Ongoing AfterSchool Tutoring for 70 orphans in BIH

BOSANA FOUNDATION

Quarterly Report October – December 2015

"Afterschool program" at Zenica orphanage

Instructional classes

October month has been very active because the children went to school and had a big problem with mastering the curriculum. For most, there was a need for instruction in mathematics, English, German language, physics and chemistry for students in 8th and 9th grades of elementary school and for secondary school students. Instructional classes in October, November and December were attended by 75 children from the orphanage. We consider this a great success because 50 children fixed and/or improved their grades. In particular its worth mentioning that one beneficiary had such terrible grades in mathmatics that he was ashamed to go to class. After few months of intensive instructions several times a week the beneficiary received a B in his math class. This is to show the persistancy of our volunteers to help our beneficiaries master the classes and gain better knowledge.

Statement by one of our volunteers: “I'm glad I joined the team of volunteers helping children at Zenica orphange to achieve better results as each of them do when they receive enough attention and time. So many of them are really smart and after a short while improvements are clearly evident. For the two months I volunteered, a large number of children with bad grades drasticaly improved and even received higher ratings as proof of quality and good work with them, and of course their interest in working with us. I am proud of this and it's beautiful to work with the children and thus help them and to see them happy and satisfied.”

Creative workshops and learning foreign languages
The children in addition to instruction in October, November and December have had the opportunity to attend educational and creative workshops and courses in foreign languages. In early October, we formed a group of 15 girls and 10 boys, which met twice a week where they were able to make a variety of decorative gift items for the New Year holidays and the holidays that are nearing. This workshop was conducted by four volunteers and each of them worked with 6 students. This is very interesting for children as it gave them the opportunity to express their talents, be creative and see their work at the end. For three months we also held courses in English and German which was of great interest among children especially older high school students. Beneficiaries also participated in the “Hour of code” in the month of November and December and had the opportunity to learn programming. Since we do not have computers in the orphanage, we organized an educational trip for 25 children from the orphanage to travel to Sarajevo where we had an hour of programming to the CSPC. The children were delighted with this journey and they had an opportunity to learn something new from programming. With this we would like to encourage more children to learn and fight for themselves.

Entertainment, and events for the holidays

In addition to instructional classes, educational and creative workshops for the beneficiaries, we also treated them to some fun by celebrating the holidays and the New Year. In December, we organized Christmas celebration, New Year and a karaoke show where the children were enthusiastic and many children attended these parties. Christmas was celebrated in the club house where we bought them sweets, cakes, and the girls who participated in the creative workshops brought cookies that were made by them and the volunteers at workshops. The greatest joy for them was when we had prepared New Year's party, which lasted about 5 hours where children with the volunteers had a great time. They had a chance to demonstrate their talent with karaoke and about a dozen children sang and competed who is better at singing, and the best ones have received well-deserved awards. At the end of the party, children were delighted and wished that the party lasted longer.   They told us that no one so far has made such a good and nice New Year's party.

Success in these months:

• About 50 children drastically improved their grades.

• High interest of children for regular homework, learning and adopting new materials

• High school students improved their grades in mathematics.

• Utilized free time in a useful way through creative workshops

• Displaying talents in singing and playing music

• Launched the world to learn about programming and made the first stand-alone application

• Beneficiaries have acquired the competence to work alone on decorations, objects, etc ..

Plan to do in the following months:

• Winter Break (educational tours, language courses and programming)

• instructional classes (for students who have problems with learning)

• Education and empowerment of the beneficiaries

• Creative workshops, quizzes.

• Starting the music workshops and the establishment of a band.