https://svitac.org

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

Local volunteers: Eldar Bešić, Amina Omerović, Teodora Krsmanović, Denis Muharemović, Nataša Maksimović, Edna Čorbadžić, Berina Čačković, Amila Kavazović, Nedim Kalajdžić, Maida Karahasanović, Meliha Kavazović, Asja Mešanović, Mirnela Mehmedović, Melisa Fazlić

‘Weltwärts’ volunteers: Jonathan Ludwig, Simon Müller

‘ESC’ volunteers: –

Turing Scheme volunteers: Orla Rose Ryan, Olivia Grace Chadwick Allerton

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ON-GOING PROGRAMME

• Culture and Art Diversity around the World – Includes Language, Art&Crafts, Music, Drama, and Sports workshops from Monday to Friday (4-14)
  • Standard and Conversational Language workshops – English, German
    • I love English – English workshops for 15-30
    • “Lasstuns Deutsch sprechen!/Pričajmo njemački!“ (Let’s speak German) – German workshops for 15-30
  • Music workshops – samba, guitar for 15-30

  HIGHLIGHTS ON THE MONTH’S ACTIVITIES

  • This month, the strong heat continued with temperatures soaring above 40°C, but it did not affect the enthusiasm of our participants, so the various activities continued with undiminished intensity. Our international volunteers prepared interesting workshops about the rotation of the Earth, the change of day and night, the French painter Monet, and fun facts about musicians and music industry statistics. 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 152 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) activities in August. 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 discussed facts about the birth of the Barbie doll, Nikola Tesla and electricity, British culture, medicine and drugs, body protection/nutrition during high summer temperatures and watched educational videos. The youngest participants enjoyed the creative part and modelling fun items (e.g. posters with Barbie dolls, flowers, butterflies, cardboard fish, and various other sea animals). They also mentioned a couple of important artists: Frida Kahlo and Yayoi Kusama, and created drawings in their painting style. The group continued with music workshops, practicing rhythms, rehearsing songs, and dance choreographies. The participants did short writing exercises, which included the Cyrillic letters learned so far, and continued learning the Cyrillic alphabet practising writing the letters H, C, Č, Dž, and Š (Х, Ц, Ч, Џ, Ш). They did warm-up exercises and yoga for children, and every Thursday they danced, did sports and practiced reading and listening to stories (Two Pigeons, The Deer at the spring, Oak and Reed). In the English, German, and Turkish language workshops they learned words related to plants, flowers, motor vehicles, footwear, and different types of shoes. All workshops are implemented with an educational visual method with pictures and video; informal educational workshops aim to develop creativity, memory, motor skills, empathy, socialization, and tolerance for diversities. The highlight with the younger group was the preparation for the Children’s Day performance when they learned and rehearsed new songs and choreographies.
    • Older group –  They discussed the following topics: cultural diversity, endangered and minority languages, humanitarian work, World Youth Day, satire and its influence in theatre and film, environmental invention and superstitions. 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 practising everyday communication, reading and translating short texts, phrases, grammar, and interesting projects. The highlight with the older group was the workshop on the UK music industry when they talked about musicians and styles that had their beginnings in the UK and learned about the vibrant British EDM and rock scene.

ANNUAL EVENTS

• Summer camps 2024 – Three camps took place from 26th to 30th August and Children’s Day on 31st August in the Youth Centre. Summer camps included Creative, Language and Music camps. Workshops were held every day from Monday to Friday and each workshop lasted 2 and a half hours. The creative and language camp implemented various activities on the topic “Languages, Art and Future” and created many amazing designs and drawings. The participants learned about art in general and learned many interesting facts about languages and artists. Music camp gathered a group of young teenagers. They got introduced to the instruments, learned basic rhythms, and practiced playing the tune “Pink Panther” on Boomwhackers and other musical instruments, including two trombones. This tune was presented at a Children’s Day event. Children’s Day was held on 31st August in the Youth centre. It was a big finale where the participants of all three camps presented the results of the week. The parents and friends enjoyed the exhibition and the program prepared by local and international volunteers.
  Total participants summer camps: 80
  Total participants Children’s Day: 110

ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

• In August, Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) very much appreciated the collaboration with 4 international volunteers from Germany and the UK.
• Sending ESC and ‘Weltwärts’ – Four volunteers from Bosnia are doing their service in Germany, Belgium and Romania (6-12 months).

MEETINGS and PRESENTATIONS

• Svitac’s (Firefly in 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 meetings was to discuss conditions and schedules for the continuation of centre activities.
• Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) staff continued with the implementation of the project “Values for young people through volunteerism”. At the second event, participants learned about different volunteering programs abroad (ESC, weltwärts), how to find a suitable project, how to apply, what costs the programs cover, and details and steps in a quality contribution to the project.
• Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) representative participated in the international meeting “EUROCAMP” which took place in Naumburg, Germany, from the 27th of July until the 10th of August. Since 1992, the international youth exchange has brought together around 2000 people from 44 European countries. By working together and doing a variety of leisure activities, young adults from all over Europe come together to immerse themselves in a different culture, exchange ideas, have fun together with other Eurocampers for two weeks, and get to know the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Participants were from EU countries, the Schengen area, Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia, Ukraine, Vatican City, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.