Child sponsorship update from Lekenik
01/02/2007
Update from November 2006
Dear friends of SOS Children's Village Lekenik,
Another school year has begun and our children’s schoolbags are once again full of textbooks and notebooks. There is a lot of new ground to cover in school, so it is very important to do everything on time. Given all the schoolwork they have to deal with, I don’t blame our children for still daydreaming about summer and days filled with freedom, young love and smell of pine trees.
We still fondly remember our vacation in Selce, where our entire Village spent ten unforgettable days. Although the vacation was over much too quickly, we were blessed with wonderful weather, so everyone, young and old, had plenty of opportunities to enjoy swimming and sunbathing.
This year we decided to take some of our older boys on a camping trip. The group consisting of four boys, a guide, me and two indispensable, experienced dogs chose Ravna Gora as its destination. We spent ten days outdoors, which was a new experience for all of us. We really enjoyed telling stories around the campfire and preparing our own meals. Days filled with adventure simply flew by, and before we knew it, we were back in our civilized SOS Village. A cabin we made in the woods will be awaiting our next visit.
We also successfully completed our life skills workshops. At the beginning of September we held a farewell ceremony for our eighth graders, marking their transfer to the Youth Facility. The Corn Festival, traditionally held at the same time as our farewell to eighth graders was as fun as always, and corn from our own garden was delicious and sweet.
As always, our children spent a part of their summer working to develop their work ethics. They approached all of their chores in the spirit of fun and adventure, and completed all of them on time and very successfully. We are proud of their hard work and commitment.
We have several big projects in the works. Some have already begun: we live in the age when computerisation is prerequisite for survival, and in order to meet that challenge head on, we have started the implementation of a project called “Digital Village”. The basic idea behind the project is linking all computers in the SOS Village into a shared network, developing a digital schedule for all of our activities, letting our children create their own websites and enabling blogging and all forms of electronic correspondence.
Another big project will be carried out through our SOS Social Centre, where we plan to expand the list of existing workshops with several new ones. All of the activities are open both to children from SOS Children's Village Lekenik and everyone in the local community. Our goal is twofold: we want to develop specific skills and broaden children’s minds while strengthening our integration into the surrounding community at the same time. Playing table tennis together, taking part in the computer workshop or football, tae-kwon-do and corrective gymnastics courses will all serve to strengthen the sporting spirit, as well as the overall spirit of togetherness. We are also planning to restart the dormant program of helping elderly and infirm persons in the community, because all of our children want to help other people in need.
And finally, although I would like to describe many other things that took place during this year, I simply do not have enough space to do so. Each day brings new challenges; each day is different than the last and serves to remind us of why we are here.
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Thank you for always being on our side.
Ognjen Andriæ, Village director
Sponsor's update from Ladimirevci
Update from Summer 2007
Allow me to begin this letter with some facts and figures. In the past six months we have provided care for 118 children and youngsters in our SOS Children's Village Ladimirevci and two SOS Youth Facilities in Osijek.
In the first part of the year, we were focused on schooling and preparing some of our children in SOS Children's Village for the transfer to SOS Youth Facilities. We organized a series of educational workshops entitled “Little School of Life”, designed to give our children knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for living in SOS Youth Facilities, which generally demands more self-reliance and responsibility.
However, this does not mean that there was no space for playing, joy and creativity. Our children continued to develop their talents in art and music workshops in SOS Children's Village, while also attending computer and photography workshops and football, water polo and volleyball practice in the local community, making new friends along the way. We had a very mild winter without snow, so our children did not get the chance to build a huge snowman like they did last year, but they used the early onset of spring to visit the nearby swimming pools more frequently than before. Unusually warm weather also gave us an opportunity to tidy up our playground, equally popular with our children and children from the neighborhood.
Expert work in the past period was designed to help each child develop in accordance with his or her abilities. We find that this approach also helps to create and maintain the climate of togetherness and tolerance in our SOS Children's Village. Children are looking forward to our summer vacations in August. By then they will be enrolled in new grades of elementary school, high school or college. Some of our youngsters will use the higher demand for workers during the tourist season to work part time at the seaside, while the rest of our children and youth will spend their summer as usual, with a little bit of work and studying on one hand and a lot of relaxation and playing on the other. Several days ago we celebrated the tenth anniversary of SOS Children's Village Ladimirevci in the spirit of joy and playfulness, enjoying many different events such as children’s performances, singing, dancing, sporting competitions and the photography exhibition, to name a few. We also made a huge birthday cake for our children and everyone who lives and works to keep the idea of SOS Children's Village vital and alive.
We thought of you, our sponsors who make sure that our children have a better today and safer tomorrow, many times during these celebrations.
On behalf of our children and co-workers in SOS Children's Village Ladimirevci, I thank you for all the help and support you have given us and invite you to remain at our children’s side in the future as well.
Best regards,
Zoran Reliæ, Director
Relevant Countries: Croatia.