Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) Project Report – October 2026

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 proved to be both valuable and inspiring, characterized by educational activities, impactful teamwork, and meaningful engagement with young people. A key highlight was the closing event of the Mind Over Screens project, which showcased the initiative’s core objectives, achievements, and outcomes. The gathering offered a valuable space to reflect on the completed work, celebrate the project’s positive impact, and share the knowledge and insights gained throughout its duration.
        Another exciting milestone this month was welcoming our European Solidarity Corps (ESC) volunteers from Portugal, Vicente and Ines. Their arrival infused the Svitac team with fresh energy, new perspectives, and creative ideas. Their enthusiasm and readiness to contribute have brought a dynamic shift to our daily operations, unlocking innovative approaches to our work with children and youth.
        Meanwhile, our local and international volunteers continued to spearhead a variety of educational and creative activities. Through workshop preparation, activity development, and direct participant engagement, the team significantly strengthened its collaborative spirit. Ultimately, the month provided exceptional opportunities to hone communication, organizational, and intercultural skills, all while fostering a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive environment for learning, creativity, and cooperation.
        International and local volunteers also engaged in various daily activities, focusing on different initiatives such as supporting online events and promoting the organization through social media.
      • In October, approximately 143 participants regularly took part in Svitac’s (Firefly in Bosnia) activities. The youngest and the oldest participants attended Culture and Art Diversity around the World workshops and English/German conversational workshops.
        • Younger group – They covered a variety of topics, including penguins, weather forecasting, volcanoes, music, wolves, children’s parks, and bears in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Participants also talked about important professions like fire-fighters and teachers and why they matter to our community. Special attention was given to Halloween, which our youngest participants absolutely love. Together, we crafted small monsters, witches, werewolves, and vampires, and threw a Halloween party where everyone wore costumes, played games, and enjoyed sweets. During creative sessions, participants crafted decorations and ornaments. Physical activities included warm-up exercises, children’s yoga, dance, and sports every Thursday. Furthermore, the program focused on enhancing attention spans through storytelling (Sweet Apples and the Little Rabbit, Golden Autumn, Golden Fish); the children actively discussed narrative events, which successfully encouraged even the youngest participants to engage in the conversation and share their views. In the English, German, and Turkish language workshops, they learned vocabulary related to health, weather, penguins, circus, playground and Halloween. All workshops employ an educational visual method utilizing pictures and videos; these informal educational sessions aim to foster creativity, memory, motor skills, empathy, socialization, and tolerance for diversity.
        • Older group –They covered the following topics:
           Non-violence: Passivity or Strength? – Is non-violence a sign of weakness or surrender? Is it harder to strike back (or insult someone) or to stay calm and look for a different solution? Do young people see non-violence as an active, courageous choice that requires great inner strength, or as a passive retreat?
           Language That Connects vs. Language That Divides – How can everyday speech, jokes, or social media posts unintentionally trigger tension between different national groups? How can we use language to de-escalate situations?
           Shared Challenges in the Digital World (Cyber-violence) – Online spaces know no borders or nationalities. How do we deal with hate speech and cyberbullying? What is our role when we see someone else being targeted? How can we find common ground through a problem that affects all young people, regardless of their ethnic background?
           How can young people look out for one another? – When we witness any form of violence or bullying—whether it is verbal abuse in school, someone being excluded from a group, or insults on social media—most of the time we are neither the victim nor the attacker. We are bystanders. Why do most people stay silent in those moments? What stops us from reacting, and how can we intervene in a safe and non-violent way? How to help youth realize that neutrality or silence often plays into the hands of the person committing the violence. How to transform them from “passive bystanders” into active “upstanders.”.
          In this way, we aim to offer young people a safe and neutral environment where they can share their opinions and express both positive and negative emotions without fear of judgment. During the Language Workshops, the group focused on practicing everyday communication, reading and translating short texts and phrases, working on grammar, completing school assignments, and engaging in projects.

MUSIC PROJECTS

  • At the guitar workshops, the focus was on the gradual inclusion of new participants, as well as on the renewal of previously adopted material. Through regular exercises, the participants repeated well-known songs and techniques, but at the same time had the opportunity to get acquainted with new rhythmic patterns, etudes, songs, and scales. In this way, they continued to develop their playing skills and smoothly adopted new content.
  • The Samba group continued working on new musical ideas. The sessions focused on developing structure, trying out different rhythms and dynamics, and finding ways to make the arrangements more cohesive. Participants exchanged ideas, experimented with different approaches, and worked on timing, coordination, and transitions to improve their skills.

VOLUNTEERS

  • In October, Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) greatly appreciated the collaboration with 2 international volunteers from Portugal
  • Three volunteers from Bosnia are doing their service in Germany and Croatia (6-12 months).
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