Child sponsorship update from Lekenik, Croatia

Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Lekenik, Croatia from November 2007

Dear sponsor,

The beginning of the holiday season is always a good time to look back and take stock of all that happened in the past year.

The first term of this school year is drawing to a close, and our children are studying diligently to get the best possible grades. They are busy doing their homework, end-of-term papers and posters, looking up information in their books or on Internet.

Our project of digital SOS Children's Village is gaining momentum. Now every SOS house has its own e-mail address and Internet access, and everyone has access to joint electronic calendars and schedules. This ensures better communication, quick access to information, and, of course, a bit of entertainment for our web surfers.

Our SOS Social Centre offers a range of activities to our children and children from the local community. We must praise our chess group, which has had a lot of success in competitions; our chess players have proven themselves to be unbeatable both in the SOS Village and in the local community. We have three rock bands, all of whom are currently rehearsing in preparation for their forthcoming concerts. We are currently in the process of fitting out a rehearsal space for them, and given the huge interest in our music workshop, we are sure that we will have even more musicians in the Village in the future. Music workshop has proven to be a great tool in learning team work, but it is also a way of having fun together.

Our art workshop is also very popular. Our little artists have already started decorating the Village for Christmas. Children from our home economics workshop have already made several batches of cookies, ayvar and other preserves, which we keep in jars and boxes that were designed, made and labeled in our art workshop. They will make wonderful Christmas presents. Our children paint and assemble, embroider and draw - we are proud of the creativity that they display in all of the above workshops.

Children developing

This year we also started another new project, called “Talking Our Way To Agreement”, in which children learn how to debate in a well-argumented manner, and how to express and defend their opinions. Watching the dynamics in the debate groups is always fascinating, especially the way the communication skills of attendees develop over time.

Our playroom, which opened at the beginning of the current school year, is intended primarily for the children from lower grades of elementary school. It is a place where they can do their homework, while occasionally taking a break to play. The playroom also has an ecological patrol, whose members make sure our Village is always clean and litter-free.

Of course, none of the activities and events in the Village would be possible without the support and hard work of our SOS mothers and SOS aunts, who meet with the Village director weekly to discuss all the issues of child care and to suggest and propose new ways of furthering the well-being of their children.

It goes without saying that daily care for our children would be impossible without your help. Thank you for everything. We wish you and your families a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Ognjen Andric
Director
SOS Children's Village Lekenik