WE EMPOWER CROATIAN CHILDREN TO OVERCOME FEARS

Dear donors and supporters,

thank you for supporting our activities with your donations.

The photo shows Ksenija, who has been singing in the Danica Women's Choir for over twenty years. She was delighted that we got involved

the choir in our project and that they can collect funds for various humanitarian activities.

This is her picture from the celebration of the day of the local committee “Antun Mihanovic” at Trešnjevka in Zagreb, where the choir and the association Libera are active.

The choir sang three songs during the celebration, and the event was attended by all the users of the local board, residents of the nursing home and children from

the neighborhoods.

On that occasion, a sales exhibition was also launched, in order for the users of the space to collect as many funds as possible for humanitarian projects.

The event at the beginning of June was held on the plateau in front of the local board, and the members of the choir were especially happy for Rico and Josipa.

As Rico was aware of the fact that the first impression is the most important, everyone present was delighted with his outfit and the new scarf around his neck.

I don't need to tell you that all the members of the choir were instantly attracted by his appearance and delighted by his behavior. Thanks to his presence,

everyone felt better and the performance of the choir was commendable.

During the performance, the members of the choir wanted to bring old Zagreb songs closer to the listeners with their singing and in some way tear them from oblivion.

• the audience followed everything attentively

• Conductor Igor put a lot of effort into making the singing as good and impressive as possible

• and the musical background in the form of a synthesizer should not be neglected either.

What most attracted the members of the choir to our project was the fact that we all struggle with some fear, and since most of the members are over 60 years old,

the fear of aging should not be ignored either.

However, they are all very optimistic, ready for action, never complain and find something positive in every activity.

 And that is one of the reasons why the Libera association asked them for support in the project.

We were especially attracted to Ksenija, who is now the president of the choir, because she comes to singing rehearsals with such ease and joy. By her appearance,

one would never say that she has entered her eighth decade of life.

He also takes care of finances and takes on every task with a great desire to do it as well as possible.

• The performance included the following:

Mrs. Smiljana presented the choir at the performance. It was founded in 1999 and the members have been singing together for many years.

They perform works of Croatian and world heritage, from medieval to contemporary musicians, and especially cherish original Croatian chants that are rarely performed.

They decided to support the project WE STRENGTHEN CROATIAN CHILDREN TO OVERCOME THEIR FEARS with a spring performance and

to cheer up children and people of good will from our neighborhood.

And since the goal of this project is to empower children and their mental health, they decided to join it.

Mrs. Smiljana also mentioned that they believe in the project of the Libera Association because they like positive stories and believe in the project

WE EMPOWER CROATIAN CHILDREN TO OVERCOME FEARS.

• Description of songs:

 For that occasion, the choir chose three beautiful songs, and to familiarize the audience with their work:

• Oh my youth, traditional, by an unknown author,
• Ti gariful, by Meneg Novak from the island of Hvar,
• Tebi grade moj, by Pero Gotovac, in which the city of Zagreb was sung, so that the audience sang the said song together with the choir

• Audience feedback

• The audience was unusually satisfied with their performance. They listened attentively to Mrs. Smiljana when she talked about the history of the choir.

And as soon as the members of the choir started singing, the audience followed all the songs with applause and hums.

After the performance, the conductor was also very satisfied because there were no mistakes in tonality, and the songs were heard clearly and sonically.

All these activities had a positive effect on all the people and children who attended the event. Rico was in a particularly good mood so everything went smoothly.

However, above all, we were most pleased by Josipa, who is expecting a baby in September. We all wished her good health for her and the baby and that

 she would come back to us as soon as possible, so that we could come up with new activities for the children as soon as possible.

Rico is a beautiful dog, now he is at the peak of his strength and activity, he can spend the next five years, and after that he goes to a well-deserved retirement.

The members of the choir did not expect Rico and he was a surprise for them, some became especially attached to him, and some just curiously observed what he could do.

There was a lot of laughter, fun and songs, and this activity will definitely be memorable.

The realization of project activities in the previous period is in accordance with the set goals of the project, related to the following:

• gathering and performance of the choir in front of fifty members of cultural and artistic associations, neighbors and children in Trešnjevka North,
• socializing with Rico and Josipa and exchanging opinions regarding new activities that are planned for the fall of this year,
• photo session to remember the performance and the wonderful time spent with the therapy dog
• sales exhibition of works by all members of the space user associations

All these activities were held in order to promote the project and the desire to bring people closer to working with therapy dogs, with the help of which it is easier to overcome later more severe forms of anxiety disorders.

The activities will also contribute to solving related specific social problems and proactively influence the development of the community as a whole.

Several choirs and about fifty participants of various activities in the local committee were involved in the mentioned activity. Since the program was more suitable for older people, ten children attended, since the students of Julija Klovic primary school went on summer holidays.

So in the fall, we will repeat the mentioned activity for them as well.

Dear donors, we invite you to stay in touch with us or contact us through social networks or through our website

 if you want to know more about our project.

We believe that the attached pictures will also cheer you up.

The Libera Team

Links:

• SEARCH FOR US ON FACEBOOK

• LIBERA_JUNE2024.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear donors and supporters,

thank you for supporting our activities with your donations.

We are also very happy to have attracted a new fundraiser, the Danica Women's Choir from Zagreb.

The members of the choir are delighted with our work and have decided to support our project, for which we are extremely grateful.

Thanks to their efforts, we also collected 11 donations during the last GlobalGiving campaign.

As you may have guessed, two new workshops were held

for students of class 3A of Julija Klovic Elementary School with the presence of their teacher Renata,

who helped us with logistics. As always, the workshop was held in the Tin Ujevic library, Zagreb because the entire space of

the library is adapted to children and their education.

The joy and happiness the children showed when Rico arrived at the workshop is simply indescribable. That love, affection and

the tenderness towards him left us adults speechless. Thanks to his presence, the children absorbed every word from Josipa.

During the lecture, Josipa explained to the children:

• What are emotions?

• What types of emotions do we know?

• What kind of change happens in our body when we feel one of the emotions?

• What thoughts go through our heads when we experience certain emotions in our body?

Also, Josipa mentioned to the students that fear is a basic human emotion that can be very unpleasant, and we experience it when

we see danger, when we expect danger or when we imagine danger. Of course, if fear is excessive, it can cause a lot of negative

 emotions, but on the other hand, it also helps us to pay attention to some danger and thus protect ourselves.

The task was also to answer her questions:

What changes in the body occur when you experience the emotion of fear?

Why do we experience fear? And why does fear have an important function?

1. Exercises were also conducted with children through the following questions:

• The first task was to write on a piece of paper what they are afraid of?

• Next to fear, write how much are you afraid of? (from 1 to 10)

• What thoughts go through your head when you feel that fear?

• Write down one thought on a piece of paper.

• Decide not to think about unpleasant feelings

How to focus your attention on something else and think differently? Examples:

• List five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell,

             one thing you can taste.

• Recite/sing a song
• Calculate a price
• Take the dog for a walk,
• Clean your room,
• Help your parents/brothers/sisters with some work.

1. The task that intrigued the children the most:

• All the pieces of paper from the previous task were put in a bag
• The children drew pieces of paper, read what fear it is about
• They had to read how someone feels when they have a fear.

         The task was to construct a thought that will ease the fear of a friend and help him not to be afraid

• Help a friend and give a (realistic) answer to the thought that intensifies that fear!
• What thought helps?

1. The technique that helps with fears and that intrigued children the most is the traffic light technique:

• Red: STOP!

     (helps: deep breathing, redirecting attention, counting...)

• Yellow: CAUTION!

      (it helps: to think about our thoughts and the emotions we feel, to remember what is right to do

      and what is not

• Green: GO!

     (helps: when we have calmed down, think of what is right and do it)

At these workshops, the children were especially emotional because they became very close to Rico, and teacher Renata was

happy with the fact that one girl from the class stopped being afraid of the dog. Rico played a major role in

reducing her fear since she never barks during the workshop, except at Josip's request. As he now met all the children,

before the start of the workshop, he gently nudges them and greets them with his muzzle. He is extremely sweet and got under the

skin of all the children. And we can learn a lot from his behavior, which is unreserved support for all the children he comes in contact with.

He completely calms them down, they cheerfully complete their tasks and know that even if they do something wrong,

Rico will certainly not judge them.

The realization of project activities in the previous period is in accordance with the set goals of the project, related to the following:

• socializing and workshops for 24 children with a therapy dog Rico and his mentor Josipa,
• carrying out different topics that teach us about emotions and ways to control them,
• children's photo session to remember the wonderful socializing with friends and activities with the therapy dog and
• handing out gifts that included lot of chocolates and candy.

All those activities will help prevent later severe forms of anxiety and at the same time contribute to solving related specific social problems

and proactively influence the development of the community as a whole.

Considering the relaxing and stimulating role of therapy dogs for children's development, this type of workshops represents an

innovative activity for Croatian school students. So far, thanks to your support, we have included over 160 children aged 8-12,

and our intention is to implement the program in to all schools that show interest in this form of holding workshops.

Dear donor, we invite you to stay in touch with us or contact us through social media or through our website

 if you want to know more about our project.

We believe that the pictures in the attachment will also cheer you up.

The Libera Team

Links:

• SEARCH FOR US ON FACEBOOK

• LIBERA_APRIL2024E.pdf (PDF)