JANUARY AT SVITAC (FIREFLY IN BOSNIA) – volunteer’s blog
Sretna Nova Godina everyone! My name is Jara. I am one of the Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) volunteers from Germany and arrived in Brčko in October last year.
After we all enjoyed the holidays and the turn of the year, it was time to get back to work. At Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) it was also time for some New Year’s resolutions after reflecting on the past months. So: New Year, new schedule! As you all know, for children from four to seven years we offer free daily activities from Monday to Friday (11-13h). 2022 started with a new schedule for our little ones. I will give you now a short overview of that.
On Mondays, we would like to teach them the letters, just as we did last year. This is very helpful for us volunteers as well because we can practice our local language skills. We can learn new words, which the children use anyway.
Once a week will be a workshop about science or history. These workshops will be implemented by videos, experiments and – of course – arts and crafts. We hope that our little ones learn more about elements, physical laws and ancient times when the Romans or the Aztecs lived. Here meet the personal skills of the volunteers: the historically interested prepare photos and fun facts, the handicraft enthusiasts prepare something that the children can craft and take home afterwards.
If you have been to our New Year’s Party in December, you know that we have many talented singers and dancers in our group. But don’t worry if you missed that – I have great news for you: We are already practising for our Spring Party! Due to this event, we are already practising weekly new songs and dances.
Now you can imagine what our grey winter weeks look like at Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia): Fun and creative!
But of course, there is as well something going on for the youth of Brčko. Our international team started and continued their projects and is happy about meeting new people. After the winter holiday, we are very glad that our participants and their families are healthy and motivated to come back to the exciting activities and projects. We are excited to learn new things with you guys this year!
On Mondays and Tuesdays our volunteers from the UK, Emily and Siobhan, are offering their help from 14-15.30h. If you need any help with your English homework or an English application, just pop by.
On Thursday our German volunteer Nikolai has his workshop called “Let’s Talk”, which speaks for itself (14-15.30h). In the evening we have our well-known “Samba” workshop, where you can drum to your heart’s content, led by our music coordinator Sanjin.
Friday is the German day. At 13h, German volunteer Viktor and I are helping pupils 16+ with their German homework and assisting their studies for their exams. Our workshop is called “Locker vom Hocker”. Afterwards our German volunteer Rike is hosting a German conversation workshop (“Spring über Deinen Schatten”) for 16+ from 14-15.30h, where you can practice your German speaking skills with a native speaker.
So as you can see, there is a lot of different and interesting things going on in the youth centre in Brčko. If you have time, we would be very happy to see you around! Soon there will be a movie night organized by Nikolai and Viktor and a new project with the topic of our environment led by Viktor and me. I hope that I could have aroused your interest. If you check our social media, where we upload weekly photos, videos and announcements, we will let you know, about upcoming projects!
facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/omladinska.svitac
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Svitac_BiH
Instagram: omladinska.svitac
YouTube: Svitac Firefly Bosnia
See you around,
Jara Schulze, Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) ESC volunteer
