UPSHIFT team Golden Team from Teočak is one of the winners of the 2 nd joint UPSHIFT workshop for Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, held in Šabac this year. About a hundred young people aged 16 to 24 participated in this UPSHIFT workshop, and students from the Mixed Secondary School Teočak, named Golden Team, secured victory and won a grant of 3,000 KM.
Golden Team highlighted a problem in their local community: How can we influence the improvement of the quality of life for seniors in Teočak? In the municipality of Teočak, there is no adequate institution dedicated to caring for the elderly and frail, and there is a lack of trained personnel to provide palliative care services, as well as a volunteer center that could support elderly and frail individuals. However, our UPSHIFTers, with their brilliant idea and series of activities for seniors, showed that things can be different.
Following the UPSHIFT workshop held in Šabac, our UPSHIFTers started working and forming a volunteer data base. They gathered over 40 of their peers, mostly students from the MSS Teočak and Elementary School “Teočak”, and trained them with a series of educational workshops before starting all planned activities.
A roundtable discussion and presentation of the project “Intergenerational Solidarity” were held. During the presentation, the UPSHIFT team detailed their achievements and shared their vision for upcoming project activities aimed at promoting intergenerational solidarity. In addition to the school principal, pedagogue, and volunteers, representatives from the Women’s Association, Pensioners’; Association, Red Cross, Social Welfare Center, Health Center, and the municipality of Teočak attended the roundtable.
“Memorandums of cooperation were signed with all our partners, reinforcing a joint approach to strengthening social cohesion between different age groups in the community. This agreement signifies collective commitment to creating a more inclusive and supportive interaction between the young and the elderly”, said Enna Mehić, a member of the Golden Team.
During May and June, over 60 retirees participated in very interesting workshops, the first of which was “Healthy and Active Aging”, where doctors from the Teočak Health Center held lectures and conducted sugar and blood pressure measurements for all elderly citizens present. This was followed by workshops such as ‘Let’s Learn Knitting / Small Technology School’, ‘Intergenerational Creativit’ where volunteers and senior citizens painted glass using decoupage technique, and a workshop called ‘Playing Social Games’.
Another wonderful activity was a daytrip to the Ethno Village Stanišić. A total of 50 young and elderly people spent pleasant time together in the beautiful ambiance of Ethno Village Stanišić.
“I am very happy that our young people recognize the need to strengthen the bond between young people and seniors. I am glad to have participated in the activities that were carried out, it was beautiful, and I look forward to the next gathering,” said one of the participants.
In front of the Municipality building, a Charity Sale of cakes and handicrafts made during workshops with elderly citizens was organized. Golden Team and women from the Sniježnica mosque jointly sold handicrafts, and all proceeds, which amounted to over 6,000 KM in this
case, were donated for the humanitarian purpose of treating fifteen-year-old Muhamed Čeliković from Sniježnica.
The UPSHIFT program originated in UNICEF’s Office of Innovation and is implemented in 38 countries worldwide. UPSHIFT in Bosnia and Herzegovina is implemented by the Genesis Project humanitarian organization in collaboration with UNICEF’s Office in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.”