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!

Youth Camp 2019

Last year, our ex-colleagues from Finland, who had helped us run all of our Kid's camps from 2011-2015 asked if we wanted them to come with a team from Finland and run a Youth Camp for those children who had come to our camps previously. And of course we said "YES"!

We had a LOT of issues before camp started and at one point the place where we had camp did not have water, so we thought we might actually have to cancel, but thankfully they managed to get it fixed an hour before we arrived!!

Here is the camp photo so you can see all of us! As you can see, it was a fun group!

The Finnish team brought a LOT of great and fun games... and despite the heat, the youth all loved to join in!

 Especially when the games included water:

We invited some other organisations to join us at the camp: here is Dragan with some of "his" kids - they are all part of a traditional dancing club:

 And we got to enjoy some of their talents:

Here is a Finnish/Burmese/Bosnian band playing traditional music for them to dance to:

One day the pool next door let us go there to swim for an hour for free! We were very happy as it was very HOT!

The food was fantastic - Ankica, one of the mothers, once again did all the cooking... with a little help from Sinisa the pot-stirrer:

And also our brothers from Burma/Myanmar: 4 of the team were originally from Burma and went as refugees with their parents to Finland over 10 years ago. Here they are helping to cut up the watermelons:

 On the last night we had a lovely big bonfire: with fun and games all around it:

Including the Finnish tradition of cooking "makara" (sausages). The Burmese Finns also shared some of their food in form of a spicy salad - which was VERY spicy and a bit hot for many of the kids!

We not only fed ourselves physically, but also spiritually, with a daily word from Sinisa from the Bible:

One of the best aspects of camp for me was working once again with Rami and Katja-Maaria, and of course we didn't get ANY photos together. Here they are with some of their team downtown...

Even though they have been gone for 5 years, it was like slipping on a familiar and comfortable glove working with them again. They brought a team of 10 (plus themselves and 3 of their girls) and it really was so much fun being together again. Before they left, we also did a Kid's action Day with the kids in the project, but more on that in the next post...