8 members of 5 Bulgarian Rotary clubs took part in the Rotary Friendship exchange in Germany in the middle of June. Earlier this year, in the month of April, friends from Germany visited Sofia, Sliven, Burgas, Kazanlak, Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, Dupnitsa and Gorna Banya in Bulgaria, where they were welcomed by friends in their homes.
The Bulgarian group, visiting Germany, included representatives of 5 Bulgarian Rotary clubs:
Rotary Club Sofia International (3 members - Ms. Ani Hristova, Mr. Grant Dale and Mr. Serkan Halil), Rotary Club Dupnitsa (1 member – Mrs. Iliyana Valavchieva), Rotary Club Sofia-Balkan (1 member Ms. Vasilena Pirinska), Rotary Club Samokov (1 member - Mr. Radoslav Naydenov) and two representatives from Rotary Club Bourgas-Primorye-Kamen Filipov and Alexander Filipov.
Part of the group's visit was related to participation in the District Conference of District 1950 "Thuringia-Franconia" in the beautiful city of Lohr am Main.
There were four German-speaking friends in the Bulgarian group, and the organizers decided that the presentation of the clubs and topics would be in Bulgarian language with translation into German rather than English.
There was the traditional handover of the ceremonial governor chain by Mr. Elmar Zoepfer, District Governor 2022-2023, to Mr. Stephan Küchenmeister, District Governor 2023-2024.
Good luck Stephan! Bulgaria supports you!
During the stay in Germany, many German clubs were visited: Rotary Club Hochstadt an Aisch with President (and warm host) Mr. Günter Greiner, Rotary Club Bamberg, Rotary Club Bamberg-Domreiter and Rotary Club Bamberg-Schloss Geyerswörth where we had a wonderful city tour in the magnetic city. The town is in Upper Franconia, on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, where its name was derived from the nearby Babenberch castle. Cited as one of Germany's most beautiful towns, with medieval streets and Europe's largest intact old city wall, the old town of Bamberg has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993.
Rotary Club Herzogenaurach where we visited the Puma building, and we meet with Mr. Puma – Helmut Fischer, and we learned about the history of the Company.
Rotary Club Erfurt-Gloriosa where we were welcomed by the President of the Club, Mr Reiner Lehmann,
Rotary Club Altenburg with President Mrs. Constanze Köhler and our host of the group Mrs. Christine Büring.
Actually, Mrs. Büring is the initiator of that RFE exchange, and we thank her for choosing us and for the great support and organization. Mrs. Büring also gave us a tour in the city and we were shown the business initiatives of numerous Rotarian friends. Our last stop, but certainly not least, was in Rotary Club Karlstadt-Arnstein with President Mr. Stefan Hessler.
Meetings were held where all Bulgarian clubs presented their past, present and future projects. The main topic was the outdated medical equipment in several hospitals in Bulgaria.
We presented the project of Rotary Club Dupnitsa for their city hospital, as well as the MED-BUL project of Rotary Club Sofia International for medical equipment for all hospitals in Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian group visited museums, castles, cultural centers, as well as taking part in the weekly meetings of the host clubs.
The attitude was warm and friendly. The hosts put energy into making the group's stay enjoyable and worthwhile.
The friends from Germany will continue their contacts with the members of the Bulgarian group and their clubs and, if possible, will assist in important matters related to Rotary projects.
Story by Ani Hristova,
PP Rotary club Sofia International
