Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) Project Report – May 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, Zeliha Ede, Enver Alhaman 

      

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 rainy but colourful workshops, smiling faces and satisfied expressions on our participants’ faces motivated us even more to develop fun and educational activities! We worked with natural materials and looked forward to bright days in the park and sporting events. The ESC partnership with our Turkish partner GAP Gençlik Derneği continued, so we welcomed the first volunteers, Zeliha and Enver, who joined our team at the beginning of the month. We look forward to their ideas and contribution to our regular activities. 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 142 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) activities in May. 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 birds, snails, caterpillars, fish, bees, and whales; made them thematically out of paper, cardboard, and decorative material. The youngest participants really enjoyed the creative part and the modelling of little salt dough monsters. They also continued with music workshops, practicing rhythms and a song about a fox and a little snowdrop. This month they finished with the alphabet and started learning and writing numbers 1-4. 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 nature, actions, furniture, and fittings. 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 for the International Day of Families where they discussed their feelings toward their families.
      • Older group –  They discussed the following topics: minimalism, cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue, and post-colonialism. 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 adverbial clauses for the place, telling the time, the vocabulary of new words related to food and drink, 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 the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development when they discussed the richness of the world’s cultures and the essential role of intercultural dialogue in achieving peace and sustainable development.

ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

  • In May, 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) staff attended the annual supportive TEC (Training and Evaluation Cycle) meeting for the ESC organizations from Western Balkans in Sarajevo, organized by SALTO South East Europe Resource Centre, Slovenia. The main aim of the meeting was to establish a strong connection with accredited organizations and enhance networking among them, to map the ESC situation (what works, what are the challenges organizations face), to ensure quality (based on organizations’ needs different topics were addressed such as selection, mentoring, enriching activities, first month of volunteering, mental issues) and how can organizations help each other – how to answer effectively to the needs and challenges.
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