https://svitac.org

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

Local volunteers: Eldar Bešić, Amina Omerović, Teodora Krsmanović, Merjema Behlulović, 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

  • This month was full of fantastic activities: music, experiments outdoors, learning together, and hanging out in the park. Now that the summer school holidays are underway, even more children and young people are participating in our activities! Our team of local and international volunteers had an amazing time with the youngest participants talking about the importance of having a safe space with parents and family, building colourful fans, learning the English names for the seasons, talking about earthquakes and how to protect ourselves and socialized through games and music. 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 volcanoes, earthquakes, climate change, the solar system, snails, giraffes and watched educational videos. The youngest participants enjoyed the creative part and modelling fun items (e.g. small bouquets with flowers, jellyfish, octopuses, fish, birds, cute reptiles). 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 К, Л, Љ, and M (K, L, LJ, M). They did warm-up exercises and yoga for children, and every Thursday they danced, did sports and practiced reading and listening to stories (Hercules, Apollo, The Wolf and the Lamb, King Midas and the Gold). In the English, German, and Turkish language workshops they learned words related to reptiles, wild animals, ecology/environmental protection, seasons, and adjectives related to the weather. 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 World Environment Day when they learned some keywords (plastic, paper, water, nature, air, pollution) and talked about recycling and waste disposal.
    • Older group –  They discussed the following topics: tolerance, refugees, various forms of fanaticism, what is propaganda, the election system in BiH, England, and Scotland, environmentalism, and sustainability. 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, school homework, and interesting projects. The highlight with the older group was the workshop for the International Day against Child Labour when they discussed awareness that child labour leads to economic exploitation and often cuts children off from schooling/education and health care, restricting their fundamental rights.

ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

• In June, Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) very much appreciated the collaboration with 4 international volunteers from Germany and the UK.
• Visa process has been finished for a volunteer from the UK.
• Sending ESC and ‘Weltwärts’ – Three volunteers from Bosnia are doing their service in Germany 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.