Svitac (Firefly) Project Report – December 2017

Staff: Gordana Varcakovic, Dina Vosanovic, Milos Popic, Sanjin Vosanovic

Local volunteers: Adin Midzic, Aldina Pezerovic, Nadia Selimi, Aleksa Gavric, Katarina Popovic, Merima Hidanovic, Ivana Knezic, Semir Salihovic, Ines Mocevic, Boris Kikic, Aida Zahirovic, Sabina Zohorovic, Milica Bacanov, Milka Kuzmanovic

‘Weltwearts’ volunteers: Manja Momirovic, Kim Hartmann

EVS volunteers: Hüseyin Şeref Çalış, Merve Güçlü, Vlatko Mircheski

Self-fundraising volunteers: –

ON-GOING PROGRAMME

Culture and Art Diversity around the World – includes Language, Art&Crafts, Music, Drama, and Sports workshops from Monday to Friday
- Standard Language workshops – English and German
  - English – standard English language workshops for teenagers and young people
  - German – standard German language workshops for teenagers and young people
- Conversational Language workshops – English, German, Turkish
  - I love English – conversational English workshops for teenagers and young people
  - “Lasst uns Deutsch sprechen!/Pricajmo njemacki!“ (“Let’s speak German”) – conversational German workshops for teenagers and young people
  - Let’s speak Turkish – conversational Turkish workshops for teenagers and young people
- Art&Crafts workshops – practical arts and crafts workshops for children and teenagers
- Music workshops – samba, guitar, music workshops for children and young people
- Sports workshops – for teenagers and young people
- Drama workshops – for teenagers and young people
Local language lessons for international volunteers

HIGHLIGHTS ON MONTH’S ACTIVITIES

This month was festive for the upcoming holidays. The school winter holiday has begun, and our dear EVS volunteers Merve, Seref and Vlatko have completed their voluntarily service. We wish them luck in their future work! International volunteers have also been doing a lot of different daily activities and they focused on different things (fundraising, promotion of the organization through social media etc.).
About 155 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly’s) activities in December, reconfirming their popularity in our small Brcko District community. Participants were aged between 4 and 40 years old. The youngest and the oldest participants attended Culture and Art Diversity around the World workshops and English/German workshops for adults.
- Younger group – They made snowman, paper plates, cocoa mugs and New Year’s decorations. They learned to write and pronounce letters R, S, Š, T in local language, and new words in English and German related to tolerance, winter clothes, house, furniture and fittings. They rehearsed the song “Zvončići” – (Jingle-bells) in local language which they performed at the New Year’s party. Highlight with the younger group was learning a tolerance phrase “Be a Friend, Not a Bully”.
- Older group – They made posters with messages about tolerance, winter tree and some other New Year’s decorations. In the Language Workshops, the group learned new words related to winter, holidays and Snowman’s clothing parts in English, German and Turkish. In the Music Workshops the group was repeating musical notes and did a musical quiz when participants listened to instruments’ sounds and guessed their names. The highlight with the older group was learning a song “We are the world” as a part of the tolerance project.

ANNUAL EVENTS

Tolerance and culture diversity through music, art and sport 2017 – The project was funded by the Brcko District Government, and within the project a series of music, creative and sports workshops were held promoting cultural diversity, values of tolerance and mutual respect. In this way, the creative expression, the international engagement and the collaborative work of the participants in building and maintaining the culture of reconciliation were encouraged, providing children and young people with a space for creative and educational learning in order to strengthen respect for the community to which they belong. The project lasted from 27th November to 16th December 2017 and was held in the Brcko District area, at the Youth Centre premises. The project directly involved 60 children, teenagers and young people from the Brcko District area. During the project, a short film was made, and you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1DXIucbGuk&t=20s
New Year’s Party 2017 – The New Year’s Party was our big finale event and official closing of the “Tolerance and cultural diversity through music, art and sports in 2017” project. The New Year’s Party was held on 16th December at the Youth centre and organized with the support of international and local volunteers, alongside Svitac’s (Firefly’s) staff. Total participants: 120

EVS, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

In December, Svitac (Firefly) very much appreciated collaborating with 5 international volunteers: two ‘Weltwearts’ volunteers from Germany and three EVS volunteers from Macedonia and Turkey.
Youth exchange 2018 – Twelve people (25-35 years old) is going to visit Svitac (Firefly) in April as a part of the project “World Life Experience”. They will spend 5 days in Brcko (9th to 14th April) and several days in Sarajevo with Svitac (Firefly) staff as a guide. The project aims to celebrate global diversity and to facilitate building a more cohesive world. The project will take a group of 12 people, from various parts of the globe, to travel across 30 countries. They’ll have opportunities to discover different cultures and perspectives while working face to face with local social organizations to make a meaningful impact. In addition, they will be actively sharing their experiences and insights through their expansive social media and communication channels: just alone on Facebook they have 500,000 followers. https://www.worldlifeexperience.com/
Sending EVS and ‘Weltwearts’ – One volunteer from Bosnia is doing his ‘weltwearts’ service in Germany (12 months).

MEETINGS and PRESENTATIONS

Svitac (Firefly) representatives continued to attend regular monthly meetings with the youth centre coordinator and the other NGOs based in Brcko. The purpose of the last meeting was to share information about activities and plans for December and discuss activities scheduled to take place in the Youth Centre.
Meetings that were organized within the project “Quality of Practical Teaching in BiH”, implemented in 6 communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Brčko District. The meetings were organized by the Association of High School Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ASUBiH).
Edina Vosanovic, as Svitac (Firefly) representative, took a part on the exam for Youth workers (Expert associates on youth work) in Sarajevo, organized by Institute for Youth development KULT and got the certificate as the official Youth worker.

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Activities