elderly people stories about their project and the initiative ‘Together for the Children of Bulgaria’, and at the end asked if there were any questions. An elderly man’s only question was ‘When will you come back again?’ In this moment we all knew that we had impacted these people and, as the staff of the Home for Elderly people reassured us, our engagement is exactly what they need – joy, positivity and optimism. We had tears in our eyes. 

In this way, our days flew effortlessly in joy and enthusiasm. It was very difficult to say good bye. We promised each other to keep communicating (every two months) and think of ways how we can make our project sustainably thrive. There is more to come and we look forward to sharing this with you.

What we concluded in my Team’s follow up session was that we believed we had performed and co-existed as a Team in harmony, able to activate and harness our collective power. Maybe sleeping together in one tent helped as well. There was a lot of gratitude and the follow up Team session ended with a strong team hug… a dream team for a dream project… That’s what I truly felt.

My huge gratitude goes to:

  • My team mates Keti and Neli.
  • To our families who worked hard before, during and after the camp – Todor, Pavel, Kamen, Lili, Ivanka and Radu.
  • To Martin, one of our future young team leaders who is so committed and brings huge value to our initiative.
  • To our project sponsors Leadership Coaching, ET RumianaStoyanova 69, Time Out Design, Dani’s Bakery.

In the end… we are ‘all in’ to inspire change for future generations with optimism, courage, creativity and perseverance.