*Scroll down for Croatian translation
Association IKS has been cooperating for many years with the Association of the Blind of Sisak-Moslavina County. With the support of ESC volunteers, activities are carried out continuously on a weekly basis – ranging from assistance and support in everyday tasks to creative and cultural activities.
In order for volunteers to provide help with full understanding and confidence, as well as to plan quality activities, each generation of ESC volunteers undergoes sensibilisation training on visual impairment, perception, mobility, orientation, protective techniques for blind and visually impaired people, walking with the help of a white cane and, most importantly for the beneficiaries, the basics of sighted guiding/assistance.
This week, a new generation of volunteers attended the training and immediately had the opportunity to test their newly acquired knowledge and skills with the beneficiaries, as well as to begin preparations for Friday. On Friday, the volunteers will assist blind and visually impaired people during a joint visit to the Star Film Festival in Sisak, where they will watch the film Fiume o morte, with additional narration adapted for blind audiences.
In addition, every week volunteer Lucy holds an English language course. Since she was unable to attend this week due to illness, the beneficiaries and volunteers took the initiative and held a Croatian-English class. During the session, they learned together the names of body parts, nature and colors, while also sharing Croatian proverbs and exchanging insights about culture and food.
Below you can read the impressions of one of our volunteers;
‘‘Today we went to the blind association. We started up with a sensibilisation workshop to understand better the situation the visually impaired people face daily. We learnt how to assist and guide visually impaired people adjusting to their needs.
Being blindfolded helped us to be more aware of our other senses, and being led by our peers made us develop communication and trust between us. After that we were able to put in practice what we had just learnt, as we went to pick up one of the benefitiaries to guide her to the center.
In the mean time the rest of the benefitiaries arrived, with which we did a language class, exchanging English and Croatian vocabulary. This was a good way of sharing and expanding each other’s knowledge, as well as reducing the language barrier. Finally, we assisted the benefitiaries to make some sport in the machines, and we played darts with them.
It was such a fun and enriching experience, which helped us connect with them surpassing the language barrier.”
- Paula, Spain/France
_____________________________
Udruga IKS već dugi niz godina surađuje s Udrugom slijepih Sisačko-moslavačke županije. Uz pomoć ESS volontera aktivnosti se odvijaju kontinuirano na tjednoj bazi – od asistencije i podrške u svakodnevnim aktivnostima do kreativnih i kulturnih sadržaja.
Kako bi volonteri mogli s punim razumijevanjem i samopouzdanjem pomagati te planirati kvalitetne aktivnosti, svaka generacija ESS volontera prolazi senzibilizacijsku edukaciju o slabovidnosti, percepciji, mobilnosti, orijentaciji, zaštitnim tehnikama za slijepe i slabovidne, kretanju uz pomoć bijelog štapa te, za same korisnike najvažnije, osnovama videće pratnje.
Ovoga tjedna nova generacija volontera pohađala je edukaciju te je odmah imala priliku testirati svoja novostečena znanja i vještine s korisnicima, kao i započeti pripreme za petak. U petak će volonteri asistirati slijepima i slabovidnima tijekom zajedničkog odlaska na Star Film Festival u Sisku, gdje će zajedno gledati film Fiume o morte, uz dodatnu naraciju prilagođenu slijepim osobama.
Osim navedenog, svakoga tjedna volonterka Lucy vodi tečaj engleskog jezika. Budući da je ovoga tjedna bila spriječena zbog bolesti, korisnici i volonteri preuzeli su inicijativu te održali sat hrvatsko-engleskog jezika. Tijekom sata međusobno su učili nazive za dijelove tijela, prirodu i boje, a ujedno su dijelili hrvatske poslovice te razgovarali o kulturi i hrani.
Ispod pročitajte dojmove jedne od naših volonterki;
”Danas smo posjetili udrugu slijepih. Započeli smo radionicom senzibilizacije kako bismo bolje razumjeli situaciju s kojom se svakodnevno suočavaju osobe s oštećenjem vida.
Naučili smo kako pomoći i voditi osobe s oštećenjem vida, prilagođavajući se njihovim potrebama. Nošenje poveza na očima pomoglo nam je da postanemo svjesniji ostalih osjetila, a vođenje od strane naših kolega razvilo je međusobnu komunikaciju i povjerenje.
Nakon toga smo imali priliku primijeniti ono što smo upravo naučili, jer smo otišli po jednu od korisnica kako bismo je otpratili do centra.
U međuvremenu su stigli i ostali korisnici, s kojima smo održali sat jezika, razmjenjujući engleski i hrvatski vokabular. To je bio dobar način dijeljenja i proširivanja znanja, kao i smanjivanja jezične barijere.
Na kraju smo pomogli korisnicima da vježbaju na spravama te smo zajedno igrali pikado.
Bilo je to vrlo zabavno i obogaćujuće iskustvo koje nam je pomoglo da se povežemo s njima, nadilazeći jezičnu barijeru.”
- Paula, Španjolska/Francuska
