Sam Rayner Volunteer Post
Svitac’s volunteer Sam Rayner wrote a volunteer post about his stay in Brčko:
As 2015 has proceeded, our little organisation has moved from strength to strength, and developed and grown in many positive ways. We have recently completed a full range of summer activities, involving two summer camps, a “Children’s Day”, another Future Shorts Film Festival, cultural presentations, and an expanded selection of workshops and daily activities, called “Fun Days”. We have new musical instruments, the Boomwhackers, which we are using to create different sounds and challenges, and new workshops, including a choir. As always, we have a varied international team, and while we have seen some old faces go, we have welcomed many new smiling ones into our weird and wonderful family, that is, Omladinska organizacija Svitac.
In July, Svitac organised a Music Camp in the mountains outside Sarajevo. The location was Trebevic, at a beautiful secluded hostel with a small clearing and a stream, surrounded by nature, and with some of the friendliest staff and most interesting guests imaginable. Ostensibly a music camp, our activities varied, with everyone taking part in music in the morning, and choosing form a choice of more music, arts and crafts, or sport, in the afternoon. The group of 24 succeeded in producing a version of The James Bond Theme on Boomwhackers, a video of which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoFxdbLZbSY. On top of this, the group decorated the hostel using paints and leaves gathered from the surrounding woods, and also produced a banned for the friends of one of the volunteers back in the UK.
At the end of August, Svitac produced its annual Summer Camp, culminating with Children’s Day. The five days of workshops included language workshops (in English, German, and French), arts and crafts (producing banners and DIY clothing), and music (involving another production with Boomwhackers). The banners produced in the arts and crafts workshops were displayed for Children’s Day, and the DIY clothes they produced were used for a children’s fashion show, with the participants displaying their handiwork. The music camp produced a version of Bach’s Cantata BWV 147 on Boomwhackers, opening the event with a performance. Over the course of the rest of the day, the children were taken around activity stations set up around the centre by the volunteers, including a fancy dress photo booth, and teabag throwing event. If the pictures are anything to go by, good fun was had by all.
With new volunteers came new summer workshops. A dance workshop was set up, working with the older children, and an evening photography workshop helped people see Brčko from a new angle, sometimes literally. The biggest change during our summertime, however, came in the form of Fun Days. These mornings, twice a week, brought local children in for two hours to play all sorts of games, and take part in all sorts of artsy at crafty activities. They were a lot more fun than school.
The end of August also saw another presentation of Future Shorts films. Once again, Svitac and the youth centre played host to some of the most imaginative and creative independent short films out there today, from all over the world. This event was accompanied by our volunteer’s cultural presentations. There was a selection of German language idioms, a short German fairy tale, and more food than you can imagine! For a couple of short hours, Svitac hosted the finest café (and only tea shop) in Brčko.
With the end of summer came the end of some of our finest volunteers. Not only were our short term summer volunteers departing, but we also had to say goodbye to two excellent long term volunteers. Nicolas and Tamara joined us in September 2014, and were involved in a great many activities and projects. They coordinated German workshops in the evenings, and started their own projects, with a sewing workshop, and Freeletics, an evening fitness session, developing strength and endurance. Both volunteers participated in the project “Children’s Corner” with Omladinski Centar Vermont, in villages surrounding Brčko, helping to repair and recover from damage done during the floods, displaying all the dedication, care, and compassion that Svitac believes in. Both will be missed. At the same time, our summer volunteers, Sarah, Kate, and Catriona, bid farewell, leaving behind happy memories, positive energy, and a legacy of hard work and care. Their contributions to the camps, the Children’s Day, the workshops, and to the remaining members were above and beyond what would be expected from such a short time here. To all of our previous volunteers we wish good luck in all future adventures.
As the summer progressed, and the seasons changed, our workshops have also developed and changed. Our daily workshops with young children (two groups, one aged 4-7, and the other 8+), have developed well. We continue to focus on developing the skills of the children, helping them develop reading skills, build their knowledge, and increase their social integration. As our familiarity with both the participants and the job has grown, so has the complexity of our workshops, the targets we set, and the projects we aspire to achieve. The 8+ group has repeatedly completed large scale arts projects, and the young group, despite the broad age range, is a joy to watch, with all of the children learning and playing together. Our other workshops have proceeded with the same energy as before. Our percussion group continues to meet and play a variety of compositions, and our choir has even recorded a short video of a rehearsal. Furthermore, since Nicolas left, a new local volunteer has taken it upon themselves to continue Freeletics.
The future for Svitac is always full. New work, new projects, new challenges, and new horizons forever fill our vision. In the coming months we will play host to our annual Halloween Party, UNITED Against Fascism Day, and our New Years Party. To help us with these, we would like to welcome our new volunteers from Germany, Jonas, Johanna, and Anne. All three, while being here for less than two months, have already dedicated a huge amount of time and effort to our current projects and workshops, and are steaming towards projects of their own. There will soon be a Svitac Drama Club, and new language workshops (in German and English) will soon be returning to our evening schedules. Soon, they may well be contributing stories of their own to this site. We would also like to welcome Asja, our new member of staff and coordinator for the daily workshops, who joined us over the summer. She is consistently a joy to work with, and a welcome addition to the team. And finally, an old friend, Nikola, has returned from his own volunteering experience in the Netherlands, bringing back to Svitac learning, stories, and enthusiasm.
Our well rounded, energetic, and creative team continues to push against boundaries, and grow as a team. We hope that we can communicate some of the joy we feel, and enthusiasm for our work, through these small web posts. You will hear from us again soon. From all of us at the Svitac team, ‘vidimo se kasnije’ (see you later).
Sam Rayner, EVS Volunteer
