A nine-year-old girl with a six-member family lives in a house which does not provide proper living conditions, in a difficult socio-economic situation where conflicts often occur. All problems at home have affected her behaviour and success at school. Upon her arrival to the Center, the girl found a space for uninterrupted learning, playing and socializing with her peers, her discipline improved, and through various activities she has the opportunity to express herself and feel like a girl. Her greatest concern now is success at school, and she wants to become a doctor.

My life’s dream is to prepare and raise children to grow up into normal people, people who will be ready to give themselves and make sacrifices to make this world better and more comfortable for life. For six years I have been working in the Center and I love the most joy, when people in my environment are happy and when I can solve someone’s problem. In the Center we have fun, we play, talk and learn. I try to give my maximum for every action, I am persistent, but it is sometimes not enough to succeed, because a lot of things depends on others.

Daily Nest Center, Bosansko Grahovo

A 10-year-old girl, due to difficult circumstances at home, did not socialise with her peers, she did not have a right childhood and was dedicated to housework. After regular visits to the Center, she improved hygienic habits, expressing emotions, socialising with her peers, and she started to attend ballet classes. She loves socialising and group work. It is her dream to become a cook, and in case she would be rich, she would buy a gigantic villa so that poor children could live in it.

When the mother left the family and left her son with her father, the boy started coming to the Center. At the beginning he was too sensitive, aggressive and he had bad communication with his peers in the group. Working with a psychologist and participating in the workshops revealed his talents: playing guitar, painting and acting. For several years he has been actively participating in the work and helping other members of the Center, and he completed high school as the best student of the generation. He likes to hang out with his friends and he wants to become a football player.

Daily Nest Center, Ljubija

Problems with concentration and learning were big for a girl of 11 years who had to repeat the grade. She faces poverty and alcoholism in her family, and two older brothers also have learning problems. Since she began to come to the Center, she gets daily support for learning and doing homework, she getting more active and interested in participating in various workshops. She would like to have friends in the village, where there are no children and to become a hairdresser. She is happy when she plays with her friends in the Center.

Daily Nest Center, Bosansko Grahovo

A 14-year-old boy from a socially and economically disadvantaged family started to come to the Center two years ago. The problem he faced was insufficient social adaptation. During the activities at the Center, he was provided with all the necessary assistance and support to build up his personality, he affirmed himself and he expressed his potentials. Through various workshops he managed to adapt, became more free to communicate with his peers and adults and was more willing to express his opinions and standpoints. He likes to come to the Center, and he wants to become a tennis player.

An eight-year-old girl was exposed to physical violence between her mother and father. After regular attendance and participation in the activities of the Center, the girl stopped expressing fear when she was separated from her mother, she stopped crying when she witnessed conflict between her peers, actively began to get engage in creative workshops even with an older group of children, and began to express leadership skills. Also, the consultations with the mother were carried out, which positively reflected on her parental competences. The girl now likes to socialize with her friends in the Center and she would like to become an Art Teacher, and to come to the Center her whole life.

The coordinator of activities (31 years old) has been engaged every day in the Centre, making activity plans, participating in them, visiting parents of the Centre beneficiaries, and she has been on this position for the last year and a half. In her work, she believes that it is possible to create communities without violence, where harmony and friendship rules among people. She likes this job because there is flexibility and tolerance in work, among staff members and volunteers as well as in work with the Centre beneficiaries. She is trying to keep up in the best way with challenges and problems that she is resolving successfully, together with her colleagues who believe that it is possible to build a better life for the children in Grahovo.

Seven-year old girl was facing a lot of challenges when she arrive to the Center. She was neglected in every aspect: she didn’t speak local language since she grew up abroad, she had problems with socialization and good behaviour, and she had no hygiene habits. She didn’t know how to hold a pencil and she had no fine motor skills developed for drawing or writing. She learned local language through various workshops and demonstrations, then she learned rules of good behaviour and hygiene while she was attending the Center. Work with the psychologist helped her to improve her self-esteem, socialization and good behaviour. After attending activities in the daily Center, the results are very visible: she can attend the school with no problems, her colleagues accepted her, she has developed good hygiene habits, and she knows how to behave in a group and with adults. She likes to play with her colleagues and she would like to become a hairdresser.

A volunteer, 19-years-old girl, has been active in the Daily center for 4 years. She usually assists children in writing homework and in free activities. Her dream is to help children who need help, because in that way she feels nice and useful. In contact with children she has learned a lot about herself and she always tries to improve what she is not doing in the best way.

The Psychologist at the Center is in charge of individual and group workshops with children. The job is quite complex and besides psychological work it requires parental, friendship and upbringing qualities. The goal is to help every child who needs help. It is a great pleasure to see the progress that children achieve, and her dream is to do the job that she likes, and that is exactly working with children. She likes to do creative and educational workshops with children

A nine-year-old boy grows up in difficult social conditions, in a family where many problems exist. The boy is a witness to aggressive situations on a daily basis, and he himself started behaving aggressively. He often had conflicts with other children. By isolating the boy from such situations and staying in a healthy environment, the boy began actively performing his duties at school and actively socializing with his friends in the Center. His behaviour has changed, and he learns to solve problems in a constructive way. His life’s dream is to get a computer and become a computer repairer, and he likes the most to play and socialize with other children.

Once a shy, withdrawn seven-year old boy with a speech impediment and underdeveloped motor skills is now able to do his homework on his own and has become more sociable, friendlier, more talkative and playful after having regularly attended the Nest Centre. Now he dreams about the big world: “I would go to Mahalayas for there’s a sea with pineapples and starfish”.

The boy was facing with domestic violence where his father was abusing the entire family every day under the influence of alcohol. Through the work with the boy, the employees of the Center found that the boy also had suicidal thoughts, and that he most feared for the safety and health of his mother. After a couple of months spent in the Center, he became the most frequent beneficiary, he changed colleagues he socialize with, and work with a psychologist helped him to change his opinion about himself and develop communication with employees in the Center, his peers and his parents. The boy improved his relationship with his father and improved his success at school. His dream is to travel around the world and he wants to become an interpreter, and he is happy when he can make other people happy.