No one was ashamed of her age, they let her do the work herself
Folded in two, 88-year-old Plovdiv woman Penka Hadzhieva took the broom and cleaned up the resulting noise in front of the entire block on “Koprivshtitsa” Blvd. The woman waited for someone to follow her example, but none of her neighbors responded. During this time, some people went out on the balconies, spread out clothes, looked at the pensioner as she diligently swept and quickly went home.
The old woman did not give up and completely swept away the fallen dry leaves and branches. He gathered them into a pile and with all his might pushed them into the garbage can.
“I waited, I waited, but when I saw that there was no one, I said to myself: “Take the broom and start,” she said.
Penka lives in an apartment in the first of a total of four 4-storey blocks on Koprivshtitsa Blvd., located parallel to the railway line. It was there that our world high jump champion Stefka Kostadinova grew up.
“We were good neighbors with her parents. Stefcheto used to come regularly when her mother lived here. But after her father died, she took her to Sofia and we haven’t seen each other since,” said Penka Hadzhieva, while sweeping away the noise.
The elderly woman thanks us for noticing her work. She says that the inter-block spaces in this area, which is said to be a prestigious neighborhood of Plovdiv, are not maintained.
The women from “Cleanliness” usually sweep the sidewalk, but they push the garbage into the green areas, which have not been green for a long time, because they are neglected. Plastic bottles, plastic bags, papers are thrown in them, and the trash cans overflow and nobody cleans them for weeks.
“A few years ago, they improved the area, repaved the asphalt in front of the blocks, put benches. But unfortunately, the people themselves do not take care. Young people hatch seeds, drink beers and litter,” residents say.
The women from “Cleanliness” passed the ball to their “Gardens and Parks” colleagues, explaining that it was their duty to maintain the spaces between the blocks.
“I recently asked a cleaner to sweep under my balcony on the first floor, but she set a condition that she would do it if I gave her two leva for a coffee,” said a resident of 54 Koprivshtitsa Blvd.
