He wants to teach Victor to be good and to listen to people with his heart
Adoption is the theme that marks the life of the former minister of labor and social policy and current head of the social commission in the parliament Denitsa Sacheva.
She has known since she was little that when she turns 40, she will adopt a child.
Her grandmother adopted her mother at that age
That’s why he submitted his documents at 39. Celebrates her 40th birthday with couples of complete strangers at a school for prospective adoptive parents. Since then, every birthday for Denitsa is special because it is shared with the most important person in her life – her son Victor, and so for 10 years now. She turned 50 on Thursday, and for her it’s just a number to mark time. A time of conscious choice, that politics gives the meaning of working for the people, and that is worth all the sacrifices and trials.
Denitsa Sacheva started working in the Ministry of Social Affairs at the age of 21. In her career ladder, she was the head of the office of the Minister of Health. “It was a period in which I could not yet realize well enough everything related to politics – the opportunities, the difficulties that follow this profession. After 2001, I was involved in politics on the side. For 15 years I worked in private business, with non-governmental organizations, with various causes and on various topics. But I saw that whatever I was doing, whatever I was dealing with, I always stopped where politics started, because it had to give decisions, change rules, laws, regulations and even relations between people. And I could see that if I didn’t do this with the tools of politics, I wouldn’t be able to be effective enough in the changes I want to achieve”, says Sacheva today. And after a 15-year hiatus, in 2016 he became Deputy Minister of Social Affairs, then Deputy Minister of Education. And in 2019, Boyko Borisov returned her to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy as a minister. This is exactly her most difficult post. “I entered this position during protests that were organized against the Strategy for the Child, the Law on Social Services. Then came the pandemic. The protests in 2021 followed, which merged with all the other topics. It was a period in which one had to work in extremely difficult and complex conditions, with a lot of dynamics and, unfortunately, with too much aggression. And this requires a lot of effort and a lot more energy to be overcome”, says Sacheva. During the pandemic, he fought for the 60/40 measure, which was attacked from all sides.
During the state of emergency for about a month and a half
Victor goes to work with his mother almost every day
He responsibly stamps and ensures that there is no shortage of entertainment during the lunch break. He gives “concerts” and performances and thus lifts the spirits of employees who are looking for solutions in the complex COVID situation.
Difficulties and trials build Denitsa’s “immune system” against aggression.” “She does not allow people who are aggressive towards me, my political views or my activities to pierce me mentally. I have cultivated in myself the ability to look into the small things, the small details. I can only erase something negative while looking at a flower, a sunrise, a sunset, a smiling child,” she says. Recently helped a woman change her workplace to suit her disability. He does it almost anonymously, but the woman somehow learned. And unexpectedly I received a card that was made by her children with the inscription: “Thank you for helping our mother”. It was a super unexpected gesture, but such small things are very important to me and are able to get me out of any difficult moments”, says Sacheva. Life meets her with many people who have helped her, and she tries to return the favor to others in need. Even in front of those closest to her, she rarely talks about the various causes she is involved with. But he mentions how he won’t forget a little girl who broke off half of her wafer even though they had nothing. And another thing, give her water.
Last year, he shared a touching story of an 80-year-old grandfather. He married in 1963, but after two children, it turned out that his wife suffered from severe mental illness. When the children grew up, they also unlocked it. He took care of them, but in the end they had to be placed in institutions. However, the son went to one, the mother and daughter – to another. And the man spent 18 years traveling between them. His wife died. “He asked me to help so that his children could live together in one center and he could peacefully leave this world, knowing that he brought them together and that they are not alone. However, the son had deteriorated and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Unfortunately, the consultations showed that their diagnoses were so severe that it was impossible to collect them. I didn’t know how to tell him. Even my voice disappeared and I just stared at him, studying every detail of his face. The man spoke quietly, moderately, deeply. Tears were swimming in his eyes. I offered him help to go see his son. He had to change three flights and I asked him if he would last, and he beamed and shared: “It never crossed my mind to leave my wife and children. My only regret is that they didn’t tell us about her diagnosis at the right time. We could have adopted a child if we had known.” I watched him walk away and thought about unconditional love and faith. He thought I helped him by paying his son’s way. And in fact, he had helped me by showing me the way”, she says.
Sacheva was raised by her grandparents who were doctors. Someone was constantly coming to the house – for an examination, to have their blood taken or for a prescription. When they went to sea, someone kept putting them back on the road because of an operation. That’s probably when her grandparents taught her that
if you give more, you always get more
“I really don’t remember the people I’ve helped because I don’t expect them to do anything for me. I do it because that’s how I feel – with my heart,” she says. And he tries to teach Victor to be responsible and to understand that there are both good and not so good things in life. “I would be very happy if he also loves people, because it is the most important thing with which a person can cause his well-being. I am absolutely convinced that one reaps only what one sows. And all my experience shows that when you are well-intentioned, you get the same”, Sacheva is convinced.
He is awaiting the second reading of the amendments to the Family Code, which he prepared together with Hristo Petrov from PP-DB (Izo Hazarta), in order to facilitate the fall of the secrecy of adoption and its procedures. For 60 years, this secret has prevented more than 2 million people from knowing their origins. “My son knows he was born in my heart. That he is wanted and loved and there are no secrets between us. To grow free, it must be firmly planted on the ground. And this can only happen if he knows who he is, where he comes from and what is happening to him. That’s why I wrote a special story about him. I wrote and wrote for days until I thought through every word in it. When he first asked me how I gave birth to him, I deflected the question. But when he asked again, I pulled out the tale and told it to him. Since then, we have been talking completely freely about the subject, she told “24 Hours” some time ago.
Her son knows everything about himself, but her 70-year-old mother has not been able to fully reveal the secret of her origin, and Denitsa knows how much this torments her. She herself discovered a woman she was sure was her maternal aunt. But when they met, she realized that it would mess up her life if she revealed the truth.
“Thus three points of view towards the secret appeared in my life. A secret that eats away. A secret that disappeared and that set us free. And a secret that I decided to keep so as not to harm”, summarizes Sacheva.
