Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) Project Report – April 2021

Staff: Gordana Varcaković, Dina Vošanović, Miloš Popić, Sanjin Vošanović

Local volunteers: Adin Midžić

‘EVS/ESC’ volunteers: Angela Claire Stoddard, Malcolm Thomas Lowe, İlknur Şimşek, Fethiye Gülsüm Yorgancı, Ahmet Başer, Ali Kutluhan Kaya                

 


 

ON-GOING PROGRAMME

  • Culture and Art Diversity around the World – Includes Language, Art&Crafts, Music, Drama, and Sports workshops from Monday to Friday
    • Standard and Conversational Language workshops – English, German
      • I love English – English workshops for children, teenagers and young people
      • “Lasstuns Deutsch sprechen!/Pričajmo njemački!“ (“Let’s speak German”) – German workshops for children, teenagers and young people
    • Art&Crafts workshops – practical arts and crafts workshops for 15+
    • Music workshops – samba, guitar for children and young people

    HIGHLIGHTS ON MONTH’S ACTIVITIES

    • This month has been rather difficult. A large number of participants and parents were infected with the coronavirus or were in isolation so a considerable number of our activities took place online. Although the number of those infected daily was quite large, there was no complete lockdown in Brcko District, so the activities in the youth centre continued with stricter epidemiological measures. International volunteers have been doing a lot of different daily activities and they focused on different things (e.g. supporting online activities, promotion of the organization through social media).
    • About 138 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) activities in April. Participants were aged between 4 and 30 years old. The youngest and the oldest participants attended Culture and Art Diversity around the World workshops and English/German conversational workshops.
      • Younger group – They made little robots, pigeons out of colourful paper, jewellery out of tiny macaroni, and clouds out of cotton wool. The participants talked about healthy food, especially fruits and vegetables; then they drew them on paper, painted and pasted them on a wooden stick, and gave them to their mothers as a decoration for flower pots. They continued to write and practice numbers with the help of various, interesting worksheets and methods of connecting lines and recognizing colours. In the English, German and Turkish language workshops they learned tolerance related words, phrases (thank you, please, sorry, can I help you), weather (sunny, rainy, cloudy, stormy) and clothes appropriate for each weather. In the Music Workshops, they worked on the songs “Visibaba mala” and “You/me/he/she”, got introduced with percussion for children and learned rhythmic counting from 1-4. Highlight with the younger group was the Earth Day workshop when they draw the shape of their hands, circled them with scissors and glued the planet earth intending to make the planet resting safe in children’s hands.
      • Older group –  They discussed the following topics: human relations and equal rights, the definition of tolerance, good deeds (especially during the COVID-19), planet Earth and ways to protect it and healthy eating. In this way, we want to provide young people with a safe and neutral space, where they can express their opinions and express positive and negative emotions, without fear of condemnation. In the Language Workshops, the group worked on grammar (verbs in the past tense, descriptive adjectives) and writing short compositions about favourite outdoor sport, spring and good deeds. Besides, they practised daily communication and worked on projects and presentations for the school. The highlight with the older group was the poetry and rap sessions when participants grew in confidence and enjoy getting their thoughts and feelings out.

EVS/ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

  • In April, Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) very much appreciated the collaboration with 6 EVS/ESC volunteers from UK and Turkey.
  • Sending EVS/ESC and ‘Weltwärts’ – Thirteen volunteers from Bosnia are doing their service in Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, Croatia and Poland (2 – 12 months).

MEETINGS and PRESENTATIONS

  • Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) staff continued to attend regular monthly meetings with the youth centre coordinator and the other NGOs based in Brčko. The purpose of the last meeting was to discuss conditions and schedules for the continuation of centre activities.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representatives participated in an online workshop ‘MOVING FORWARD – The new European Youth Programmes and their Relevance for the Western Balkan region’ organised by SALTO SEE Slovenia. The workshop introduced the new Programmes, looked into the current situation of the cooperation with the Western Balkan Partner Countries and future perspectives. It focused on setting the context among the group, mapping out needs and expectations and providing information on the new Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes. Within this session, participants discussed and explored the priorities, opportunities and technicalities of the new Programmes and link them with the region and its realities.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representatives participated in an online workshop ‘Development of youth work’ organised by SALTO SEE Slovenia. The workshop explored different dimensions of youth work development, in the context of the region and current state of play, and through the lenses of the priorities set by the new Programmes.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representatives participated in an online workshop ‘Inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities and diversity’ organised by SALTO SEE Slovenia. The main aim was to introduce how the new Programmes support the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities and diversity, in general, and through specific actions and support measures while reflecting on organisations’ efforts to include young people with fewer opportunities in their work.
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