Healing Hearts Balkans
Project Managers:
Anna and Geoffrey Wormus
Factoid: Serbia, a country of 7.5 million, is the sole remaining republic of the former Yugoslavia. Serbs share a rich heritage with Hungarians, Albanians, Bosniacks, and Roma. Cyrillic is the official script, but the Latin script is used widely.
The Balkan wars of the 1990's saw Serbia decline in productivity and prominence in the region, as international sanctions and the ravages of war took their toll on this beautiful country. But an up-and-coming generation are keen to change the negative image of Serbs, as they pursue a course towards accession to the European Union.
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
Rebuilding Social BondsOur 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.
Youth Week in KosovoThe 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.
Our First Hurdle -- Restoring Hope to a War-Torn Generation in Bosnia, 1995-1999"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!
You Are our Mother Theresa!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.
NATO Intervenes - Kosovar Refugees Given Hope to Return Home Soon, June 1999We 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
