Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) Project Report – November 2019

 

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

Local volunteers: Adin Midžić, Merima Hidanović, Ines Močević, Almira Čehić, Semir Brodlić

‘Weltwearts’ volunteers: Lydia Luise Jung, Lana Fuchs

‘EVS/ESC’ volunteers: Hannah Luise Ursula Külper                

 

ON-GOING PROGRAMME

  • Culture and Art Diversity around the World – Includes Language, Art&Crafts, Music, Drama, and Sports workshops from Monday to Friday
    • Standard Language workshops – English and German
      • English – standard English language workshops for teenagers and young people
      • German – standard German language workshops for teenagers and young people
    • Conversational Language workshops – English, German
      • I love English – conversational English workshops for teenagers and young people
      • “Lasst uns Deutsch sprechen!“ (“Let’s speak German”) – conversational German workshops for teenagers and young people
    • Art&Crafts workshops – practical arts and crafts workshops for children and teenagers
    • Music workshops – samba, guitar, music workshops for children and young people
    • Sports workshops – for teenagers and young people
    • Drama workshops – for teenagers and young people
  • Local language lessons for international volunteers

 

HIGHLIGHTS ON MONTH’S ACTIVITIES

  • This month Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) staff attended fundraising event and Trustees meeting in London where they presented why work on reconciliation and tolerance is still extremely important in our local community. Our youngest participants discussed what the term ‘tolerance’ means to them and the importance of peaceful coexistence and respect of others. International volunteers have also been doing a lot of different daily activities and they focused on different things (fundraising, promotion of the organization through social media etc.).
  • About 137 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) activities in November. Participants were aged between 4 and 40 years old. The youngest and the oldest participants attended Culture and Art Diversity around the World workshops and English/German workshops for adults.
    • Younger group – They made umbrellas, peacocks, peace crowns and tolerance puzzle. They learned to write and pronounce letters Ć, D and Dž in local languages, maths and new words in English and German related to the greetings, family and tolerance. In the Music Workshops, they learned a new song in local languages „Kroz oblake sanke lete“ (“Trough clouds Santa’s sledge flies”). They recorded the song „I’ve got peace in my heart“ and continued to practise „Alle meine Entchen“ (“All my little ducklings”). The group also had the opportunity to play together on various percussions and acoustic instruments. Highlight with the younger group was puppet theatre when they learned about respect and leniency.
    • Older group – They made the garden of tolerance and decorations for New Year Party from a different material. In the Language Workshops, the group learned adjectives and modal verbs and practised small talk in English, German and Turkish. In the Music Workshops, the group played together at various acoustic instruments. The participants played a lot of volleyball, basketball and team spirit games. The highlight with the older group was the workshop when they discussed propaganda and the influence of language in social media.

 

ANNUAL EVENTS

  • Halloween Party 2019 – Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) organised Halloween Party on 1st November. The first part of the Halloween was held in the morning for the youngest participants (4-7 years). They had an opportunity to come in costumes, to participate in various games, face painting, fun activities and enjoy the snacks and refreshment. Children, who did not have costumes, had an opportunity to have fun with face painting done by international volunteers. The second part of Halloween was held in the evening from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and it was organized for the 8+ children. The Halloween Party attracted more than 120 participants.
  • Anti-fascism Day 2019 – On the 9th November Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) celebrated the International Day against Fascism and Anti-Semitism. The day consisted of activities for three different age groups, divided into morning, afternoon, and evening sessions. The morning group was attended by participants aged 4-7 who were shown a puppet theatre which presented an example of fascism/intolerance adapted to the age of the participants. A worksheet with the message “We all laugh in the same language” was painted on the creative part of the workshop. In the afternoon, participants aged 8-15 discussed the topic “Manipulative use of language in Donald Trump’s Tweets” when they had the opportunity to learn more about the manipulation of language as a political instrument, populism and hate speech. In the evening Members of the Samba Percussion Music Workshop (16+) discussed the significance of the importance of this date and the presence of fascism through various social segments in the present society. The group did a cover song on “Ay Carmela” – a famous fight song by the Republican Army from the Spanish War. The group learned and adapted Darko Rundek’s (Ex-Yugoslavian and Croatian musician) version of this song to samba instruments.                                                                          Total participants: 45

 

     

  • Tolerance and culture diversity through music, art and sport 2019 – Within the project, a series of music, creative and sports workshops will be held promoting cultural diversity, values of tolerance and mutual respect. In this way, the creative expression, the international engagement and the collaborative work of the participants in building and maintaining the culture of reconciliation are encouraged, providing children and young people with a space for creative and educational learning in order to strengthen respect for the community to which they belong. The project will last from 25th November to 14th December 2019 and will be held in the Brcko District area, at the Youth Centre premises. The project will directly involve 60 children, teenagers and young people from the Brcko District area.

 

EVS/ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

  • In November, Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) very much appreciated collaborating with 3 international volunteers: two ‘Weltwärts’ volunteers from Germany and one EVS/ESC volunteer from Germany.
  • Visa process has been finished for EVS/ESC volunteer from Germany.
  • Sending EVS/ESC and ‘Weltwärts’ – Four volunteers from Bosnia are doing their EVS/ESC and ‘Weltwärts’ service in Germany and Slovenia 2, 9 and 12 months).

 

MEETINGS and PRESENTATIONS

  • Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representatives 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 share information about activities and plans for November and discuss activities scheduled to take place in the Youth Centre.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representatives attended a public presentation and discussion of the conclusions drawn from the Conference on the Position of Youth in the Brcko District of BiH, organized by the Youth Council of the Brcko District of BiH in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to BiH. The goal of the public debate was to create an act that would ultimately lead to an improvement in the position and status of young people in our town. Following this public hearing, the agreed document was submitted to the Government of the Brcko District of BiH for consideration and adoption.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representatives attended the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Mayor of Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Siniša Milić, with the Promote a Positive Network (which brings together thirteen organizations from the District), thus formalizing cooperation to strengthen social cohesion

 

 

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