Published: Friday, 01.08.2014

Sports and environmental camp “The Friendship Beehive 10”

Eleven youngsters from the SOS Youth Facility Osijek took part in the sports and environmental camp in Vojvodina. The camp offered diverse activities to its 68 participants.

Friendship Beehive 10 marks the ten years that NGO Košnica (Beehive) has been organizing this sports and environmental camp in Begečka jama for children without parents or adequate parental care, and for children from socially vulnerable families.
This year there were 68 participants, and the camp ran for 15 days, from July 14 to July 30. Around 100 people contributed to the smooth running of the camp, including 60 volunteers from Spain and France, an expert team of psychologists and pedagogues, and professional activity organizers.
Programs in the camp included sports activities (swimming, basketball, football, beach volleyball), creative, environmentally themed workshops, and workshops on non-violent communication. This year’s Friendship Beehive also received a heaping of help from the chefs from the Serbian Association of Chefs, who stayed in Begečka jama with the high school seniors from the Cookery School in Novi Sad to prepare food for the kids in the camp, while teaching them cooking skills at the same time.
Youngsters from the SOS Youth Facility in Osijek participated in various workshops. At the workshop on making furniture from pallets led by the architect Marijana Veliki Majstorović, they successfully made a table, two benches and two chairs in just five days. Although this was the first experience with carpentry for most of them, they have proven themselves to be highly motivated and resourceful. The two chairs were created last, at their own initiative and following their own design. However, their main motivation for undertaking such a complex task was their plan to donate the completed furniture to the Children’s Safe House in Novi Sad.