Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) Project Report – June 2023

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

Local volunteers: Eldar Bešić, Amna Balija, Aida Slomić,Teodora Đuričković, Edna Čorbadžić, Ajla Hodžić

‘Weltwärts’ volunteers: Charlotte Stella Kramer, Lenja Helen Schulze Wessel

‘ESC’ volunteers: Maika Luise Dils, Marlen Eckert, Ian Abraham Wade, Abdülvekil GÖK, Abdurrazzak Çinar 

      

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 Svitac team met Dennis and Theresa, two German YouTubers who are travelling the Balkans in quest of interesting places, stories, and people whose stories should be told. It was a pleasure to speak with them and hear about their experiences! The participants danced, sang, and learned together as we prepared for the Spring Fest event and the hungry caterpillar show! With high school students, we socialized and discussed volunteering abroad (advantages and disadvantages). Our international volunteers Maika, Ian, and Lenja presented on this subject and exchanged experiences. Additionally, there were group playing and rhythm practice sessions. 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 145 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) activities in June. 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 land animals, snails, rodents, and reptiles; made them thematically from paper, cardboard, and decorative material. The youngest participants enjoyed the creative part and modelling flower bouquets, dragonflies, dinosaurs, and rainbows. The group continued with music workshops, practicing rhythms and a song about caterpillars. Participants continued to learn and write numbers; this month, they learned to write numbers from 4-8. They did warm-up exercises and yoga for children, and every Thursday they danced, did sports, and practiced reading and listening to stories. In the English, German, and Turkish language workshops they learned words related to summer, means of transport, beach, and sports. 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 workshop for the International Day against Child Labour where they discussed that children have a right to a happy childhood, education, health, and love.
      • Older group –  They discussed the following topics: marginalization, discrimination, culture diversities, the concept of beauty and favourite books. 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 learned the use of separable and modal verbs, interrogative sentences, the basics of adjective declension, the vocabulary of new words related to summer and holidays, wrote dictations, read and translated short texts, worked on practicing everyday communication and grammar, and got help with homework and school projects. The highlight with the older group was the workshop for World Environment Day when they discussed the main tools for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

ANNUAL EVENTS

  • Spring Fest 2023 – Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) organized an event for its participants, their families, and friends. An interesting music program and arts and crafts stations prepared by local and international volunteers were intended for the family and friends of the participants, but also children and young people from Brčko District. The audience had the opportunity to hear performances on guitars and violin and also to see our youngest participants singing, acting, and dancing. Our team of local and international volunteers has adapted a story “A Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle into a small theatre play. After the program, our guests had a chance to socialize with the refreshment.
    Total participants: 100

ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

  • In June, Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) very much appreciated the collaboration with 7 Weltwärts and ESC volunteers from Germany, Turkey, and the UK.
  • Sending ESC and ‘Weltwärts’ – Five volunteers from Bosnia are doing their service in Germany, France and Turkey (2-12 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) representatives attended the event “Together with Proactive Citizens” which was organized in Brčko District within the framework of the PRAGG – Proactive Citizens project, supported by the Government of Switzerland and carried out by a consortium consisting of HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperetion and NIRAS, in partnership with local partners Centres of Civil Initiatives (CCI) and Institute for Youth Development KULT. The goal of this event was to create trust and cooperation between government representatives, civil society organizations, and other actors as a basis for solving problems in communities.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) representatives attended the webinar ‘Education and Community Engagement’ organized by Omprakash, USA. The webinar was organized for Omprakash partners with the main aim to exchange experiences in this field of work, especially in areas with large climate changes.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) representatives attended the Buddy Support System meeting which aimed to help inexperienced or less experienced organizations from Western Balkans to start being active in the European Solidarity Corps programme. Buddy Support measure, established by SALTO SEE, is designed to connect two organizations, one experienced in ESC from a participating country, and one inexperienced from the following Western Balkans countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia. The aim is to create a supportive partnership that will help the less experienced organizations/ newcomers to start hosting or sending ESC volunteers.
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