Baba Residence

Baba Residence

Baba Residence

Presentational booklet by Ideas Factory Association Š 2017 ideasfactorybg.org

What will happen if...

What will happen if we connect two seemingly distant worlds – these of urban youth and elderly people from underpopulated or problematic villages in Bulgaria? “Baba Residence” !

Baba Residence is a sanctuary that unites distinct cultural, generational and geographical “islands” in Bulgaria that are very colorful and different from each other, but share the need to communicate and be connected. *Baba = Granny

The mission of the initiative is not only that invaluable traditions, crafts and stories from the villages be preserved but also to use them as a vibrant source for innovative solutions that can meet the need of the Bulgarian villages. Those solutions could be in the form of products, services, events or initiatives that draw new cultural and economic potential to these beautiful rural nooks of our country.

Baba Residence builds conducive conditions, through designthinking methods and ethnological approaches, in which youth and elderly could establish a truthful exchange of knowledge and care, where a living link between generations is being created. This interaction leads also to specific products, services and initiatives, based on traditional knowledge, which are designed with the needs of the local inhabitants in mind.

The participants (residents) who join Baba Residence spend one month in the households of elderly in Bulgarian villages.

During their participation, the residents live the daily life of their hosting community, looking at the organic ways to integrate. Their overall mission is to absorb every bit of the local knowledge related to folklore, traditions and crafts. At a deeper level, they are being drawn into the invisible structures of the village people’s world – beliefs, rituals, stories and hopes.

After their 1-month stay in the village, some of the residents start developing ideas that are based on their observations and conversations with the local elderly. They manage to draw attention and new valuable cultural and economic resources to those villages.

The result after 1-month co-living and co-creating between urban youth and elderly from the villages?

Bright and colorful ideas how to preserve and nourish the uniqueness of these wonderful villages, to revive local economies and find solutions for existing social challenges. One part of the residents develop original business ideas, which have the potential to bring sustainable economic impulse into the villages and to answer its’ urgent needs in a completely new way.

Beforehand, they go through an intensive training, organized

by Ideas Factory, and get familiar with human-centered design, social entrepreneurship tools and receive knowledge from professional ethnologists in collecting folklore.

All ideas become part of the Social Innovation Incubator of Ideas Factory. During The incubator they receive mentoring support by the experienced professionals from IF’s mentors pool and guest experts.

The residents have the opportunity to develop their social entrepreneurial skills and take their ideas closer to realization.

SKILLS AND QUALITIES GAINED DURING THE PROJECT Which of the following qualities of skills did you develop further during the project?

Which new skills and qualities did you learn during the project?

Team work

75‰

Better communication skills on a personal level

75‰

I got more tolerant

75‰ 67‰

I got more patient To communicate with the local community

58‰

I got more attentive/more capabe

58‰

I became braver and more determined

58‰

I got considerate to the environment

58‰ 50‰

I got more reasonable/frugal in terms of consumption 33‰

I got more hardy To listen to the ideas of other To give constructive feedback No answer

DEVELOPED FURTHER NEWLY LEARNED

8‰

Baba Residence process

Since first edition of Baba Residence in 2015, the residents undertook tens of initiatives in and for the villages together with the local people. Some of them include: In 2015: • professional studio recording of a CD with folklore songs from the Rhodope mountains that are about to become extinct; • a social enterprise for export of products woven by the grannies from the villages; • many cleaned and newly marked mountain eco-trails; • a new church bell in the place of the one that was previously stolen in one of the villages and renovation of parts of the old church in another one; • a small grant from Google, won by residents for software trainings of children in a local town; • an educational game called IgralO, which entwines programming and Bulgarian embroidery into one; • renovation of an old village bakery, where the residents baked around 600 little breads for the local people to celebrate it together.

In 2016: • positive impact on the community life – local people shared in an interview that they had more occasions to communicate between each other because of the residents; • 3 sedyanki (traditional working community gatherings); • a big archive with photos, personal and folklore audio and video stories;

• strengthening the solidarity between the 3 villages in that region because of the efforts of the residents there; • 1500 books were donated to the chitalishta (traditional Bulgarian cultural community hubs) of the 3 villages – in partnership with MOVE.BG organization; • practical skills gained by the residents – agricultural, cooking, picking of herbs and mushrooms, weaving etc.;

The last Baba Residence from 2017 brought some freshly born ideas which are currently being developed by the residents with the mentoring help of Ideas Factory: • organizing a photo exhibition in the region to promote and cultivate tolerance towards the religious and cultural differences of local communities in Bulgaria • developing a business enterprise marketing the local traditional sling for carrying babies (tzedilka) hand-woven by the women in the village • organizing workshops and non-formal educational activities for the children in the village

One of the most important intangible results of Baba Residence is the new quality of human interaction – solidarity between generations, between urban and rural communities.

The residents tasted, cooked and gathered all sorts of recipes for traditional dishes, distinctive for the local cuisine. It always tastes better cooked by four hands.

Recipe for piturki from granny Maria from Yugovo village: 1 package of white flour 1 spoon salt 1 spoon oil 3 eggs (gift from a village granny) 1 handful of baking soda 400 g Bulgarian sour milk (yoghurt) Put the salt and the oil and the eggs in one big bowl. Mix them well together and add the yoghurt, the baking soda and the flour. Mix well into a homogeneous dough. Then divide the dough to big balls (at least 7-8). Each ball will be a piturka.

Roll out each one of them. Granny Maria bakes them directly upon the stove, lit with wood.

ideasfactorybg.org Baba Residence

Baba Residence