Workshop Day: the day after

Without further ado, here is the report on the Workshop Day; it was a massive success. Given that we only had three days to prepare, it was a brilliant event, everyone worked together very well, no major screw-ups, children, parents, and random by-standers were all attracted by music, food, clowns, games, and a sensational demonstration of the volunteers' first aid skills, crowned by the sudden and -to the author- surprising appearance of an ambulance (incidentally, a 'gift from the people of Japan')  who would rush the poor patients away.

The atmosphere was bright and cheerful, people wouldn't stop smiling, and two hours passed far too quickly. In retrospect, this Workshop day effectively underlined the successful cooperation of Swiss and Bosnian volunteers, it was amazing to see how well everyone worked together and how much could be achieved using little.

performance of the first aid group, supported by the local ambulance

It was nice to be so close to the people for once. Living on the camp site can be seen as an exercise in isolation, despite the vivid cultural exchange that does occur. However, it was the first time for us, Swiss volunteers, to enter in direct contact with the people of Bijeljina, who will eventually benefit from this project.

It was a great night, and probably the best ending our Red Cross camp could possibly get. But, but, but, but, we are not entirely finished. Look out for more pictures on the room, which is currently being refurbished.

Videos from the Workshop Day

New Red Cross camp videos are now available on Youtube, have fun!

Ljetni kamp u BiH

Ljetni kamp u BiH,tacnije u Bijeljini-Amajlije,koji je organizovao i finansirao Svicarski crveni kriz poceo je 18.07.2011 godine u saradnji sa lokalnim zajednicama iz BiH(Bijeljina,Banovici,Gradacac,Lukavac,Teslic,Zvornik) i Basela iz Svicarske.U kampu je ucestvovalo ukupno 50 volontera(9 iz Basela i 41 iz BiH).

Cilj ovog kampa bio je uspostavljanje bolje saradnje izmedju Svicarske i Bosne i Hercegovine,upoznavanje mladih,ali osim zabave i upoznavanja takodje cilj je bio pomaganje CK iz Bijeljine da renovira svoje prostorije kako bi ih kasnije mogli koristiti u edukacione svrhe i razne aktivnosti.U toku kampa volonteri iz ove dvije drzave su udruzili snage i uradili sve sto je bilo potrebno kako bi ostavili trag,da bi buduuce generacije mogle koristiti tu prostoriju za potrebe CK Bijeljina.U toku kampa volonteri su organizovali manifestaciju na gradskom trgu kralja Petra Karadordevica,u koju su bile ukljucene razne aktivnosti,poput pokazne vjezbe ekipe prve pomoci,plesanja,igranja s djecom,ali osim toga volonteri su bili jako vrijedni te su pekli palacinke i kokice za gradjane.Cilj kampa takodje bio je uspostavljanje komunikacije medju volterima na razlicitim jezicima,edukacija o kulturama ovih drzava.Volonteri su imali priliku da nauce jedni od drugih puno toga.Druzili su se,radili zajedno,mozemo reci da su zivjeli zajedno.Sve je proteklo u najboljem redu,volonteri su bili jako sretni jer su imali priliku upoznati jedni druge.Ovo je prvi put da imamo goste iz Svicarske,ali naravno,nadamo se da nije i poslednji,cvrsto zelimo da se saradnja nastavi,kako bi imali jos mnogo prilika da se druzimo i uradimo jos puno toga zajedno,jer zajedno smo jaci .

Misljenje volontera koji su napisali ovaj clanak :)

                                                            Arif-Gradacac;

Azra-Banovici;

Sora,Alessandro-Basel

Arif-Druzenje je bilo predivno i jako mi je zao sto nismo imali mogucnosti da se jos druzimo,jer svaki dan s ovim ljudima je dragocjen.Uradili smo mnogo toga za CK iz Bijeljine,ali ne samo za CK vec i za same gradjane.Iskreno se nadam da cemo ostati u kontaktu i da cemo imati jos prilika da se druzimo,da ucimo jedni od drugih.Jako sam sretan sto sam imao priliku da dodjem u Bijeljinu i ucestvujem u svim tim aktivnostima.Imali smo mnogo toga za uraditi,ali nista nije bilo tako tesko kao sto nam se cinilo,jednostavno,s ovim ljudima sve je zabavno,sve je bilo lako za uraditi.

Azra-Presretna sam sto sam imala priliku upoznati sve ove ljude,provoditi vrijeme s njima,jer ovo je bila jedinstvena prilika da se upoznamo,zabavimo i ucimo u isto vrijeme.Uradili smo dosta  toga zajedno i nadam se da cemo uraditi jos.Nisam ni sanjala da cu toliko zavoljeti te ljude,ali prosto je nemoguce ne voljeti ich.Naravno,ostat cu u kontaktu s njima,neki su mi cak i obecali doci u posjetu tokom iduceg ljeta.Nadam se da ce se to ispuniti jer  ne zelim da ovo bude poslednji put da provodimo vrijeme zajedno.Sama pomisao na to da moram nastavit zivjeti bez njih tesko mi pada,ali svako ima svoj zivotni put,nadam se da ce se nasi putevi ponovo ukrstit.

Sora,Alessandro-Sam dolazak u Bosnu nas je ucinio sretnim i tuzni smo jer je moramo napustiti jer odavdje nosimo puno novih iskustava.Upoznali smo  ljude iz Bosne,ucili o istoriji i kulturi BiH.Bosanci su ljudi s otvorenim pogledom na svijet i vrlo su ljubazni,te nam je drago sto smo imali priliku doci i upoznati ih.Vrijeme koje smo proveli zajedno proteklo je vrlo brzo i zao nam je sto druzenje nije trajalo duze.Super smo se zabavili i obecavamo da ovo nije poslednji put da smo tu.

Workshop Day: final preparations

Here are some impressions of the last-minute preparations from yesterday.

one of the last run-throughs

setting up the stalls

Interview in Semberske Novine Bijeljina

A Swiss volunteer was given the opportunity to give an interview to the Bijeljina newspaper "Semberske Novine". It was an interesting experience. One of the Bosnian volunteers- fluent in German, thanks to years of watching German TV series- acted as translator between the reporter and interviewee. The article, considerably longer than the one published in the Swiss newspaper, came out yesterday, the 28th of July. Generally speaking, it talks about the work we're doing in the summer camp but also touches upon personal thoughts and feelings. Bosnian people are very interested in what we, the Swiss, think about their country.

The lady at the kiosk seemed absolutely astonished when I asked her to give me three copies of "Semberske Novine". Pointing to the article and then to my humble self, she smiled and just added a "dobre, dobre".

The article was written in cyrillic font (it's a newspaper from the Republika Srpska) and I really couldn't understand a word, just my name, Alessandro Suter, written in these amusing letters. Talking to the Bosnian volunteers and asking them to translate the article, they said that it's "well done" and "interesting", so I think it's really not so bad.

Unfortunately "Semberske Novine" hasn't got any internet presence, so we'll have to take a good picture of the article and upload it.

Reminder

Tonight: 7 pm, King Peter's square. Be there.

Room update: nearly finished

We are almost there....