TWI
Camp for Children 
in Orphanages 

Summer 2004

The purpose of this page is to give a description of our trip to Bosnia in the Summer of 2004. We visited two schools and three orphanages where we hosted one-and two-day camps for the children. Our emphasis this year was on the orphanages. We also hosted a "day-in-the-park" for disabled children in Sarajevo. 

Date

Activity  

9 July 2004

Friday

In preparation for the trip, we packed all of our crafts, equipment and gifts into our 12 big bags. We also prepared the banner to be signed at each of our camps. 

Prior to departure, we prepared the "Cat in the Hat"    Banner. 

                         

Departed USA for Sarajevo from Philadelphia and Detroit.

10 July 2004 

Saturday

Team Members:

Bosnian Team
Azra	Camp Coordinator
Vjeko	Camp Coordinator
Keko	Sarajevo University Student
Amina	Sarajevo University Student
Zlata	Bosnian Teacher
Slaven	US University Students
Lejla	Bosnian University Student
Vahid	Driver/ Transportation Coordinator
American Team Members
Bobby Houser	Director, TWI
Lisbeth	Volunteer- Philadelphia University
Jim	Volunteer - Business Man
Stephanie	Volunteer - College Student
Pat	Volunteer - Nurse
Emily	Volunteer - Graduate Student
Tea	Volunteer - High School Senior

11 July 2004

Sunday

Day Free in Sarajevo

The day was free to get adjusted to the difference in time and to see a bit of the city of Sarajevo. Slaven and Tea, our American students, arrive from Mostar.  We had an early evening Pizza dinner with Pat, Emily and Stephanie as our host family. Dinner was served on the roof patio at their flat overlooking Sarajevo. Lisbeth, the Camp #2 Team Leader, gave an overview of the  camp activities; groups were formed; and, the Bosnian team members selected their activities.

12 July 2004

Monday

"Picnic in the Park" 
Camp for Kids with Disabilities.  

At 8:00 am, Vahid, the TWI Transportation Coordinator, began picking up the disabled children and their family  in the TWI van. Although some parents drove to the park, the majority of them had no transportation and depended on the TWI van to pick them up and take them home. The disabled child were invited to bring their sisters and brothers and all were required to have a parent accompany him/her.  One of the fathers served as the "chef" and prepared hamburgers over an open fire. There were approximately 65 people at the camp. 

The camp began by registering everyone and giving them color coded "frog" name tags. The group was divided into two teams for the games. The games  included parachute activities and ball- tossing as well as musical activities. As lunch was being served, rain clouds started moving in. This meant the craft-time had to be cut short. The craft was to decorate their foam sun visors. Thanks to our fast working team, hats were given out and stick-on decorations were provided. 

The beautiful trees with lots of leaves provided the campers some shelter until the van made its trips back and forth to take the children to their homes. Keko, who drove the TWI Camp Team to the park, drove the mothers who had children who could walk to the tram or bus stops so they could get home. The children who could not walk on their own or were in wheel chairs, waited for the TWI van. 

The day was perfect because everyone was so happy to be together in such a beautiful place. The TWI Camp team did a great job adjusting to the first day of camp; meeting the children, some who were new to the Learning Center; and, making the activities run smoothly despite the problems  the disabled children face and  the inclement weather. We truly needed a picnic tent for shelter and ground covers  for the team and campers to sit on. 

The TWI Team returned to Sarajevo and the Bosnian Team members went home for dinner. The American Team gathered at the Pizza Magnum for dinner. 

 Overnight: Sarajevo

13 July 2004

Tuesday

  Sarajevo " Bjelave" Orphanage Camp

Because most of the children at the orphanage are young, we conducted a half-day morning camp beginning at 9:30 AM and ending at 1:00 PM when the children were served lunch.  

The children were divided into two groups: (1) games which were held in their small gym and (2) musical activities.  At the end of these activities, crafts were done separately by the older children. They were given foam sun visors and stick-on decorations  were put on a table for them to decorate their own hats. The younger children were divided into small groups with a caretaker or team member in each group to help them decorate their hats.  Beanie babies were given out and camp was closed. There were about 60 children at the camp.  

Orphanage camps are treated as special camps because the children's needs are a primary concern and often space available at the orphanage is not best suited to the activities. At the orphanage camps the team has to improvise on the spot. 

 The remainder of the afternoon was free time for team members to walk into town.  We joined together for dinner. 

The "Bjelave" Sarajevo Orphanage:  
Director Amir Zelic

The orphanage is 100 years old and has always been a home for orphans.  There are currently 108 children in the orphanage.  The orphanage is divided into five departments: Baby (new born); Older Babies; Kindergarten age; Other children and Mother and child together.

 Almost 100  percent of the children have parents.  In Bosnia and Herzegovina there are 15 homes like this one, to include the Catholic village in Sarajevo called SOS Kindergarten which is an orphanage.  They chose not to call it an orphanage so the children living there would think of it in another way.

 There are 60 babies here now which is less than before, but they have lots of children with special needs or are retarded in some manner. During the day they provide special programs that include volunteer workers from BiH and some foreign volunteers. Some are paid and some volunteer. They have an American lady at the orphanage at this time.   Her name is Susan and she is from Seattle, Washington.

 During the past year, 3,000 people visited the orphanage. This is both good and not so good because at times it "attacks" the privacy of the children. The children here are happy.  The orphanage has a "5" mark for its work with the children, environment, etc. And the children get good marks from their school.

14 July 2004

Wednesday

"Zenica" Orphanage

The team left Sarajevo at 8:30 AM and traveled the 40 miles to Zenica. The  camp started with a visit to the orphanage nursery. There were approximately 10 children in the nursery and we stayed only a short time giving  each child a beanie baby as we left.  Our next visit was to the "families" of the older children (ages 3-7). There we played games according to their age group. The games included parachute activities, musical activities and, with the older children, we played a game called "I'm going on a trip and I'm taking …." It was amazing to watch them sit in a circle of 14 children and not only remember the item each person is taking; what the person before him was taking; and still think of something he was going to take. "Things" to pack included shoes, shirt, candy, etc. There were four of these families that we visited and then we stopped for the children to have their lunch.  The kitchen prepared lunch for the team and it was excellent.

 After lunch,  camp started for the older children. We began with registration and signing the "cat in the hat" banner. The group divided into three groups: Games were outside; and, musical activities and crafts were in the downstairs dining room. The craft activity was to paint leather bracelets. For some of these children it was obvious that they had never participated in art activities. The bracelets were left to dry until closing. The teens were the final group to meet. Their craft was to make the "Sun Dial" necklace. This craft was donated by a teenager in the Philadelphia area who had heard about the TWI camps. The story is based on the American Indian belief what different stones  help you in different ways. For example, with peace, leadership qualities, calm, honesty, etc. The teens then selected the stones they wanted and made their necklace.

Camp was closed by giving each camper a gift: a mini soccer ball  (donated by the New Jersey Synod) -- and a TWI gift.

 The team traveled back to Sarajevo for dinner and overnight.

 Overnight : Sarajevo

15 July 2004

Thursday

   Ilidza "School" Camp

The Camp theme was "Cat in the Hat goes to the Olympic Games in Athens Greece". Up until this time the theme had been mentioned but not in detail because of the situation and location where the camps were held. However, in a school, camp activities can run in an orderly fashion. Over the years, the camp format has followed the same plan:

• Registration and name tags given to each child and teacher.
  
• Banner Signing
  
• Free Time in the school gym.
  
• Opening: 
  • form groups in the gym (This year by color Ring that represented a Continent.  
  • Introduce continent TWI team leader. 
  • Tell story - this year, about the "cat in the hat" getting ready to make the  trip to Athens, packing, important items to take (passport, airplane ticket) . The taxi ride to the airport, arriving in Athens, going to the opening ceremony and the lighting of the torch.
    
• Games: Began with questions about the story. Each group selected a team member to represent their continent at the "Quiz Game". The Olympic Scoring started at this time.
  
• Groups were then separated into games group in the gym, musical activities in the entrance hall, and crafts in a classroom upstairs. Each "event" lasted about 35 minutes and then the groups rotated to another event.
  
   . So by the end of the day everyone had completed all of the events.
  
•  Lunch was served around noon-time.
  
• The closing was held in the gym. The director of the school and the teachers who had been a part of the camp were given TWI gifts and the children were given a gift bag as they left the school. 

We have had a  camp a the Ilidza School every summer since 1997 and this school is very special to TWI.  The Director's  closing remarks graciously included the friendship that has formed between this school and the TWI  Team. He remarked how the students needed to be "Soldiers of Peace". He also stated how the summer TWI Friendship camps have provided opportunities for the children to learn the values required to bring about friendship and
 reconciliation.

Dinner at Vahid's House.

Our dinner this evening was our "Traditional Dinner" at the home of our Transportation Coordinator and van driver, Vahid Minich. Vahid has hosted these dinners  for many years as his way of thanking TWI for making him  part of the TWI Team. Over the years he has shown us what this has meant to him and his family. He has been able to purchase new windows for his home, repair and add something new to his home each year. Now his family has a lovely home in their village where they stayed during the War. This area was badly damaged during the war, but today most of the  homes have been repaired . 

This was truly a night where friendships were appreciated and happiness abounded. The dinner was prepared over an open fire in their "Oven House" behind the home and the dinner included veal, sausage, potatoes, vegetables, and several kinds of homemade sweets for desert. The evening ended with the traditional Bosnian coffee. This year we had a wonderful large group of Bosnian friends join us. After dinner, we presented gifts to all of the guests. Suddenly. children from the nearby homes started to appear.  Thanks to some great pre-planning, there were gifts for all.

  Overnight: Sarajevo

16 July 2004

Friday

Mostar Orphanage Camp (July 16 - 18)  

 At about 2:30 PM, we departed Sarajevo  and arrived at the orphanage in Mostar around 6:00 PM. The drive was very hot and thankfully, we stopped at our favorite "between Sarajevo and Mostar River" cafe for French fries and drinks. After a brief rest we continued on to Mostar and were met with many hugs and kisses and lots of "I Love You" from the Children.

We began our work with this home in November 1996 when Bobby first visited what we  called the "Shoe Box" Orphanage . At that time, the orphanage consisted of 4 shoe box shaped buildings with few windows. The orphanage lost its monetary support and needed basic supplies.  TWI, through gracious monetary gifts from a donor in Springfield VA and supplies from church groups, was able to help keep the orphanage alive.  Today the orphanage is a beautiful group of houses built on the plan of an Egyptian Village. The Orphanage homes were built through a gift from Madam Mubarak, the wife of the President of Egypt. The Orphanage is located on the beautiful Nerverta River and the children live in "family groups" in separate houses. The families are made up like a typical family unit with children of all ages living as a  family. For example, in one home there are children 3-years old up to 15 years, The older children are responsible for the younger children. Many of the children have learning disorders which often lead to problems in school. However, we have seen great improvement with behavior problems over the years. The older boys now have jobs as security guards, preparing them for the time when they will have to leave the orphanage and live on their own. The Director , Social Worker and Caretakers love the children dearly and are providing an environment that is typical of a  "normal family". The children are free to play outside just as they would in a home with a yard and garden. The Caretakers watch the football game with the children just as a father would do in his home.

The TWI Team was given a "home" when they arrived and we quickly found our own bedroom and bed. The girls took the upstairs area and the men took the down-stairs room.  As in any "normal home" we had to share the bathroom and shower facilities.

We spent the time before dinner visiting with the kids. We went in to old town Mostar for dinner at a restaurant by the river at the foot of the newly re-built Stari Most bridge. When we returned home after dinner, we were thrown kisses and "I Love You' from the windows.

 
Overnight: Mostar

Friday, July 17^th: 
Trip to Medugorje

Breakfast for the team followed breakfast for the children in the Orphanage dining room. Breakfast consisted of fresh homemade bread, cheese, jam, honey and warm milk in a large cup with coffee.  After breakfast we held a mini- morning camp in the orphanage.  

When the children went to lunch, the TWI team left to visit a catholic orphanage in Medugorje in hopes of finding several children we had known when they lived in the orphanage in Zenica. However, it turned out that this was not the orphanage that we were looking for. When we told the Catholic Nun who we were looking for, she made a phone care and found the girls in another place. We then visited the Catholic orphanage.  The Sister told us about the orphanage and the various  programs they provided the children. She took us to visit one of the homes in the orphanage where unwed teenage mothers lived and where one of their training programs is located . We met several of the girls and watched several of them make rosaries. The rosaries were sold in the orphanage store. The store is a combination store and training workshop. The children are taught to make different types of religions items (rosaries, small ceramic statues of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus). The Sister was concerned about the team visiting other "homes" in the orphanage village for fear the children would feel as though they were on exhibit. 

 

Following this visit, we drove the short distance to the church in the  city. We had lunch and then the team divided into two groups - one stayed in Medugorje and the other returned to Mostar with the van.

When we returned to the Mostar orphanage we spent time with the children, playing games with them in the gym. In the late afternoon the team left for the River Hotel for swimming and dinner. We were joined by Braco, Fatima and Jasmina, friends of TWI from Mostar. Jasmina has been a part of the TWI program as a camp team member and a member of the TWI International Studies Program.

Overnight: Mostar Orphanage

18 July 2004

Sunday

Mostar "Orphanage Camp"

 After breakfast, we began the camp program with a full-day camp. The children were registered and camp began with free time in the the gym. Following this, the groups divided according to the camp colors. The activities included: games in the gym, arts and crafts  followed by musical activities in the library. The craft was painting leather bracelets. At the closing each child received a gift bag that included a beanie baby, American flag pins, and smiley face pen that symbolized the medals given at the Olympic games.

When we returned from dinner we visited the art exhibit in one  of the family homes that the children had set up for us to view. Their work had been done during the past several months at the Pavarotti Center. This Center is located in Mostar near the Stari Most Bridge. It was established to provide programs for special needs children whose disabilities include being blind, deaf, emotionally disturbed, and having learning disorders and physical disabilities. This  program focused on teaching art and when the children completed their course they held an art fair where they sold their art work. The art work they had brought back to the orphanage gave the TWI team members an opportunity to make purchases. The money earned from the paintings goes to the children's' trip to the seaside later in the summer.

  Overnight: Mostar

19 July 2004

Monday 

Trebinje "School" Camp  

Following breakfast at the Mostar Orphanage, the team left for Trebinje. We held our first camp at the school in Trebinje in 2003. We were looking forward to going there again. The Director and teachers are an important part of each Circle Group and the children really like that. 

On the drive to Trebinje, we stopped at the northern entrance to the city of Stolac to visit the cities oldest necropolis, Rudimer. There are 122 medieval tombstones marked with the unique carvings from the 13^th - 15th centuries Slavic worshippers of the Bosnian church. In the future when we travel from Mostar to Trebinje, we will make more time to visit the ruins on the hill top across the road. 

 The Trebinje school is in dire need of sports equipment. OSCE, the educational organization working with the BiH Ministry of Education, asked TWI to help this school as much as possible because it is receiving little or no assistance at this time.

We began the "Cat goes to the Olympic Games" theme camp at Trebinje with Registration where each child received a name tag representing  the Olympic Rings. This was followed by free time in the gym. The camp was then opened with the torch bearers lighting the Olympic flame of the games - as told by "Cat-in -the-hat".

The games  included the "Story Quiz" and was followed by the groups separating into their Continent colors. Games were played in the gym, arts and craft and musical activities used classrooms. A delicious lunch was served and then camp resumed. At the closing, gifts were given to each student. These gifts included a mini-soccer ball - along with the craft they had made that day and their passports. Each passport included a passport photo, and information pages about each country they had visited  during the camp day. At each country stop, the team leader reviewed the questions in the passport and encouraged them to complete the questions when they returned to their homes. Camp officially ended with the torch bearer running through the gym to extinguish the flame in each Continent Ring and then to extinguish the main flame. As the children left the school, they were given their camp gift bag.

Following the Trebinje camp we departed for the Montenegro Orphanage with a stop over in Mlini for swimming and an early dinner. 

  Overnight: Montenegro Orphanage

20 July 2004

Tuesday  

Montenegro Orphanage 
Day One

As in the tradition in all of the orphanages, the children  lived in "Family homes".  The TWI Team was placed in a family home in the orphanage. There were enough bedrooms for the group to divide up and share rooms. There was a living room, a dining area, kitchen and three bathrooms and two showers. About 14 children live in this "home", which is a home within a home. The orphanage is a large white stucco building that houses children from newborns to 21 years. These young adults are in the process of finishing school and attending a training program. None of the family homes has a working kitchen because all of the food is prepared in the main kitchen. The children in the homes are given different chores and these include bringing the food from the kitchen on the main floor to their homes upstairs, so at meal time, you'll meet all age children in the stairway carrying pots and bowls of food. Dinner is served family style with everyone sitting at tables in the dining room. When dinner is over, the children return the dishes to the kitchen. As guest in the home, the  TWI team was served our meals by the older children and when the dinner hour was officially over they returned for the dishes and pots. Everything is cooked and washed in the main kitchen. Water is turned on each day between 6 AM and 8 AM off all day and on again between 6 PM and 8 PM so everyone is up at 6 AM for shower and back in bed until 8 AM. Our TWI family home was downstairs from the children's family homes and was on the way out - so we had a lot of visitors. The children were eager to be with the team members and to just visit us. Needless to say, we loved all of them.

Overnight: Montenegro Orphanage

21 July 2004

Wednesday 

Montenegro Orphanage 
Day Two

Camp officially started with registration on the porch that leads to the seaside. Games included organized games on the open part of the porch and informal games in the water. Jim Willis brought his inflatable kayak and the children learned how to navigate in the water area by the orphanage. Water play included a floating basketball net complete with water basketballs. The games played on the porch were those played at the other camps, parachute games, puzzle contests, find your shoe race, jumping ball race, "I'm going on a trip to the Olympic games and I'm taking" circle games.

Overnight: Montenegro Orphanage

22 July 2004

Thursday 

Montenegro Orphanage
 Day Three

We continued our Camp activities all day and this evening the children planned the dance!!  Camp officially was over with the last dance.

Overnight: Montenegro Orphanage

23 July 2004

Friday

• Team members returned to USA 

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Updated: 06/27/2008