Bulgarian ‘Barak’ village celebrates with Obama

Barakova, Bulgaria: A tiny Bulgarian village that says it is a namesake of Barack Obama will be closely following the US president’s second inauguration on Monday and is hopeful he will visit one day.

Residents of the southwestern village of Barakovo, which means ‘of Barak’ in Bulgarian, saw their wish come true in a way last week when the cultural attache of the US embassy in Sofia, Richard Damstra, presented them with a lifesize cardboard cut-out of Obama.

Since then, young and old have come to see ‘the president’ and have their picture taken with him.

“We don’t really know where the name of the village came from but we found the phonetic resemblance when Obama won his first term,” said Barakovo mayor Julieta Lazarova. “We sent him greetings back then and now and invited him to come over and visit.”

Ironically, one of the main employers in Barakovo, a picturesque village at the foot of the Rila mountains with just 560 inhabitants, used to be a paper and cardboard factory that has since closed.