Svitac (Firefly) Project Report – November 2018

 

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

Local volunteers: Adin Midžić, Nadja Selimi, Merima Hidanović, Almira Čehić, Ines Močević, Aldina Pezerović, Katarina Popović

‘Weltwearts’ volunteers: Florian Pauleck, Fabia Stroetmann

‘Erasmus+’ volunteers: Halil Kutlu, Halil Bodurer, Dominik Sujka                  

‘Omprakash’ volunteers:      –

‘Love Volunteers’ volunteers: Wouter Pels

 

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 full of interesting events such as the Antifascist Movie Night with the discussion about fascists’ tendencies in different countries in present times and the debate about Thanksgiving and tolerance with high school students from Brčko in the public library that Svitac’s (Firefly’s) volunteers were invited to. Young people spoke openly with each other about post-war Bosnia and the situation regarding tolerance in the District as well as the rest of the country. They were very outspoken about their opinion and felt free to say whatever they wanted without being judged for it. 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 143 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly’s) activities in November, 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 wire dancers, owls with water colours, paper houses and paper clock. They learned to write and pronounce letters Ž, P and R in local languages, maths and new words in English and German related to time, vegetables, winter and musical instruments. They learned new songs “Padaju, padaju s neba bijele zvijezde” and “Djeda mraze, djeda mraze” in local language. They also made a short song about friendship and then tried to play a rhythm with percussion instruments. Highlight with the younger group were workshops about Universal Children’s Day.
    • Older group – They made the silhouette of running man and in that silhouette have written things that symbolize the diversity in their opinion. In the Language Workshops, the group learned new words related to anti-fascism, prejudices, tolerance and practiced small talk in English, German, Dutch and Turkish. In the Music Workshops the group played some music using boom whackers and learned how to improvise. The participants played a lot of volleyball, basketball and team spirit games. The highlight with the older group were workshops about anti-fascism and tolerance.

 

ANNUAL EVENTS

    • Anti-fascism Day 2018 – On the 9th November Svitac (Firefly) celebrated the International Day against Fascism and Antisemitism. The day consisted of activities for three different age groups, divided into morning, afternoon, and evening sessions. The morning group was attended by participants aged 4-7 who were shown a puppet theatre about discrimination and racism adjusted to their age. In the afternoon, participants aged 8-15 attended a workshop in which they were shown a fragment from the film ‘Don’t be a sucker’. The age 16+ session was split up in two parts, the first of which was the recording of a cover of the anti-fascist song ‘Bella Ciao’. The second part was an anti-fascist movie night, which started with the first screening of the ‘Bella Ciao’ cover. Total participants: 50
    • Tolerance and culture diversity through music, art and sport 2018 – The project is funded by the Brčko District Government, and within the project a series of music, creative and sports workshops will be 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 are 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 will last from 26th November to 15th December 2018 and will be held in the Brčko District area, at the Youth Centre premises. The project will directly involve 60 children, teenagers and young people from the Brčko District area.

 

ERASMUS+, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

  • In November, Svitac (Firefly) very much appreciated collaborating with 6 international volunteers: two ‘Weltwärts’ volunteers from Germany, three E+ volunteers from Turkey and Germany and one ‘Love Volunteers’ volunteer from the Netherlands.
  • Visa process has been started for two international volunteers from Germany.
  • Sending Erasmus + “Volunteering activity” and ‘Weltwärts’ – Three volunteers from Bosnia are doing their ‘Weltwärts’ and E+ service in Germany and Spain (12 months).

 

MEETINGS and PRESENTATIONS

  • Svitac’s (Firefly’s) 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 November and discuss activities scheduled to take place in the Youth Centre.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly’s) staff participated in the project “Cyrillic is our Alphabet too” on 16th November – International Day of Tolerance – as a member of the Coalition “Promoting Positive”.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly’s) representatives attended round table on the occasion of the Week of Tolerance organized by the Federation of Economics Faculties and the “Promoting Positive” network with the participation of youth organizations, OSCE offices and with the support of Brčko District institutions.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly’s) volunteers participated in debate organized by representatives of the YES (Youth Exchange and Study) program on the occasion of Thanksgiving Day in the American Corner in the Brčko District Library.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly’s) representatives participated the trainings on the topic “Advocacy of Public Policies at the Public Level”. Trainings are held within the project “Dialogue for the Future” (DFF), which jointly implement UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO in partnership with the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In carrying out the activities on this project, the Brčko District of BiH cooperates with non-governmental organizations from the local community. Trainings are held in the premises of City Hall.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly’s) representatives attended a music seminar in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The seminar was organized by “Manifest” (a local initiative from Prijedor) and “Musicians without borders”. The subject of the seminar was the fusion of contemporary pop-rock genres with ethno-music of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  • Svitac’s (Firefly’s) attended Brčko District’s first parliament of youth as a part of the week of tolerance in Brčko District. The event was attended by students from primary schools, secondary schools, and universities. In addition to the students, several representatives from NGOs such as Svitac (Firefly) and Vermont were in attendance

 

 

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