Dear lovely people in my phone.
Where do I start?! 16 years ago I had a nervous breakdown. It’s been an incredibly tough journey to get better. Before the breakdown I worked full time as an area manager for a charity supporting people with learning difficulties while being a mum and wife alongside.
My breakdown cost me my marriage, my job and I became a part time mum due to shared custody.
The breakdown was beneficial in a small way as it got me diagnosed with PTSD from childhood abuse and I have medication and a good therapist who has helped me a lot. I am not the person I used to be, but I have recovered a huge amount. I still struggle with my mental health but it’s manageable and I know how to deal with it now.
I made a long term plan as part of my recovery and have been slowly working towards it. I have bought a rural property in Bulgaria. I have visited it for holidays over the past 5 years to renovate it enough to live in. It’s basic but it’s now livable.
I want to open a retreat for people who, like me, have got overwhelmed with life and need some time out. I have the land to build a few basic lodges so that people can come and chill and take part in therapies to suit them. No mod cons, back to basics.
I plan to move over in October and have been looking for a van to buy to take my stuff and dogs over. Sadly I made a mistake and paid someone via bank transfer who promised to deliver the van to me and didn’t. Totally my fault. I am too trusting for my own good.
I am asking, begging, for help to get me a new van and for money to help me build my lodges. The land is owned outright by me but I have no funds left to carry out the building of the basic accommodation I need to start my business.
I want to help others to recover. I spent a totally of 2 months in hospital after my breakdown and it helped me so much to have that escape from real life. If I had the chance to do that before the breakdown then maybe it wouldn’t have happened.
I chose Bulgaria because it is old fashioned , quiet and a much more relaxed way of life. My house is between 2 nature reserves and next to the river Danube. It was planned this way to offer lots of relaxing options. There will be a small amount of farm animals and I will grow food.
I have worked so hard to get to this point and I don’t want to fail. I would love it if you could help me.
I estimate a cost of £40,000 to get a van, drive over, and then get the basic infrastructure and lodges built. I would need a well dug, water pipes laid, basic toilets, showers and kitchen area which would be shared, solar panels and relevant batteries etc for electric for lights and the 3 small lodges.
I know it’s a lot to ask for but I really would appreciate any help however small.
https://www.paypal.me/ironicart