Mission possible: English teachers' training completed!

KosovoSchools proudly announces, that the first part of English teachers' training series of Mitrovica region was successfully completed. Funds were provided by the Government of the Czech Republic, realization of the project in Kosovo was possible thanks to the cooperation with the OSCE and the local NGO Hareja. The goal of the project is to increase the capacity of local elementary schools' English teachers in Vushtrri and Mitrovica municipalities through regular seminars and trainings. At the picture: KosovoSchools met with Qerim Selimi, the Director of Education in Vushtrri municipality, and presented a picture taken two years ago, when KosoSchools projects started.

The first three day seminar took place in Vushtrri 1 - 3 October, and is to be continued in November. A group of twelve local teachers learned about traditional and new approaches to teaching English at various levels, and practiced the presented techniques through a range of practical exercises, games and workshops. According to the participants, this was the first training ever, that assembled English teachers as such. Apart from a lot of positive reaction s from the teachers, the training yielded some important feedback and information for the KosovoSchools primary mission, which is contributing to the equipment of local disadvantaged elementary schools: there are basically no listening and/or audio-visual devices available. The budget of the current project foresees the acquisition of several laptop computers that will be distributed to the schools and provide an opportunity for the teachers to put the skills from the training into practice. Thanks to all that made this program a mission possible!

Boxes, boxes...and more boxes!

This is what it looks like: books and clothes for pupils in Kosovo stacked in boxes and sacks on the floor of our coridor. Moments later, our staff (i.e. our generous volunteers, such as mom, brother, visitors in our house & myself) stuff all the material into the car and our driver (err...me) takes it to the logistic base of the Czech army near Pardubice. From there, the boxes travel in military trucks to Kosovo, where our local volunteers pick them up and either store or distribute them. So far, though, all the distribution has been carried out by our driver (huh...), who usually arrives to Kosovo shortly after the boxes. If anyone feels like joining this exciting workout, let me know at kosovoschools@gmail.com. Unlike most gyms, this one's free of charge! :)

Elementary school of Gojbulja in need of chemistry equipment

The Kosovo Serb enclave of Gojbulja is located a few kilometers away from Vučitrn/Vushtrri, and is inhabited by about 250 people. Even though most of these peolpe have to commute for work, school or shopping on a daily basis to the nearest larger K/Serb town (northern Mitrovica, about 15 km away), there is a local elementary school in Gojbulja which currently hosts about 20 pupils. Thanks to the village leader Bratislav Kostic who managed to gather sufficient funds and subsidies, the school is generally well built and equipped, except for at least a basic set of tools for chemistry. Anybody having a spare couple of test-tubes or the Mendeleyev table to be put on the wall in Gojbulja school? Moderately used sports' equipment, English books, cartoons or dictionaries, Serbian books or fairy-tales, sets of vitamin supplements that are suitable for kids and all other Kosovoschools standard goods are equally welcome! (At the picture: Bratislav in front of the bus that brings Gojbulja peolpe to and from Mitrovica.)

Our photo exhibit in Prague opens!

Yeaheyy! After a succesful photo exhibition at the Municipality of Vushtrri/Vučitrn in 2008, KosovoSchools sets up another show in Prague! It maps out the development of the project in the past two years, i.e. the participating schools and locations in Kosovo, distribution of books and humanitarian aid, our volunteers in action, etc. Many photos depict the reality of day-to-day life in Kosovo. The exhibit is located at the hallway of Notary Public Offices at Čkalova 18, Prague 6, daily from 9 to 16, or upon appointment (kosovoschools@gmail.com).

Albanian School in Zhilivodë

The elementary school in Zhilivode accommodates more than 120 pupils. The school building is in poor condition, as well as its three classrooms. Due to insufficient capacity, the children from the village learn in two shifts. Besides a limited number of basic textbooks, the school has no other learning equipment of any kind.

The school is currently in urgent need of:

1) Basic stationary, such as pens, pencils, colour-pencils, excercise books, rulers, erasers;
2) Any learning tools and equipment, especially for science, maths and geography;
3) English beginner's level textbooks and picture-dictionaries.

A large number of the school's pupils come from families that - due to the local extremely high unemployment rate - live exclusively from social welfare. With winter fast approaching, these children are also in need of warm winter clothes (jackets, coats, gloves/mittens) and shoes.

Vushtrri/Vučitrn pre-school seeking toys

The pre-school in Vushtrri/Vučitrn has been recently refurbished and is currently attended by about 100 local Albanian and Ashkali kids. While basic stationary is being regularly provided by the French KFOR contingent, toys (dools, cars, trains, etc.) and games (Lego, puzzles, etc.) are still needed and would be greatly appreciated as the school seeks equipment. During the past two winters, Kosovoschools also delivered sets of vitamins, water-soluble vitamin C and calcium tablets for socially disadvantaged children in the municipality.

Replacing your old PC or laptop?

Novolane school pupils in action: helping to unload books provided by Nad Aleji high-school in Prague. Next step - computers. Are you replacing your old monitors, PCs or printers that are still functional, but out of date? Let us know! All that equipment is still good enough for kids to acquire and enhance their computer skills. Kosovoschools will take complete care of all logistics and provide you with thorough documentation of your donation and feedback from the recipient school.

Enjoy the summer holidays!

The Montenegro coast near the town of Budva is a beautiful seaside resort only hours away from Kosovo, yet inaccesible to most of its families and kids. The majority of Kosovo pupils and students stay home over the summer, as camps and holidays abroad are expensive and/or require visas that are difficult to obtain. In the highly polluted and contaminated Mitrovica region where Kosovoschools mainly operates, many local kids suffer from chronic health conditions. Hopefully, this will once change.

More books for Vushtrri/Vučitrn

Gymnázium Nad Alejí belongs to the most active supporters of Kosovoschools. In June, its third collection of books for schools in the Vushtrri/Vučitrn region in Kosovo got succesfully delivered to Novolane elementary school and to the Eqrem Cabej high school. The current collection included English coursebooks, science encyclopediae, modern history books and classics of British and American fiction. Many, many thanks from all the grateful Kosovo students!

Open Gate joins Kosovoschools

Following a lecture about the situation in Kosovo given by Kosovoschools project coordinator, the students of Open Gate Boarding School collected an impressive volume of clothes and shoes for the socially disadvantaged pupils in elementary schools of the Podujevo region in northeastern Kosovo. Czech KFOR contingent will assist with the distribution of the aid in Podujevo, as its base is located in the region. At the picture: Unloading the Open Gate collection before its further transport to Kosovo.

Greetings from the kids in Karace

Pupils from the school in Karace village say hello to all volunteers and supporters of Kosovo Schools, as it's Children's Day! - Karace school has been succesfully adopted last year by Gymnazium Jana Palacha in Prague.

Loading, driving, unloading, (dying of exhaustion!)

Need a lift? - Sorry, we're full! This is what our car typically looks like when delivering books and humanitarian aid to local schools and communities.

Supporting Roma pupils in Prilužje

Roma kids in the Serb enclave of Prilužje attend the local school, however, many are facing language problems as their knowledge of Serbian is often not sufficient. A pre-school group was established for 2008/2009 in order to tackle this problem. As lack of school supplies, sports equipment, clothing and shoes also inhibits the local kids' learning process, Kosovoschools has repeatedly delivered privately donated aid. A large collection of clothes and shoes has been distributed last year, another one is scheduled for autumn 2009.

Wanna see a happy teacher?

Bratislav and Luljeta - teachers at the Gojbulja (Serbian) and Karace (Albanian) village schools unloading books from a generous collection donated by highschols in Prague, Czech Republic. Both of the schools in Kosovo have greatly benefited from the adoption project - not only relaing to the actual textbooks, but also to the increased interest among the pupils in possibly visiting their donor school in the Czech Republic.

Maths and science without electricity

See the tin bell on the table? - That is instead of the electric bell which usually marks the beginning and the end of each class in most European schools. A rather ironic symbol of the poor electricity situation Kosovo-wide: The teachers of Zhilivode school know what it's like to teach when there is no light and no heating. "It would be much more practical to teach over the summer and have holidays in winter," says Arsim, the maths teacher. Click here to find out what the Zilivoda school needs. P.S. ...And click here to see the (Spanish) website of a brilliant private initiative that has succesfully tackled poor electricity and water situation in many disadvantaged places across the world.

Kosovoschools Calendar for 2009!

A little late, but there we (finally) go: Kosovoschools produced its own Calendar for 2009! Twelve A3 pages of high-quality printed photos and stories on our activities in 2008. The high-schools that took part in the project and adopted schools in Kosovo have each received a copy, as well as the KFOR and the volunteers who deserve our sincere thanks for their help with packing and transport of the books. Best wishes to all for 2009! (...more pics will follow as soon as I find the cable of my camera:)

Kosovoschools delivers humanitarian aid

Kosovoschools delivered basic food and medicine packages for twenty families living in the Vushtrri/Vučitrn collective shelter. The purchase of the aid has been generously funded by a private donor from the Czech Republic. Among the thankful recipients of the aid are at least 20 socially disadvantaged pupils from the nearby elementary schools (Ali Kelmendi and others).

Summer break with Kosovoschools

It is the summer and many kids are out of Kosovo for holidays. Those who had nowhere to go, though, keep going to school...in the evenings: Kosovoschools turned several classrooms into summer-cinema for kids! Our all-in-one projector is easy to carry around and does not even need a proper screen. A white wall and a bed-sheet over the window, and there we go! If only there were less power-cuts...

More than 600 books for Novolan school

Last Thursday, the elementary school in Novolan/Nevolan received a delivery of more than 600 English textbooks, dictionaries and volumes of easy-reading fiction. The generous load was part of the adoption package provided by the Nad Aleji high-school from Prague, Czech Republic. The hand-over was attended by the Director of Education from Vushtrri/Vučitrn, who enormously appreciated the effort and humanitarian spirit of the Czech school. As there is a number of advanced English speakers and readers among the Novolan pupils, the books will certainly find its great use here. In order to enlarge recreational opportunities of its pupils, the school aims to construct a sports' playground at its premises. The value of the project is 13,000 EUR and the head-teacher is currently searching for a sponsor. (At the picture from the left: Agron - Novolan English teacher, Blanka - project coordinator, Qerim - Municipal Director of Education.)