Delivery of prizes to Kovacica's Volunteer Firefighting Youth Camp Winners
Friday, 11 September 2009 11:04
Earlier this summer, one-hundred young volunteers (aged 14-18) from 10 Vojvodina municipalities have been trained in the skills needed to safeguard their communities against fires. USAID’s Economic Security program supported young people from Bačka Topola, Indjija, Kanjiža, Kovačica, Kula, Novi Kneževac, Sombor, Subotica, Žitište and Zrenjanin to participate in a five-day Firefighting Youth Camp, held in Kovacica between June 22-27. In order to show a token of appreciation for their effort, Michael Pillsbury, Program Director, and Bruce Spake, DAI Vice President, will visit the winning teams and officially deliver awards, in the form of equipment worth $10,000, on Friday, September 11.
“The Zrenjanin team, comprised of seven girls and three boys, showed their creativity, resourcefulness and good team work during the camp’s drills and exercises,” says Tibor Guljas, the team’s mentor and commander of the Volunteer Firefighting Association from Belo Blato, Zrenjanin municipality. Some children have already put in practice their newly attainted skills that they learned during the camp, such as Magda Djurka, who helped extinguish field fires in Belo Blato along side professional firefighters at the end of August. “The youth camp for volunteer firefighters was a unique opportunity for children of this age group, as they learn rudimentary steps of firefighting prevention and protection,” says Vladimir Madjarev, President of the Firefighting Association of Kovacica and a trainer at the camp. He further added that “some of the older participants have already showed interest in becoming professional firefighters.”
The Youth Camp “Future Vojvodina Firefighters - Kovačica 2009” aimed to raise awareness about the importance of volunteerism in disaster prevention and response. The camp brough together municipal representatives, volunteer firefighting associations, Red Cross members and representatives from the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry of Interior has stated publicly that Serbia would need to add 4,000 additional firefighters to the current force of 2850 firefighters to fully meet the country’s needs.
USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program works with Serbian municipalities in support of communities’ efforts to improve disaster preparedness, response, recovery and prevention. Currently, 60 municipalities in Serbia are included in program activities.
Journalists interested in attending the ceremonies are kindly invited to be on Friday, 11 September at:
Firefighting Association of Kovacica, at 10 a.m.
Ethno-house, Belo Blato, Zrenjanin, at 11.30
Municipal building Zitiste, at 2.25 p.m.