Jazma Todoroff takes dreams come true and pebbles… as souvenirs from Bulgaria

Over 2,000 descendants of Bulgarians live in the Argentine city of Comodoro Rivadavia. For many of them, Bulgaria is a place from the exciting stories of their ancestors – a distant land of roses, beautiful folklore and warm memories… Part of this community are eight-year-old Aruna Mira and her mother Jazma Todoroff. With the assistance of the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, they fulfilled their dream of visiting Bulgaria.

There was also a very specific occasion – Aruna Mira received the award for first place in one of the age categories of the agency’s singing competition for children and adolescents from Bulgarian communities abroad – "Lyubka Rondova – 2026". In addition, Aruna also received a special award, this time from the Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio, Milen Mitev – a professional studio recording in the emblematic First Studio of the Bulgarian National Radio. Thus, the voice of the eight-year-old descendant of Bulgarians from distant Argentina left a mark in the archives of the public radio with a recording of two of her favorite Bulgarian folk songs – "Lalentse se lyulee" from the Thracian folklore region and "Doidi, doidi, libe le" from the Pirin folklore region.

In a short interview for Radio Bulgaria, Aruna's mother shared her joy at the opportunity to visit the homeland of her grandfather, who left for Argentina in 1925. "My grandfather left many descendants, but we are the first to visit Bulgaria. This trip for us is something exciting and wonderful. The dream of our whole family has always been to visit my grandfather's village," Jazma Todoroff says. That is why their first destination in Bulgaria was the village of Gorno Pavlikene near Lovech (Northern Bulgaria):

"On the first day when we arrived, we slept a little to rest from the trip, and the next day the first thing we did was going to Gorno Pavlikene to explore my grandfather's lands," Jazma says. "We collected pebbles, soil, various plants... and took souvenirs from my grandfather's village. We also met the mayor of the village. He welcomed us very kindly. We talked and he asked Aruna to sing something to him... We had a very pleasant experience and we also managed to take some pictures."

This first trip to Bulgaria required a big financial effort from Jazma's family. The young woman said that she did not have the opportunity to communicate with her grandfather because he died before she was born, so the information she has is from the few remaining documents and his baptismal certificate. Tsenka Genova helped her a lot to connect with her roots in Bulgaria. Genova is an active part of the team of the Bulgarian cultural society "Cyril and Methodius", to whom Jazma is sincerely grateful.

Tsenka Genova honoured for her contribution to Bulgarian community in Argentina

For the Argentine woman with Bulgarian roots, it is extremely important for a person to find a way to come to terms with their identity – this is the meaning of their long journey. That is why Jazma and her husband are doing everything in their power to bring their daughter Aruna closer to everything Bulgarian, to the language and to their distant roots. When she grows up, she will be able to confidently defend her Bulgarian identity.

And at the moment, for eight-year-old Aruna, Bulgaria is music and... impressions from Gorno Pavlikene, as well as the emotional event of her awarding by the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad during the special event "First Meeting with Bulgaria".

"My mother saw on her phone that there was a drawing, song and poetry competition. I chose the song because I love singing the most," Aruna tells us.

Aruna Mira is one of the hundreds of talented children with Bulgarian roots around the world who took part in the traditional creative competitions of the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad. At a special ceremony on August 7 at the "Children's Palace" in Sofia, the agency will also award the other winners of the competitions for literature, drawing or singing.