Welcoming Families from Around the World

     Families immigrate from countries all over the world in search of better employment, education, and a better way of life.  This week we are faced with how we could help a family to make the transition from another country to here in the United States.  In this scenario, I am a hospital worker helping a family who has just relocated from Bulgaria.  This is a challenge for me considering at this point I have no knowledge of the culture, heritage, language, medical care, or education system  in Bulgaria.  It is located on the Bulkan pennisula in south eastern Europe, borded on the east by the Black Sea, on the north by Romania and the Danube River, on the south by Greece and Turkey, and on the west by Macedonia and Serbia (everyculture.com).                                   

Map of Bulgaria
In order to be culturally responsive to a family arriving from this country

1) The national language of Bulgaria is Bulgarian, which uses the Cyrillic script (everyculture.com)  The turkish minorities speak Turkish, and the Gypsies speak Romany (everyculture.com)  For this reason, the first thing I would need to do is find a translater to overcome the language barrier that will exist for this family.

2) Bulgaria's basic economy is made up of about 16 percent agriculture, 60 percent industry, and 24 percent services (everyculture.com).  Many women entered paid employment during the socialist era and women make up nearly half of the workforce in the last twentieth century usually employed as teachers, nurses, pharmacists, sales clerks and laborers but are largely responsible for the household tasks; childcare, cooking, cleaning,and shopping.  This information will be helpful in getting the family started on an employment search if they have already not been sent to the United States because of a job opportunity.

3) Marriages is mongomous and marriages are free choice (everyculture.com)  Early infant care is provided my the mother, working mothers receive a paid six month for maternity leave, children aged three to six years of age attend state run kindergartens when available, otherwise early education is left up to the grandparents (everyculture.com)  Helping this family to find the right education and childcare program for them that would embrace their culture and diversity would be neccessary for the children to receive a smooth transition.

4)Most ethnic Bulgarians belong to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church but small numbers are Muslim, Protestants, and Roman Catholic, Gypsies are often Christian (everyculture.com)  Helping the family to find a church that practices their religion or another area that celebrates their religion will help them to continue with their religious traditions.

5) Families from Bulgaria celebrate many of the Christian holidays that are celebrated in the United States but they also celebrate others as well such as festivales of kukeri, which marks the beginning of spring and the agricultural period (everyculture.com)  Finding photographs of these celebrations and encouraging this new family to share with us their experiences and memories of the celebrations will help them feel more accepted and welcome.

6) Bulgarian children receive many of the same immunizations that American children do but sadly tick borne encephalitis, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C and the H5N1 virus are common in Bulgaria (cdc.gov)  For these reasons, setting them up with a healthcare provider early on will help them to know where to turn for help.  Along with this educating them about all of the resources for assistance that are available for families will help the families to know who to turn to.

References

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/bulgaria.htm

http://everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Bulgaria.html