nConnect 2020

The nConnect conference for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child was, like so many things in 2020, very different than originally planned. We were supposed to be in Croatia with the teams from Croatia and Serbia, but in the end due to Covid, it was decided for us to meet each in our own countries in our own teams. We ended as only 8 of us in Bosnia Herzegovina, but we had a great time: 

We had a great time of planning for the next season of distribution of shoebox packages, during corona times and also encouraging each other. We did have some sessions on zoom with OCC regional staff located in Slovakia, Poland and North Carolina. A fun fact is that our new Regional Coordinator, Jason Hinton, used to be on a leadership team with me here in YWAM Central Europe! So that's fun! 

And besides working hard, we also enjoyed the thermal waters at Terme Ozren: 

The best part was that as hotel guests, we were able to use the pools in the evenings when it wasn't open to the public... (and after long days of meetings, it was fun to relax in the pools!) 

The sunset was so stunning, we ran out in the cold to jump into the warm sulphur pool... you can't see the steam rising, but it was :) 

And I even made it down the slide (just the once...). I was going so slowly as I braked most of the way down, Jelena got a great pic of me at the end... 

Whereas Eldina went quite a few times and super fast and so this is what every photo looked like: 

I also managed to fit in zoom meetings with YWAM leaders from all over Europe during the time we were there - why does everything have the be scheduled at the same time?? And going to two conferences at the same time is really not for the faint hearted... 

I think this week with good friends and colleagues both near and far was just what my heart needed as we head into another lockdown with Covid cases rising, our church shutting down, the Children's Home closing their doors... 

PC: Jelena Milicevic, Eldina Grabovac

Back at the Children's Home

We were just about to start up our Book Club in March when the Covid19 lockdown happened here in Bosnia Herzegovina, and so we haven't been back since last year. We did make presents for the kids back in June, but haven't been able to go because of Covid concerns. 

As the children are now back in school, we were asked if we would like to go in to run a special once off workshop for "Children's Week", but under Covid conditions - me with only two volunteers... As we normally have between 10-15 volunteers, I decided that with just 3 of us, we could only concentrate on the younger kids... And then asked that if things went well if we would be able to keep going in with more of the volunteers (ALL of whom want to go in and see the kids!!). I took in two of our older volunteers, Nina and Nada, and with their helps, things went really well :)

The theme for the workshop was "My Health", so we started off with a fun Quiz on different aspects of health, from oral hygiene to healthy eating, before getting on with the real work: 

We started with their favourity activity - colouring: 

We were making this wonderful poster to which tell of all the things a body needs to be healthy: 

from physical activity to enough sleep...

Then it was time to move on to our next activity, more Covid related: 

We were making these fun posters to remind us to wash our hands - they say "Clean Hands are Happy Hands"... we love our cutting and pasting: 

And here is most of the kids (some were still finishing up...and we were taking photos to keep these ones occupied ;) ) with our handiwork... 

Nina and Nada had a great time - and as it went so well we will see (if Covid allows) if I can go in and do more workshops with other volunteers as well!