TWI for the Children's
Educational Study Project for Orphanages
 in the Balkans
 2003

The purpose of this page is to provide a journal of the activities of the ladies who worked with their Bosnian partners to help orphans in the Balkans with their studies. This was the initial year for these month-long Education Study projects. During 2003 we did not furnish a Bosnian partner to the ladies from Kansas State University who worked with students  in three orphanages in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ladies worked for two-week periods at orphanages in Banja Luka, Mostar and in Zenica. We learned that it is necessary to partner our volunteers with Bosnian students and for the project to stay at one location for the duration of the project  (one-month).  

Report from Banja Luka
June 2003

Hello TWI Family...

    Just wanted say hello and let everyone know how things are going here in Banja Luka.  It’s hard to believe that we’ve already been in Banja Luka for a week now- we will be here until the 19th when we leave for a night in Sarajevo, then on to Mostar on the 20th.  

    The time has really flown by.  After arriving in Banja Luka on Wednesday evening, we spent last Thursday with the TWI Camp2Kids group from D.C. who came into town to lead a day camp for school aged children.  It was wonderful to work with them and to help them out with their camp. They are in the country for two weeks and will be holding 8 camps throughout the country during that time.  It was great to hang out with them and to be able to speak English with them and listen to their American music…

     Last Friday morning, we met with the director of the Banja Luka orphanage to discuss our ideas and his expectations for our three weeks of work in the "home".  He doesn’t speak English, (we had a college aged girl, Ivana, serve as our interpreter) but he was very kind and accommodating.  After asking a few questions, we agreed to meet with him on Monday morning  to begin our work and to get squared away. We also set up to meet with him every Friday afternoon to give him updates on our work with the children.  After meeting with the orphanage director, we were given a quick tour of the home by Mico, an 18 year old who grew up in the orphanage and will be attending university in Sarajevo in the fall.  

     It was nice to start to get to know the children that day and it has been so encouraging with each passing day as we are slowly becoming part of the family here and less like guests.  There are currently around 138 children in the home, however, about 40 of the children are currently in Italy staying with host families.  There are also about 30 college students in the home who pay to live there…so the home doubles as a college dorm.  Having so many students in their 20’s certainly gives the home a unique feel and it’s been neat to observe the college students with the children.  It’s also been great for us because several of the students speak some English, so they serve as interpreters when available and it’s been nice to have some people to hang out with.  Otherwise, all of our activities are sans interpreter!  Imagine!?!? 

     On Tuesday evening, we were invited to our first “Bosnian college party.”  It was Mico’s 18th Birthday and he invited us to come…it was a typical party and we joked that it’s funny to see that guys of all cultures behave the same.  I don’t think that any of the guys had said more than two words to us while we had been there…but on Tuesday night that quickly became very social, Sharit attributes that to the "pivo".  These guys have certainly provided us with a lot of entertainment…the other night after the children had gone to bed, they all went out and got into the small kiddie pool that had been set up for the children in the back of the home.  It was the funniest sight to see about 10 grown men jumping around in the pool that didn’t even come up to their knees…it was like a flock of flamingos in a bird bath. 

      Over the weekend, we did a lot of resting as we were trying to fight off the nasty colds that we both managed to get…(that was the end of sharing water bottles!)  We are still fighting the flu... Last Sunday, we ventured to city center to see what we could find.  We managed to locate the old fortified city walls, but we also managed to get caught in a rainstorm, so we cut our day short and spent the rest of the day inside.  Bummer.  Yesterdays rain and hail storm brought an amazing rainbow just outside of our balcony window!!!!!

        On Monday morning, we officially started to get to know the children and since then we have gained about 20 new "best friends".  We are certainly never short of having a child to play with!  We joke that high school basketball and volleyball skills are certainly getting tuned up a bit and I think that the fact that I can half way shoot a basketball has helped to make us a bit cooler with the adolescent boys.  Actually the teens are absolutely attached to us and it is unusual when 4 or 5 of them aren't chatting and exercising their language skills!  English lessons normally run for about an hour and a half each morning and  most of the kids seem to be enjoying learning…and we of course are trying to make it as fun as possible.  Yesterday, we went over body parts and taught them the little song “Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes.”  We were so proud to be walking down the hall or up the stairs and to hear those words being sung with a cute Bosnian accent all afternoon.  It has been amazing how much the children are already opening up to us and it’s neat to see special relationships develop with each one. It’s amazing to see this happening despite the language barrier…it’s funny because sometimes we completely forget that we aren’t speaking the same language.  Sharit has been working with some of the children and using the neighborhood dog and cat to communicate and tell stories. 

          We took in our first Bosnian film…well, it was actually Adam Sandler’s "Anger Management" with Bosnian subtitles.  It only cost 1km, which is about 75 cents!  It was quite an experience and we were kind of embarrassed when we were the only two people in the theater laughing!  There is something to be said for American humor!  HA!

      We have also been pleasantly surprised to find that on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings at 7:00 a personal trainer uses the home’s little gym to run an hour long aerobics session.  So, after the invite from Ivana last week, we have been enjoying working out three times a week.  We are hoping that we can work off half of what we ate while we were in Sarajevo for a week!  It also helps that our instructor is a very nice looking gentleman that laughs when we go the wrong direction but we don't know what he's saying…Sharit and I have decided that there’s just something about a nice looking male instructor that helps keep you motivated when you don’t think you can do one more sit up!

We miss you all, but we are truly having a wonderful time.  We already agree that it is going to be very difficult to leave our new family in a few short weeks.

  From Sharit:

    Hello and Zdravo to all of our friends and family!!!  As many of you have heard, we have been experiencing a tremendous amount of warmth and welcome here in the Balkans...  we have also been laughing quite a bit.  We hope that you will enjoy sharing some of our more humorous moments!

    Our adventures have been exciting, and none more so than navigating the language...  we toured Sarajevo with our 18 year old interpreter Lejla.  

      Lejla brought us to visit her paternal grandparents, her parents and twin brothers, and her maternal grandparents...  of course we were fed a full meal at each home.  At her paternal grandparents, we were laughing constantly, and I worked up the courage to attempt some language skills.  In introducing myself, I asked for some flower tea, and in speaking with Lejla's grandmother, I addressed her as a type of tree.  It is a good thing these people laugh easily and are not offended quickly!!

Some of you have heard a bit about our laundry adventures...  and we are convinced that laundry days will forever be comedic!  Poor Nina, our host in Sarajevo probably thinks that we are completely incompetent at washing our own clothes...  we loaded the machine and couldn't get it started until she showed us the power switch on the wall.  Then after over an hour, we opened the laundry door and flooded the bathroom.  The load was twice as big as it should've been, so the centrifuge couldn't work and we had to wring out the clothes over the balcony...  imagine the pool of water on the patio below!  To top it off, we were too short to reach the clothes line!!!!  Oh, can't wait to do another load!

While in Sarajevo, we just weren't feeling as blended as we were hoping.   We just couldn't figure out why we stuck out...  beyond the fact that we are about 1 foot shorter and 20 pounds larger than any of the women here...  and after following me up a flight of stairs, Kami gave me a pathetic look and said "well it couldn't be the LOCK on your bag!"  Needless to say that the zipper lock from the flight was removed quickly!!!

So we have arrived in Banja Luka and spent a day with the "TWI Camp for Kids" here...  The group is from the DC area and hosts 8 single day camps around Bosnia.  

        Return to Montenegro Study Project

Click here to return to success stories 2003.

Help us to continue these Projects in the Balkans by providing a donation:
    Donate now by credit card to help the TWI Program

International Studies
Updated: 03/04/2008