A few months ago Naša Djeca received an email inquiring about a donation for the charity. After some discussion the team decided that a donation of laptops to the kids club would be the best addition.
When I think about my childhood I have flashbacks to the computer that we had in the dining room of the house. We had dial up internet so anytime anyone would call you would instantly get kicked off the net. I had to share the computers with my sisters so I didn’t get as much time to play on it as I had probably hoped. My favorite game to play was the Berenstein Bears and I loved the adventures sister and brother would go on. I remember when that computer broke and I was so sad. I also remember all of those AOL discs that would come in the mail for 1,000 free minutes. Even with all the free minutes, we didn’t get AOL until years later.
Today the world is centered around the internet. I once took a class where we had to read a book by Thomas Friedman called The World is Flat. The book talked about the ways that globalization has changed the world including how the internet has kept people more connected and thus the world more ‘flat.’ Today kids use the internet for homework research, exploration with many valuable resources for impromptu learning mixed with a fair share of playing, games and videos. The Kids Club got wifi a few months ago and with laptops I was just imagining the productivity that could take place during homework sessions and on the weekends.
Turns out the inquiry was from two Americans that have there own project called Hero. Hero stands for Humanitarians for Education Recreation and Outreach and was founded by Alex Antilla, Brian Hindman and Michael Slavik. The project started in India when they were on vacation and saw that the conditions for children in the community were not the best. After India they went onto help children in the Dominican Republic, Laos, Brazil, Peru, Belize and now Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Both Alex and Brian were very interested to learn more about the charity when they were in town so Russ, Lejla and myself sat down with them and chatted over coffee. I got to share my personal stories about the charity, tell them about our amazing kids, our girls and everyone else that we assist. I love talking about Naša Djeca 🙂 After coffee we went and found some laptops from the tech store in Mepas Mall. With the funds that HERO raised, they were able to donate 6 ASUS laptops. Woof! Unfortunately the laptops needed to be ordered and sent to us, but we got to take Alex and Brian to the Kids Club to meet our amazing kids.
The kids were so excited to hear about the laptop donation and to meet Alex and Brian. Within days the laptops were delivered and with the assistance of Russ, they were updated with the proper Anti-Virus software and Microsoft was installed.
During homework help the kids are able to use the laptops for assistance with school, on the evenings and weekends the kids are able to use the laptops for play. One of my favorite parts of having the laptops is that we can hook them up to the projector and show powerpoint presentations and/or watch movies as a group. Movie nights are the best!
The night we watched White Chicks
The day we learned about Bosnian Independence day
The day we watched 10 Things I Hate About You
The day we watched the Pursuit of Happyness
The donation by HERO was very generous and greatly appreciated. The children love the laptops, are slowly learning the concept of sharing and information about the world around them is now literally at their finger tips.
Thank you again to Alex, Brian and the supporters of HERO. Hvala vam puna!
Borderless Asia 