https://svitac.org

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

Local volunteers: Adin Midzic, Sladjana Basic, Katarina Mirkovic, Nadia Selimi, Matea Brkic

‘Weltwearts’ volunteer:  Alexander Likic

EVS volunteers: Monica Reeves, Catherine Rolley, Eleonore Pearson

Self-fundraising volunteers:  Hajra Makda

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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
    • 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
  • 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
• Local language lessons for international volunteers

HIGHLIGHTS ON MONTH’S ACTIVITIES

• This month was very busy with the Halloween party preparations. International volunteers have been doing a lot of different daily activities and focused on different things (fundraising, promotion of the organization through social media etc.). The international volunteer, Hajra Makda, had a presentation about India (animals as symbols of India, food, clothes, different languages, religions, henna tattooing, festivals, main monuments, landmarks and main places to visit).
• About 130 participants regularly attended Svitac’s activities in October, 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 masks out of cardboard for Halloween, colored and cut bats, ghosts and monsters out of paper, learned colors in sign language for the Rainbow song. A highlight with the younger group was the Human rights day when children were shown different pictures that represent different rights (to learn and go to school, to participate and be active, to express themselves) and made the tree with the most important human rights for them.
  • Older group – They made a big autumn poster with various autumn objects, leaves, trees and clothes. In the Language Workshops, the group was learning and reading different rights in English, wrote things that have an impact on the development and existence of those rights (government, education system, school, parents) and learned some new vocabulary concerning human rights (government, property, freedom). In the Music Workshops the group repeated the notes, did notes values and tried to compose and make a melody.
• Filming and Testimonials –  The international volunteer Monica Reeves kept working on this project in collaboration with other Svitac volunteers.

ANNUAL EVENTS

• Halloween Party 2016 – Svitac organised Halloween Party on 28th October. The first part of the Halloween was held in the morning for the youngest participants (4-7 years). They had an opportunity to come in costumes and watch Halloween “Mini cinema” cartoons, played games and enjoyed the snacks and refreshment. Children, who did not have costumes, had an opportunity to have fun with face paint done by international volunteers. The second part of Halloween was held in the evening from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm and it was organized for the 8+ children. During the day the Halloween Party attracted about 120 participants.

EVS, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

• In October, Svitac very much appreciated collaborating with 5 international volunteers: one ‘weltwarts’ volunteer from Germany, three EVS volunteers from the UK and one self-funded volunteer from the UK.
• Sending EVS – Two volunteers from Bosnia doing their EVS service in Cyprus (9 months) and Lithuania (12 months positions).
• The EVS re-accreditation process is still ongoing.
• Visa process has been finished for 2 international volunteers (arrived in September).
• From 5th to 12th October Svitac staff attended EVS training ‘Social Media to Activate Youth and Communities’ in Italy.

MEETINGS and PRESENTATIONS

• Svitac 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 October and discuss activities scheduled to take place in the youth centre.