ADRA Croatia dreams of opening a kindergarten for Ukrainian children
Although the arrival of refugees from Ukraine to Croatia has already decreased, the situation is still worrying. ADRA Croatia is actively involved in response to the Ukraine war crisis, dealing with a large number of refugees currently in Croatia.
“Our favourite and happiest activities are the creative workshops for children in the refugee accommodation centre in the special rehabilitation hospital in Varaždinske Toplice. We are organizing them once per week for the last six months” explains Slavica Marčeta, ADRA Croatia’s director.
The majority of volunteers that help with the workshops are high-school students from the Seventh-day Adventist school in Maruševac.
From the beginning of the arrival of refugees from Ukraine to Croatia, ADRA Croatia has held Croatian language courses in Varaždinske Toplice and Varaždin. “Professor Jelena tirelessly prepares interesting exercises so that the participants have greater employment opportunities in Croatia as soon as possible thanks to their good knowledge of the Croatian language,” adds Marčeta.
Generous donations made it possible for ADRA Croatia to buy a van for Ukraine. ADRA Ukraine thus received an additional vehicle for transporting humanitarian aid.
“After our coordination meeting in March, we saw a great need to open a kindergarten for Ukrainians to enable their mothers to go to work carefree. The situation with kindergartens is difficult in Croatia and there is a lack of places to enrol children. We have been dreaming of an inclusive kindergarten with a Montessori program. Like most things in Croatia, the massive paperwork takes a lot of time, but we hope to open soon. We are excited about the new opportunities that Ukrainian families will get thanks to the opening of this kindergarten,” Marčeta is staying optimistic.
In total, more than 68 000 EUR was collected through donations. ADRA Croatia also received several bicycles for children and even a car, which is at the disposal to the people in the reception centre in Varaždinske Toplice so that they can go to various sports and recreational activities.
