ESSAY

Ime i prezime: Aleksandra Lazin

Br. Indeksa:200119/2019

One of my hobbies is volunteering. Since l was 13 years old, l have been volunteering at the Red
Cross of Rakovica. I came to the Red Cross in 2013 trough one of the largest programs of
organization, which is first aid. In 2013, l competed in first aid at the municipal competitio for
Nikola Tesla Elementary School, and my team won firt place among 8 elementary schools. After
half a month, we went to the city competition as the a team of the Red Cross Rakovica.
After the competition senior volunteers pointed us to the fact that the organization also has many
other programs that are more humanitarian in nature.
One of the programs is the ,,Cheerful hospital“ which functions in the way that volunteers go to
the ortopedic wing Banjica on Thursday afternoons and spend time playing with children who
have ortopedic injuries, fullfilling their time and making their stay in the hospital more pleasant.
Also one of the nicest programs that we organize from year to year is ,,A lot of love package“
where during the NewYear's holidays, volunteers collect sweets from local stores donated by
citizens. After that we make New Year's packages with socially disadvantaged children.
Around 20th December we make a New Year's play that is written and performed by volunteers.
After the play we shared present to the children. Personally that is the most beautiful programs
that fullfillis me the most because of excitement and joy of the children.
Red Cross has a lot of other programs like „Promotion of humane values“, „Anti trafficking“,
„Addiction diseases“ where the main goal is prevention, and getting the children familiar with
and aware of a lot of different social subjects and dangers as well as how to face them.
Since every municipality in every town have their own Red Cross, l travelled and camped
frequently. What l remember most fondly is the trip to Nevesinje where we camped for 5 days
with 10 different organizations, and the trip to Trebinje, where Red Cross Trebinje hosted us in
their town.
On one occasion l was chosen as one of the six teachers from Serbia in the summer school in
Baosici. That opportunity brought me a lot of experience and challenges because there were 6 of
us teachers for 250 socialy disadvantaged children, of which 50 were developmentally disabled.
Those 10 days we spent time with the children, held different workshops for them with different
topics such as humanity, equality, childrens rights and many others. We hung out with them and
made them masquerade balls in the evenigs. In addition to experience, informal education,
overcoming stage fright, many seminars and training, the Red Cross enabled me to meet many
quality hard working people whit whom l started to hang out privatly.
After 10 years of volunteering, l can say that the time l spent in the Red Cross with other
members of the organization was the best time l spent.
Due to police work and its nature l can no longer dedicate my self to volunteering as before, but
l am a licensed first aid instructor and l hold first aid training for children for the competition.
Red Cross Rakovica is a home that l am always happy to return to.