Svitac (Firefly) Project Report – June 2018

Staff: Gordana Varcaković, Dina Vošanović, Miloš Popić

Local volunteers: Adin Midžić, Nadja Selimi, Katarina Popović, Merima Hidanović, Mehmed Hidanović, Almedina Musić, Ema Zenunović, Ines Močević, Jovana Lukić, Ljiljana Jovanović

‘Weltwearts’ volunteers: Manja Momirovic, Kim Hartmann

‘Erasmus+’ volunteers: Tuba Çoban, Vedat Yalçın

‘Omprakash’ volunteers: Trevor Waters

‘Love Volunteers’ volunteers: Alice Franchini, Umair Khan

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 surprisingly cold with plenty of rain but fortunately it did not affect the number of participants. The school ended at the beginning of the month so the children and the young people started to come in more numbers as they have more free time. At the end of the month, Emily Keen visited the organization to record two promotional films about Svitac’s (Firefly’s) activities. These were three exciting days, filled with activities and interviews. 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 142 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly’s) activities in June, reconfirming their popularity in our small Brčko 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 mosaic, paper houses, shirts and ties. They learned to write and pronounce letters Z and I in local languages, and new words in English and German related to house and furniture. They learned a new song in local language ‘Učimo da brojimo’ (“We are learning to count”). Highlight with the younger group was World Refugee Day workshop when participants read and discussed story about a family of rabbits who were forced to leave their home.
- Older group – They made silhouettes of their family members and learned a traditional Turkish method of knitting. In the Language Workshops, the group learned new words related to holidays and writing and sending letters in English, German and Turkish. In the Music Workshops the group was learning about 4 genres in music: Reggae, Pop, Rap and Hard rock. They were also creating recycled instruments out of old bottles, tubes, balloon drums, wind makers and reused plastic material. The participants played a lot of volleyball, baseball and team spirit games. The highlight with the older group were workshops on cultural diversity when participants talked about the different cultures of our international volunteers and made posters with diverse messages.

ERASMUS+, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

In June, Svitac (Firefly) very much appreciated collaborating with 7 international volunteers: two ‘Weltwearts’ volunteers from Germany, two E+ volunteers from Turkey, two ‘Love Volunteers’ volunteers from Italy and UK, and one ‘Omprakash’ volunteer from USA.
Visa process has been finished for one volunteer from USA.
Sending E+ and ‘Weltwearts’ – Four volunteers from Bosnia are doing their ‘weltwearts’ and E+ service in Germany, Spain and Italy (6, 10 and 12 months).
Students’ exchange for the German participants will take place from 14th to 21st August. The main topic will be “intercultural youth work” – why work of Omladinska organizacija Svitac (Firefly) and other NGOs is important in Brcko District and how much life in Brčko is different now than before. The project will be implemented in cooperation with German partner ‘Bezirksjugendwerk der AWO Hessen-Süd e.V‘.

MEETINGS and PRESENTATIONS

Svitac (Firefly) representatives continued to attend regular monthly meetings with the youth centre coordinator and the other NGOs based in Brčko. The purpose of the last meeting was to share information about activities and plans for June and discuss activities scheduled to take place in the Youth Centre.
Svitac (Firefly) participated in the research project on reconciliation processes in the Western Balkans, led by the War Studies Department, King’s College London. The aim of this study is to critically evaluate the history of reconciliation initiatives in the Western Balkans with specific interest in mapping the range of formal and informal processes and practices of reconciliation in the region and their effectiveness as assessed by all relevant actors: sponsors, providers, and recipients. The project is being funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
Svitac (Firefly) representatives attended the workshop on “Human Rights Protectors” organized by the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of the workshop was to promote dialogue and cooperation between civil society representatives in order to establish the basis for their partnership and joint action in the field of human rights protection.

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Activities