Ongoing AfterSchool Tutoring for 70 orphans in BIH

Afterschool Program Report – Zenica Orphanage

Over the course of the last three months, the After School program at Zenica Orphanage has made a significant and impactful progress. Currently, there are  close to twenty children with different age group actively participating in the after school program. The program pays for six instructors to conduct three classes a week, including occasional weekend fun extracurricular activities.  Since the school was ending during this reporting period, the focus of the after school program has been on helping the students do well during their exams. The outcome has been extremely positive as a number of students have significantly improved their grades during the finals. Two of the teachers have written thank you letters praising the program and students’ behavior as it improved over the last few months.   We have also noticed students’ behavior improve in the classroom as they showed less frustration and more interest in learning.     

Additionally, a lot of the children at the orphanage do not have a creative outlet. To address this need, we have surveyed our students to see what are their interests. The majority voted to have jewelry and arts and crafts classes where they would learn how to make jewelry and cards that they could also possibly sell at the local stores. Particularly, there are three teenage girls who expressed interest to learn this craft because they could potentially earn continuous income, especially once they leave the orphanage. To help promote their efforts, we also sold their jewelry at the Bosana’s Annual Benefit in June. 

For the next three months, while all of our classes are educational, we will try to include a big dose of extracurricular activities to create a fun and memorable summer break. A lot of the children will not have a chance to go anywhere for the summer so our program will focus to keep them positively occupied and entertained. 

We really hope that the success of this year’s program at Zenica Orphanage will help us expand the project to other orphanages in Bosnia and Herzegovina because it has truly proved to be very helpful and positive in the lives of the children. Not only have their grades improved but also their behavior.