DULO Nursery and Primary school

Together, we make the world a better place with a smile

Smile for Africa” Foundation is a wonderful initiative for a better life to fill with smiles children from different regions of Africa. Daniel Delibashev tells us more about the charity, its mission and history. We are very grateful that he let us explore his world. Thanks to him, we managed to do a little good ourselves, too, by transforming a classroom wall into a writable wall with our whiteboard paint for the first time in Africa.

Smile for Africa

How did everything start, Daniel?

Sometimes I wonder whether my desire to help and do charity in Africa is because of experiences from this life or as a result of experiences from a previous one hidden on a subconscious level. What consciously led me on this path was my dream to touch Africa, the ordinary life and problems of the people of this continent, as well as to experience somehow the day-to-day of children here and contribute at least a bit to a happier childhood and brighter future, and of course – more smiles. In pursuit of this dream of mine, I found myself in an orphanage and school in Ghana in 2017, and later in Uganda, where we mainly work at the moment.

A school in Uganda

We saw the children singing and dancing to Bulgarian songs. They touched the hearts of many people. Tell us more about everyone you have met and helped in recent years.

The performances of Bulgarian songs and folk songs started when they wanted to surprise me on my second visit to Uganda. Their desire to continue to do so after touching our culture was so great that naturally and with a lot of love they learned and performed a few traditional dances, i.e. “hora” – rachenitsa, Dunavsko, etc., and our favourite popular songs such as – Varvyat li drama, Moya strana, Edna bulgarska roza, Oblache le byalo, Zaedno (by Lubo Kirov, Grafa, Orlin Pavlov), and even the Anthem of our country. 

Smile to make the world a better place

Because we support different organisations, over the years in one way or another I have been close to and I have helped at least 1000 children. Today, we focus our main activity and support in 2 places in Uganda – DULO Nursery and Primary school (Zirobwe), as well as in the care of orphans (60) and about 100 other children in difficult social circumstances in the area of ​​Mpiji, who we help accessing education, food, medical care.

“We make the world a better place with a smile” – this is the motto of the foundation. You make it with a smile, we make it with creativity, and when we bring smiles and creativity together, the world gets even better. How did children react to the new writable wall at school?

Both children and teachers are very excited to see and use a different method than traditional blackboards, which are black-painted concrete. This “archaic” method is widely used in Africa and is quite inconvenient because over time the boards start turning white and it is difficult to distinguish what is written on them. They often need to be repainted, which creates a lot of difficulties and additional costs. Using chalk when writing is quite uncomfortable, because the dust sticks to their hands and clothes, and enters the eyes, damaging their vision.

ESCREO Whiteboard paint

Of course, now that the children write on a white writable wall with markers – it attracts their attention and concentration better, which contributes to better learning. Both students and teachers now want to replace all the blackboards with white ones, because the convenience and joy they bring are indisputable. So, we expect that in the near future this will become a reality thanks to the whiteboard paints of ESCREO. So not only will we have the first whiteboard with the special paint in Africa, but we will most likely be the first school on the continent with a completely similar type of white writable walls.

What are the future plans of the foundation and how can each of us contribute to even more smiles?

From now on, we will continue to help and develop various activities, mostly related to the education and survival of hundreds of children in Uganda. Part of this is the construction of dormitories for over 100 orphans, which we will be able to shelter in the area of ​​the school. We will provide full care – shelter, food, education, medical care, etc.

We rely mainly on donations from individuals and companies. Any donation or sharing with acquaintances also helps us to be one step forward in the development of our charity Smile for Africa. Any help is important, because even a donation of BGN 1 gives access to food and education to one child in one day, and for them this is more than what millions of other children around the world get today.

Smile for Africa