A day in the life of a volunteer at LIFE

Having been a volunteer at Lucy's twice, still a part of me wants to return immediatly after I left. I never seem to be done learning, feeling, growing from the experience whilst giving the best of me to try and improve the lifes of all those little animal souls that need us so badly.

There is something about the place that not only to me, but also to other volunteers I met, feels so loving and meaningful it touched our souls. It's not always easy, there are quite the challenges to face like the absence of common western facillity's like streaming water or electricity and dealing with a variety of wheater conditions but to us, this actualy was a bonus that called out to our creative minds and taught us something about the appriciation of not having much and therefore having everything.

We had the most brilliant fun hauling up buckets of water from the toad inhabited well, which we then poured into large bottles and lay them in the sun for 5 hours to gain hot water for shower, laundry and dishes. Drinking water we collected at the village local spring where we would go to with one of Lucy's marvelous horses Boshko pulling the cart, who then easily brought 120 litres of fresh water to the haven for us.

LIFE thrives by independent, open minded, loving and creative volunteers and in return you get the freedom to be completely you, invent your daily wheels and contribute in a way only you could ever contribute. Lucy has the power to really see each individual, both human and animal, and then bringing out the best of them making everybody their own hero of the day.

Daily activities vary from walking dogs, grooming and riding horses if you are experienced, caring for kitties and if you are up for it, going on outreach. Outreach can mean anything from saving a puppy from a tight string around his neck to tending to a wounded horse or collecting kittens from a garbage bin. Sometimes it involves gentle education to the Roma community on how to halter a horse instead of chaining them to a tree or simply explaining that a sick dog needs medicine. Also, when your experienced in building and creating, a lot can be done! Like making a new dogpen or creating facillity's to make life more easy for yourself, and future volunteers.

I think to all that want to make a visible change in the world, all that are not afraid of a little DIY living, and all that have a great passion for animal care being a volunteer at LIFE could be an enriching experience that you will not soon forget. To witness a helpless far too little kitten transform into a healthy little menace that purrs even at the sight of your hand, for it means cuddles. To see a dog going from hidden in his doghouse, cramped against the back wall to going on a short walk with me and seeing a first shy tail waggle when brusht, made my heart sing.

For relaxation or moments of rest or to clear my mind I would go to the river that is only 4 km away, on horseback, walking or by car and we would swim and enjoy a summer's day chilling. In the evening at the Haven where we lived in our campervan we saw fireflies and beautiful sunrises.

I think to fully grasp it you must go there and feel for yourself what being a LIFE volunteer is all about but I must warn you. You might not want to leave and when you do, you might end up taking an animal friend or two with you.

written by Else Hofma-Bergman.

July 2025

LIFE welcomes energetic and self-motivated volunteers to work on site in Bulgaria. Jobs and hours vary by the season but can include:

Helping administer medical treatment to dogs, cats and horses
Giving loving attention, including walks and grooming, to rescued dogs
Exercising horses, (if the volunteer has the required skills)
Assisting with Outreach Work in local communities
Serving as a general support to Lucy in her daily duties

If you feel you would like to volunteer please Contact us for further details.

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