Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) Project Report – November 2023

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

Local volunteers: Eldar Bešić, Amina Omerović, Teodora Krsmanović

‘Weltwärts’ volunteers: Jonathan Ludwig, Simon Müller

‘ESC’ volunteers: – 

      

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 we were acquainted with numerous musical instruments, attempted to play them, danced to various musical rhythms, and continued our weekly musical activities. Furthermore, Noama and Joni gave presentations in the school and spoke with students! We marked several International Days and had many creative activities, such as making little, magical snails and other amazing things. Celebrating Universal Children’s Day was really important for teaching our participants that they matter in this world and that they have their own rights as children. 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 143 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia’s) activities in November. 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 continued with various topics: music and musical instruments, snails, wild animals, dinosaurs, experiments with wine vinegar and baking soda, space, mythology and magical creatures, various types of sports, sea animals. The youngest participants enjoyed the creative part and modelling fun items. The group continued with music workshops, practicing rhythms, rehearsing songs and started with a new dance choreography for the New Year Event. The group started to learn the Latin alphabet practising writing the letters A and В. They did warm-up exercises and yoga for children, and every Thursday they danced, did sports and practiced reading and listening to stories (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, the Lion and the Mouse, the Fox and the Stork). In the English, German, and Turkish language workshops they learned words related to time, clothing, jobs, places of work, and sports equipment. 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 Universal Children’s Day workshop when they talked about how unfortunately, in too many places today, children’s rights are under attack and that all children should have a future.
      • Older group –  They discussed the following topics: fascism and anti-Semitism, tolerance vs. acceptance, food culture, rugby, chess, music, and the English language. 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 workshops for International Day against Fascism and Anti-Semitism when they discussed various forms of antifascism and antifascist activity.

ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

  • In November, Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) very much appreciated the collaboration with 2 Weltwärts volunteers from Germany.
  • Visa process has been finished for all volunteers.
  • Sending ESC and ‘Weltwärts’ – Five volunteers from Bosnia are doing their service in Germany, France, Poland and Spain (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 Residential Annual meeting of Western Balkan organizations active in the European Solidarity Corps programme, within the so-called TEC (training and evaluation cycle), designed to support organizations that are holding a Quality Label (Accreditation). The meeting was organised by SALTO South East Europe Resource Centre Slovenia in Durres, Albania. The meeting focused on providing updates on the latest developments and possible changes in the program, sharing good practices and/or learning from mistakes, further exploring the role and values of volunteering in our work, and what extra benefits can ESC bring to organizations.
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