International Camp “Beyond Borders” 4-10 August 2019 – Part 3

It was important for us, besides our time in Kostajnica,  to also dedicate some to visit Sunja again! Since the first time we passed through it with the Civil March for Aleppo, this place has grown in our hearts. A small town, where small things go a long way and loving connections are treasured. To start with, we were all invited in the firemen station, which was right next to the large mural we painted during last year’s summer camp.  We were proposed the idea to come back next summer to paint a mural on the tower!

We also went to visit various friends, like Filip’s family, who had heard a lot about us.

The mural we painted last year, still in perfect condition, and a source of inspiration for the town inhabitants!

Visiting the firemen station

Another gift, from the mayor of Sunja

who also offered us a delicious lunch

and afterwards, everyone went to the park to play some games together with the local youth, organised and actually built for the occasion by Josip.

Enrico has been faithfully writing an even more detailed journal of our adventure, and I can’t wait to read it! Many thanks to everyone who had a part in it and keep in touch!

 

P.S. And here’s some mail from Sunja, starting with a very nice article by Josip

                                        Three fantastic days 

Italy, Austria, Romania, Ukraine, Germany and Croatia (and one volunteer came from the States) are just some of the European countries these sixteen “Better World” volunteers that I have spent three wonderful days with came from. Like last year in our little Sunja, which was enriched with two beautiful murals, this year they also honored the town of Hrvatska Kostajnica by drawing a beautiful mural right next to the bridge, over a very sloping and slippery wall, and the flags of all European Union members on the side wall promenade. Mayor Dalibor Bišćan and President of the Croatian Tourist Board Kostajnica Franjo Žnidarić provided them with accommodation and dinner on the two days they spent in Kostajnica. In addition to painting the mural, the team took a tour of the town, bathed in the Una River, Franjo took them on a boat ride, they sang songs and enjoyed themselves.

On the third day of their stay in our area, they decided to dedicate time to Sunja, who remained in their wonderful memory from last year, where they were kindly welcomed and met a number of our young people, who worked together on our murals. After a welcome, we toured the fire station in Sunja, where next year the plan is to draw a Saint Florian on the tower, and another large mural on another part of the bowling alley. We might also organise a workshop with the kindergarten children and of course have some more fun socializing in the park through games and songs. Sunja-Greda DVD President Ivica Mikulic was delighted with their acceptance of the challenge, offered them a drink and gave each volunteer one knit coat of arms badge. As in Kostajnica, they walked around Sunja as well, and Mayor Grga Dragicevic gave Anna, the head of Per un mondo migliore Association, an enlarged plasticized Sunja poster (my work, I am proud of myself, ha!) that they can frame and hang in their place. After lunch, we went for a two-hour hangout in the park playing some games that I didn’t even know where I was pulling them from, I guess.

Thanks again to the volunteers of “Better World Association”, especially Anna and Alex who have visited us five times already, which is proof that this is not just a one-year story, but an adventure that goes on and on. Thanks also to Dalibor, Mayor of Hrvatska Kostajnica and Grga, Mayor of the Municipality of Sunja for their financial support regarding food and accommodation, and the people who took care of the organizational aspects again, Franjo from Kostajnica and our librarian Jasmina from Sunja. It was wonderful for me to be with you all:  see you in July 2020.

And a message from Jasmina: Hi! I hope that you safely arrived to Rijeka. It was really nice to see you all in Sunja, it’s like you bring some positive energy and wake up us from routine and lethargy. I hope that next year you’ll stay in Sunja longer, to meet more people and spend some more pleasant time together. I hope that everything was ok with your stay in Sunja, we tried to do our best and we really admire you all.

Here’s also a message from Ivan, one of the young people living in Sunja, giving us a further insight :

Seeing you again made me so happy, even though we didn’t talk much.  When I saw what you guys did here, painting on walls and all the rest, it made me realise  that good people can come from anywhere, really.
When we played those games in park … God, I don’t know, it was something I can’t explain but it was so positive!
About the young people here, we face different challenges, they may be financially,  socially whatever you name it.

People can’t seem to accept things how they are so they change, depression and anxiety and anger set in, so I think that’s why people hate each other.
So yeah … i just hope you can come back again because I will be waiting for you with my arms open 🙂🙂

 

 

 

 

International Camp “Beyond Borders” 4-10 August 2019 – Part 2

Right after our visit in Sunja, last summer, we were excited to receive an invitation to engage in some similar activities in a town nearby, called Hrvatska Kostajnica, right on the border with the Republika Srpska of Bosnia.  After a meeting  last May with Franjo Znidaric, the president of the Touristic Board, we were able to plan a couple of days of activities in this beautiful small city by the river Una, that also serves as border between Croatia and Bosnia. Our long time friend in Sunja, Josip Hren, made this great poster in support of our efforts in this neighboring town.

Excitedly starting our over 4 hours journey from Rijeka to Hrvatska Kostajnica!

Greetings from  Bosnia! We crossed the border and just walked on the other side of the river Una, for a very short visit.

Franjo took us to visit the “Broken Landscape”,  a monument dedicated to Gordan Lederer, a young reporter who was killed right here by a sniper on August the 9th, 1991, while filming Croatian soldiers in action. His camera recorded the whole event.

Time to start planning our two murals: one along the small wall, will depict the 28 flags of the European Union countries.

The other mural is going to be a lamb, which is the symbol of the town, framed by a colourful heart. As you can see from the picture below, the location itself represented a challenge, thankfully overcome by some of our more agile volunteers.

We encountered an extremely hot weather, but the sunset was majestic

The school that kindly let us use their gym and bathrooms for our stay.

The river Una provided some fun and cooling time

Enrico, our  faithful “reporter”

The second day was quite a marathon, starting with an early wake up at 5 am, to beat the heat of the day and have a good start to allow us to finish painting the murals by the evening. During the lunch break, Franjo took us on a breathtaking boat ride along the river! Josip reached us one more time on his bike, with his camera and…a watermelon! We also sang, swam and took time to talk.

Breakfast time

Josip came in time to help us with some final touches, before the storm forced us to pack up.

Filip also came to spend time with us several times, even though he was quite busy with the preparations for his very soon coming wedding.

After dinner, a round of Italian songs

A toast to a job well done, and having overcome the several challenges along the way

Before leaving Kostajnica, Franjo  came with a very special present, a beautiful painting with a special dedication.

to be continued

 

International Camp “Beyond Borders” 4-10 August 2019 – Part 1

One more International Summer Camp in Croatia is over, but the feelings, emotions and memories are still lingering on, so here I am to tell you a bit about it.

This camp included three days inland, but I’ll start from the beginning: the first few days were spent getting to know each other, practising our giving muscles with a few activities and workshops and learning about the places we were going to visit in this other area of the country, quite different from the one that first comes to mind when you hear about Croatia.  We also practised some basic Croatian phrases and especially songs, to help us better interact with people.

In the pictures below you can see the various attendees (from Italy, Austria, Germany, Ukraine, Romania, Croatia and the States) while they engage in a Game of Hearts workshop, which included watching the video made by Filip, and of course a practical application in downtown Rijeka. We also practised our Flash Mob Dance, as for some it was new, and had a great time performing it in the very center of town. We were joined by various passers by, many of them children and teenagers. Every set was followed by a turn of Free Hugs so, besides a scorching heat, that day downtown Rijeka experienced an explosion of love and joy.

Another amazing event was the Pizza Party: we invited several friends from Dom Turnic, an institution for patients with various mental sicknesses. Between patients, volunteers, friends and camp attendees we were over 80 people! We had to stretch the pizza with other dishes, and had so much fun playing games together, singing, dancing and hugging. Some of us also discovered that all it took to make one of these patients feel our love was sitting next to them. In this case, language wasn’t even such a barrier.

To be continued!