Svitac (Firefly) Project Report – May 2017
Staff: Gordana Varcakovic, Dina Vosanovic, Milos Popic, Sanjin Vosanovic
Local volunteers: Adin Midzic, Milica Bacanov, Nadia Selimi, Ismar Mustafic, Maja Tomic, Ines Mocevic, Azra Pezerovic
‘Weltwearts’ volunteer: Alexander Likic
EVS volunteers: Eleonore Pearson, Benjamin Owens, Mahmut Taha Bicer, Yunus Seckin
Self-fundraising volunteers: Terlyn Noiles, Andrea Diaz-Cepeda
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
- Standard Language workshops – English and German
- Local language lessons for international volunteers
HIGHLIGHTS ON MONTH’S ACTIVITIES
- This month included two great events: FutureShort film festival and art exhibition. The exhibition was called ‘Faces of my Brcko’ and was displayed in the local café ‘Crni Bombarder’ from 13th to 20th May. Artworks produced for the exhibition included portraits of people from/in Brčko that are important to the participants, self-portraits, portraits set in Brčko landscape and portraits that represent the mood/personality of Brčko and its citizens. 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 120 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly’s) activities in May, 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 a spiral snake, created Spiderman and super hero mask. They also learned new words in English and German related to 7 colours by making rainbows. Highlights with the younger group were workshops about the old English folk story “George and the Dragon”.
- Older group – They made dolls houses, pompoms and woven place mats. In the Language Workshops, the group learned new verbs used in the story and then drew a cartoon strip to illustrate the story and write it up in their own words. In the Music Workshops the group learned two new songs: ‘I love the flowers’ in English and ‘Kad bi meni dali’ in local language. They also learned about rhythm and rhythmic music, and repeated some old songs. The highlights with the older group were workshops when they made music instruments and played some songs as a band.
ANNUAL EVENTS
- FutureShort festival – The festival was organised on 19th May. The event in Brčko was a part of global FutureShorts film festival spring season. Short films that were screened in the Youth Centre were also screened in 100 cities and 40 countries all over the world. Spring season program included 6 short films and one music video. The audience in Brčko chose the film ‘Import’ (director: Ena Sendijarevic) as their favourite film. Total participants: 55
EVS, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES
- In May, Svitac (Firefly) very much appreciated collaborating with 7 international volunteers: one ‘Weltwearts’ volunteer from Germany, four EVS volunteers from the UK and Turkey and two self-funded volunteers from Canada and USA.
- Visa process has started for one self-funded volunteer from USA (arrived in May)
- Sending EVS – Two volunteers from Bosnia doing their EVS service in Cyprus (9 months) and Lithuania (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 May and discuss activities scheduled to take place in the youth centre. This month Svitac (Firefly) representatives also attended meeting for EVS accredited organisation from BiH and Montenegro in Sarajevo as well as the event called ‘Start-Up Day: KRENI’ – Be part of the solution, your idea can start up community in Bijeljina.
- Dina Vosanovic attended the first module of the training for youth workers which was organised by the Institution for Youth development KULT in Sarajevo from 25th to 28th May. The training consists of 4 modules and next one will be held from 15th to 18th June.