Healing Hearts Balkans
Project Managers: Anna and Geoffrey Wormus
Geoffrey and Anna Wormus have devoted years helping and aiding children and young people who suffered as a result of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, They began their work in this region in 1995, while the wars in Bosnia and Croatia were still raging.
The activities of Healing Hearts Balkans include:
- Working with children traumatized as a result of ethnic conflict
- Visiting schools, kindergartens, orphanages, hospitals, handicapped centers, homes for displaced people, and any other institution where children can be found in need of love and understanding, with the goal of helping them to overcome their trauma of warfare
- Promoting reintegration and reconciliation between different ethnic groups, and helping the minority groups to overcome their sense of isolation
- Serving the handicapped and the poor, particularly the Roma gypsy community.
- Projects for children and young people designed to get them activated in their local communities and rebuild the destroyed social bonds.
- Conducting training seminars and workshops for local young people
- Inspiring young people from the West to help as volunteers, to see first hand the need, learn more about volunteer service, and to contribute their unique talents to the field
- Distribution of moral-building audio-visual material in conjunction with the distribution of humanitarian aid
Healing Hearts Balkans accomplishes many of its goals by utilizing clowns, music, drama and games, and generally making learning a fun experience.
Vojvodina, Serbia
Inspiring kids in refugee camp
Bicycle safety and repair day
Geoffrey presenting gifts to orphans at a Christmas Show.
Livening things up at a summer camp attended by 750 minority Serb children
Our organization, Healing Hearts, promotes reconciliation between different ethnic groups in the former Yugoslavia, helping minority groups to overcome their sense of isolation Our programs focus on projects for children and young people designed to rebuild social bonds destroyed through years of war and ethnic violence.
The UN promoted "Youth Week" for the youth of Kosovo, and our project was accepted to participate by the U.N. Department of Youth. So for five days we were involved with different activities for kids from 8-12 , and 13-15 years of age. Volunteers Abner, John, Vicky and Lana came all the way from Denmark to assist us.
"Many humanitarian groups come here giving us food and clothing, but there have been none like you!" You are the best, because you give our children smiles and lift up our spirits. Please come here every week!
No matter how much help we may have been to Mustafa and Lydia, we weren't really comfortable when they likened us to the modern-day saint Mother Teresa. At the same time, since Mother Teresa was Albanian, it was understandable that this ethnic-Albanian couple would think in terms of this lover and champion of the poor.
We consider it a miracle that an accord was reached, allowing these poor, sweet people who have lost so much, to be able to return to their homeland. In the biggest camp in Bosnia, the refugees were so happy and waiting impatiently for their opportunity to return home
It was difficult to leave our beloved Bosnia! We had poured our heart and soul into the work there, but could feel God tugging on our heartstrings to make this move, and knew that our colleagues who would be staying behind were well able to take care of things.
As the Balkan tragedy continued in Kosovo, we expanded our relief efforts to include 1,200 Kosovo refugees who were living in an abandoned and unheated soft-drink factory outside Sarajevo. These people, most of whom made their way into Bosnia through the rugged mountains, had no place to go, as no other countries would accept them. One mother, who together with her six children had fled into the mountains after their home was burned, and had been living there for six months, particularly touched our hearts!