https://svitac.org

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

Local volunteers: Eldar Bešić, Amina Omerović, Teodora Krsmanović, Katarina Radić

‘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

  • Despite the extreme temperatures this month, our activities were filled with laughter and fun. Our participants’ cheerful faces and smiles were like the wind at our backs. They thoroughly enjoyed the workshops on ecology and sustainability, solar panels, endangered animals/species, and a wide range of creative and musical activities! Our international volunteers gave great presentations to groups 15+ about the UK electoral system, Unions, and the history and facts of Independence Day on July 4th. Our dear friend Amy from Firefly International visited us this month. Young people from Brčko had enjoyed talking to her and the little ones made a charming postcard as a farewell gift. 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 150 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) activities in July. 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 talked about food from around the world, cavemen, fire, ancient Rome and mosaics, ant colonies, butterflies and metamorphosis, the “colour wheel”, the Dodo bird, the video game Meinkraft and watched educational videos. Through the creation of a mini-series of workshops about artists, they have explored the work of Picasso, Van Gogh and Mondrian and it was lovely to see young participants really embrace their creativity with these tasks. The youngest participants enjoyed the creative part and modelling fun items (e.g. ice creams on a stick, “light catchers”, lions, and motifs in Japanese and Egyptian 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 N, Nj, P, R, S, Ć, U and F (Н, Њ, П, Р, С, Ћ, У, Ф). They did warm-up exercises and yoga for children, and every Thursday they danced, did sports and practiced reading and listening to stories (Sinbad the Sailor, The Fox and the Grapes, The Lying Shepherd, The Wise Little Mouse, The Tortoise and the Rabbit). In the English, German, and Turkish language workshops they learned words related to holidays, sea, beach, summer clothes, insects, house parts and paintings. 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 mosaic workshop when they learned what mosaic means and had a lot of fun creating their own.
    • Older group –  They discussed the following topics: indigenous people, colonialism, racism, Northern Ireland – peace process, citizenship and passports, degrowth theory in the economic sense, and favourite TV shows. 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 presentation about the 4th of July Celebrations in America, questioning the origins of the celebration, along with seeking further understanding of the meaning behind this.

ANNUAL EVENTS

• Summer camp Pecka 2024 – Music camp in Pecka, Mrkonjic Grad, BiH took place from 21st – 28th July. 20 people participated in the camp (young people from Brcko, staff members, foreign and local volunteers). Each day featured two music workshops, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. During the morning sessions, all participants engaged in rhythm games worked on prepared compositions, and created new ones, fostering teamwork, cooperation, and enhanced communication through musical interaction. In the afternoon, participants were divided into smaller groups to work on songs they enjoyed, create their own compositions, or perfect pieces from the morning sessions. Beyond music, the camp schedule included time for sports, hiking, drawing, and movie nights. The overall goal of the camp was to promote and strengthen cross-cultural interaction among participants and volunteers.

ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

• In July, 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 started with the implementation of the project “Values for young people through volunteerism”. The Brčko District Government finances the project and will last 5 months. As part of the project, a series of events and workshops will be held that will promote and demonstrate the numerous values of volunteerism for young people. 80 teenagers and young people from Brčko District will be directly involved in the project. This project will help young people to learn more about youth opportunities through volunteerism, but also to learn skills that will contribute to their social and educational development. It is expected that young people will be encouraged to continue contributing in a useful way to the local community and personal development through the activities organized by Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia).