After 20-Year Struggle, Residents of Bazan Save Their School.

After nearly 20 years of struggle, residents of the village of Byzan near Ruse have succeeded in saving the local school building. Time has taken its toll on the century-old structure, but the community hopes it can be renovated and transformed into a daytime children's center. Years of campaigns, legal efforts, and community action followed as locals fought to reclaim the building.

Their dream recently became a reality thanks to an anonymous donor who purchased the property. The legal procedures to transfer ownership officially to the Municipality of Ruse are now underway, allowing the municipality to apply for funding for the building's renovation.

Residents hope to restore the building and turn it into a center where not only children but also their mothers can gather. We don't need money—donate building materials instead, because we have people who can carry out the renovations. Then the children of Byzan will once again have their own place.

Years without an owner have left the building in poor condition, but residents remain hopeful that it can be restored and converted into a daytime children's center.

We have the key, and we've been given full freedom to use and manage the building, said Byzan Mayor Vasilena Tsankova.

For Saiper, who lives in Belgium but spends the summer with his grandmother in Bulgaria, holding a school record book from the recent past is a real adventure.