Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) Project Report – March 2023

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

Local volunteers: Eldar Bešić, Amna Balija, Aida Slomić

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

‘ESC’ volunteers: Maika Luise Dils, Marlen Eckert, Ian Abraham Wade, James Richard Williams 

      

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 MONTH’S ACTIVITIES

    • This month was very dynamic, we continued day-to-day activities, marked several international days, and hold interactive workshops in high schools. Our international volunteers led a series of discussions for Zero Discrimination Day and Zero Waste Day with participants over the age of 16 with the aim to give young people the tools to think critically about the world around them. When we think about happiness it is more than simple – children’s laughter and happy faces! 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 141 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) activities in March. 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 spring, insects, flowers, parrots, mermaids, and the sun. The participants enjoyed making butterflies, caterpillars, jellyfish, frogs, rabbits, and decorations for wall-bunding, with which they decorated the walls of our workroom. They also continued with music workshops, practicing rhythms and a song about a fox and a little snowdrop. They continued with the alphabet and learned to write the letters K, L, M, Lj, N and O. They did warm-up exercises and yoga for children, and every Thursday they danced and practiced listening to a story. Some of the stories they read this month were: Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Cinderella, Little Mermaid, and Thumbelina. In the English, German, and Turkish language workshops they learned words related to food, drinks, and spring. All workshops are implemented with an educational visual method with pictures and video; the goal of informal educational workshops is to develop creativity, memory, motor skills, empathy, socialization, and tolerance for diversities. The highlight with the younger group was the workshop when they practiced working with scissors in order to get a “scissor permit”.
      • Older group –  They discussed the following topics: racism, discrimination, happiness, climate and environmental protection, the dangers of light and hard drugs and the advantages and disadvantages of sharing a flat with roommates. 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 modal verbs (to be able to, to have to, and to want), the basics of adjective declension, repeated vocabulary of new words and verbs in the present tense, 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 workshops for European Week Against Racism when they discussed the racism problem in the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, racism on the borders and migration in Europe, local problems with racism, and personal experiences of discrimination.

ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

  • In March, Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) very much appreciated the collaboration with 6 Weltwärts and ESC volunteers from Germany and the UK.
  • Visa process has been finished for one volunteer from 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.
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Activities, news, Project Report