Stoyan is one of those versatile personalities who rise in various fields and they make you wonder – when do they have time to sleep? But maybe here comes the charm of being young and full of desire to create! Learn where Stoyan’s volunteer experience begins, what inspires him to create new things and more interesting and unexpected things!

Hello, how are you, Stoyancho?

I’m fine, testing one two three. I hate to be called Stoyancho, I can’t understand why people do it….

Introduce yourself in a few words, Stoyan?

I am a human. I want my answers to be casual, to just come to me. I’m Stoyan Manchev, my last name is like that chef. Everyone is ha-ha-ha, that’s exactly my last name and I’m half Rhodopean, half I don’t know where and half from Popovo.

You’ve gathered talents from all over the world?

Yes, the whole world, supposedly Bulgaria. I like to do a lot of things. What is most important to me is to express myself and create something, it doesn’t matter if it’s with my hands, a pen, or a voice, a camera – it doesn’t matter. Now I focus on the video and photos. I am also a co-founder and part of the Young Generation in Action.

You have been a prominent volunteer for years. Tell our readers about your experience!

My volunteer journey began in 2016 when I went to some personal development seminars for teenagers called “To the Essence“. There I met many people who were on my wave*. I made a lot of new friends because I didn’t get along so well with people from school or we just didn’t think the same way. From there, I started meeting more and more people and going out. In the period 2016-2017, I was a volunteer in this seminar and in general, once you get through it, you can then become a volunteer. And so I participated 3 times. This experience is very important for how and why I started volunteering. In the summer of 2017, I became a volunteer at Funcity + and there I met several Varna organizations and even more people. I started exchanging information with them about various projects and so at one point, I volunteered in many places. This was followed by filming in Hale 3 and at the Shtuk Tuk Tam festivals. 

It’s interesting, in fact, that I’m mainly in Hale 3 because of the table football. I went to a bar where I met Ivan Evtimov from JaRa . I saw that the game has many more dimensions than I knew, and I found it very interesting. When I started playing with him, he inspired me to become a professional player and at one point brought me to Hale. I heard they were looking for volunteers, and I signed up.

And how did you find out about the European Solidarity Corps? What motivated you to get involved in this project?

To be honest, what motivated me to get involved in this project was to move out of my house (ha-ha), but also other things. Before I volunteered here with Ivan and the other people from JaRa, we wrote ESC projects upstairs in the office (on the second floor of Hale 3) and came downstairs. In addition, I volunteered at Hale 3 for a year before my service even began. I was a photographer of the events. After everything happened with the pandemic, it was a good decision, to be able to do something different even if the world stopped.

What are your tasks here in Hale 3 ? You are quite enterprising and do a lot of things! Tell us more.

I signed up as a social media manager, but little by little it became clear that I couldn’t do just that. In general, there is a lot of work to do in Hale and as there are only 4-5 volunteers, everyone has to do everything. It was clear that this would happen, but with the coronavirus, additional tasks arose! Little by little, our roles faded and everyone started to get involved in additional activities. I specifically switched from social media because I realized it wasn’t the right thing for me. Fortunately, my supervisor Svetlin Todorov knows that I love to take pictures and film, and he gave me the technique and opportunities to start developing in this direction, and accordingly I started to deal with it more seriously. In general, I became a filming editor. 

The Coronavirus forced us to adapt the project. We set out to do school tours to promote volunteering. Due to the pandemic, we couldn’t do that, but we made a movie. My supervisor and I filmed almost entirely and edited it together. Ivan Simeonov was the one who chose the music in the film, for which I am extremely grateful. Without the right music, the movie wouldn’t be so cool!

Watch the whole movie on Youtube!

During the premiere of the movie 

What are the challenges at work?

The challenges for me were mainly working with the team because I care a lot about communication. When I can’t work with my team, it’s hard for me. When I started, there was a very long period of adaptation that may continue to this day. We are very different people. The biggest challenges, in summary, are – communication, activation, and coronavirus. Hale 3 is a very “present moment” place. It makes money from concerts, exhibitions and things like that. Since we could not make these events happen, we had to come up with ideas of what alternatives to make. 

See more of the great projects started by the volunteers in Hale 3 – Hale Artshop and HALE TV !

Speaking of parties, tell us what is your favorite party you have organized?

I hesitate because I am more open to all styles. I like every party, but I really enjoy metal parties . As a kid I was a metal man, then I became a trapper . I hate to choose the “favorite”, but I would say a few more good memories – the first salsa party we organized. This was the first event I organized with two boys. A lot of people came, we had fun and it was very nice. Also, the neon party because it is a very interesting concept. Abroad, those events are famous, but in Bulgaria, it has almost never been done. 

And what is your favorite thing you did during the project?

The table tennis tournament, which is still going on at the moment. These events are regular. We made a table with points, table lighting, played fresh music, and made a tribune for spectators, and I was a judge. There is also a super cool trophy – a small tennis table with tennis sticks and balls.

Also the making of the film, or rather the process itself. It turned out well, but it just bothered me from the inside that if we had a little more time we could find a team of two or three more people and make things better. 

How did you feel when the process was over and the premiere came?

I didn’t feel anything special. I just watched it and it was great, I remembered all those moments while we were shooting. It was fun and enjoyable to watch. It was fun.

What inspired you the most in the project?

I was inspired by the fact that there were many difficulties, but somehow we managed to get through them and the people were very patient, which is impressive. People in the 21st century are rarely patient. That was very amazing. I was also very inspired by how people from different nations and different minds can come, but be close in soul and close in understanding and do super cool things together.

What would you say to other young people to motivate them to volunteer?

I don’t like to motivate people in vain, I like to give them advice from experience . In general, it is very cool, you can learn many things, it is super fun and it is a period of surprises and many new experiences. It is definitely worth it. You just have to know very well where you are going and have an idea of ​​what is going on. When something unexpected happens, like a virus that is taking over the entire planet, you don’t have to blame yourself if it’s hard for you. Volunteer projects involve people who are not very experienced. And even experienced people face difficulties. Let your goal be to gain experience and have fun without worrying about how well you will do.

Have you thought about a personal project?

I wanted to make a refreshing, cosmetic repair. It’s going good enough. We did various other projects on site. In the future, I will continue to work with my Young Generation in Action organization.

What do you plan to do after the project?

I set up an organization with a friend of mine. The idea has been around for a year or so and since then we have been working on the development and promotion of the overall concept. We already have investors, partners. We have a 20 person team and a branch in Sofia and Varna. We have to open international branches within a year. I want to continue to develop in the NGO sector, but we want to move the approach a bit with new ideas. We’ll see what happens. The other things are to keep filming and graduate from university.

Describe in 3 words life and work in Halle?

Very cool hullabaloo!

 

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