August fun workshops

During the month of August we try to have some fun days with the children in our sponsorship project and at the Children's Home. One of my favourite days is always with the sponsored children from the next town over, Čelinac. They are all super sweet and we love getting to hang out with them. 

This time we were in the Elementary School main hall, and we started off by making butterflies (which will be sent to their sponsors). Here we all are about to make the butterflies: 

And two of the cutest kids with their butterflies: 

(they did get to make more if they wanted to take some home as well!!) 

Then it was time for the real fun to begin - I try to organise fun activities/crafts/games etc that they can toggle between. We really had something for everyone: 

The lego station: 

The playdough station:

The making cups that turn into rockets station! Elastic bands and a second cup needed... so simple and so fun! 

The football station: playing football with straws? 

There were two stations that were delibrately more "educational" - the health game: 

And the brushing your teeth station - essentially brushing off the whiteboard marker with a toothbrush. It is actually much quicker to get rid of the marker by brushing in circles - which is also the dentist-recommended way of brushing your teeth! 

Somehow we didn't get a picture of the most popular station - which was the throw bean bags at cups station. My colleague Graham was in charge of it, and after a while he asked if it would be ok to add some spice to the action by getting the kids to go upstairs and throw from up there... Luckily I said yes as it was so.much.fun for the kids... We did lose one of the bean bags by a mis-throw into a ceiling area  above the door (wish I could be there when the person who finds it there tries to figure out what the heck it is doing there!). After a while, I did have to pull the plug as we had most of the kids upstairs and none downstairs at the other stations! But there was definitely enough for them to do without it...  

Afterwards we had to wait for some of the kids to come be picked up by their parents and already had to be outside because the man with the key needed to leave... and that is when I realised that sometimes the best moments come from things you don't plan meticulously. Besides the upstairs bean bag game improvisation, I also brought along our hula-hoops - and we ended up having the best time outside while waiting, playing the pass the hula-hoop along your team while holding hands game... 

As you can see we had a really fun day with our friends in Čelinac, and the same can be said of the kids in Banja Luka and at the Children's Home! 

Rocky Mountain Region Team 2026 part 1

I arrived back from South Africa into Zagreb on the 18th in the morning, and waited 6 hours at the airport until this wonderful team of 31 Americans arrived. They are all students in colleges in the Rocky Mountain Region of InterVarsity - from Colorado to Utah and Arizona. We send a chartered bus for them, and so I helped with communication with the driver and got us all on the bus for the trip to Banja Luka. 

We then spent 3 full days doing orientation with them - from history and culture, to do's and don'ts in this culture... it also allows them to get to know us better and we have a fun time. I also managed to get all 31 names (it helps that there were returners and staff that I already knew). 

We end that week off with a fun sports day with our teenagers. Always a highlight: 

After that week, they go to different faculties to get to know the students and also get to understand more about the culture. Here we are at the English department. Because of illness, the  promised lecture on cross-cultural communication was cancelled, but I think the exercise they were given instead was equally valuable. The local students were given the task to translate some of Ivo Andric's "Signs by the roadside" which was a difficult exercise, but actually the Americans appreciated the difficulty of translating by the end and learnt a lot about the language and the culture along the way. 

Here they are trying to figure out what Ivo Andric is trying to say in different groups: 

And then each group was able to share their translation of the different texts to the class: 

Here we all are afterwards: 

More on the rest of their stay with us in another blog post!! 

Drama Club thank-you: David the movie

We usually take our wonderful teenagers who are part of our drama club (check out about that here) and do our Christmas plays to treat them to something as a thank-you. It has ranged from 10-pin bowling to ice-skating. This year we decided to take them to see the movie David. 

It was dubbed into the local language, and I was wondering how it would be as it is a musical. But I really enjoyed it. It was translated really well (the songs even rhymed!) and the singing was phenomenal. I look forward to eventually seeing the English version with Phil Wickham in the title role - especially as it was all done in South Africa! 

But the teens loved it (they like the singer who sang in the local language!) and enjoyed learning more about one of their favourite characters in the Bible. I was just sad because our wonderful volunteer, Jovana, who was the one who came up with the idea to take them was sick and couldn't come with us :(

Teenager Workshop run by volunteers!

We are so blessed to have wonderful local volunteers who want to help us with all of our activities. Each semester we have had a group of them run a different workshop. This semester, 3 of them ran a wonderful workshop for our teens, which was a mixture of sketches with discussion afterwards and then some fun educational activities. 

US InterVarsity Team

We had an incredible month hosting a team of 36 from the Rocky Mountain Region of InterVarsity! This was the fourth year in a row that they have been here in Banja Luka and the partnership keeps getting better! This time there were 4 returning students who act as student leaders, and 5 IV staff and then 27 new students who had never been before.

One of my main roles with the team is to help with their orientation:

We try to help them get a better understanding of the history and the culture of the area. Here I am going through their answers for the Scavenger Hunt that takes them around all the different landmarks in Banja Luka and they have a great time finding them all! 

After orientation, the American students spent time doing life with local and international students - sharing meals, having honest conversations, walking through doubts and faith, and forming deep friendships built on trust, compassion, and Christ-centered love. Learning about a different culture, while sharing about their own - a true cultural exchange. 

They hosted loads of fun events: from Quizzes to Dance parties!

And three afternoons a week we hosted anyone who wanted to come to our place at "Cafe Ihtus"

This was all a great way to hang out and grow in relationships in a neutral space. They also went on activities organised by the local and international students - like hiking up the hill with a lookout over Banja Luka: 

Our first event with the team was a Teen Sports Workshop which brought together teens, American students, and our wonderful local volunteers for a day full of fun, games, and shared joy.

The team also stepped into academic spaces across Banja Luka: We were honored to take part in the 30th-anniversary student conference at the Faculty of Philology, where we could interact with the students in between different presentations.

We were also warmly welcomed at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics—engaging with students from across the region and planting seeds of mutual respect, curiosity, and future collaboration.

We also hosted two sessions at the English Department led by two Christian psychologists from the U.S. on "The Nature of Trauma" and "Family of Origin", sparking important conversations around healing, identity, and hope from a Biblical perspective.

We also had two more serious events at the Church. One was by the two psychologists, based on "Emotional Awareness":

 The other was called "Art for the Soul". A highlight of that evening was the powerful monodrama “Writing Against the Silence,” written and performed by Jovana, one of our local volunteers. Her powerful performance shared the story of a soul seeking truth, freedom, and forgiveness through written words. Her honest, heartfelt story of finding voice, healing, and freedom deeply moved all who attended.

The month flashed by, and we had to say a sad farewell to these wonderful students. We had a little time of sharing at the end, and it was amazing to hear their stories of how the trip impacted them, and also all those students whom they met and encouraged. We look forward to their next team coming again in 2026!

Teenagers

 This year we started a once-a-month program with the teenagers in our sponsorship project. In April, we were joined by students from all over the north part of Bosnia who get bursaries through the Jericho Foundation. These students were able to share with the teenagers about how they overcame their similarly hard living situations to study, and encourage them to do the same.