Irish charity Sporting Hearts, which specialises in organising weekend breaks and day trips for refugee and disadvantaged children in Serbia, will be in Belgrade for a weekend of events starting Friday 26th October 2007.
Cormac Heron, one of the Sporting Hearts volunteers from Ireland, explains that the main aim of the weekend of events is for the kids to have fun whilst experiencing new and different things. “These kids haven’t got much so it’s good to get them out of their surroundings and give them all a break. Last year we brought them through the streets of Belgrade singing. I strummed the banjo. This year I’d like to do a mini gig in the centre of Belgrade. It’s all about nothing but having fun.”
On Saturday 27th a joint group of over 100 kids from the Busija refugee devlopment and the Roma settlement near Kotez will gather at the Puz children’s theatre for a matinee performance.
Following this the kids will be treated to a happy meal at McDonald’s and, weather permitting, the kids and Cormac will perform an impromptu concert of Irish music and dance in Knez Mihjlova.
Sunday 28th will see another group of 100 kids from Resnik refugee camp and the Roma Children’s Centre board the Sirona cruise ship for an exciting trip along the Sava and Dunav rivers. Whilst onboard the kids will be entertained and mesmerised by the Serbian Magic Club who have very kindly volunteered three of their star magicians for this trip. Onboard musical entertainment will be provided by the Irish trio ‘Half A Good Thing’ who specialise in playing obscure musical instruments and singing out of tune.
Over the past four years ‘Sporting Hearts’ have organised day trips for hundreds of kids in Serbia. On each trip the kids are given a disposable camera to record their own unique photographic diary of the days events. You can see a selection of their photographs on www.sportinghearts.org
November 29, 2007 at 8:20 am
This sounds like such a great cause to be part of Cormac, I’m glad to hear your creatvity is being put to use!
I’ll carry on following this blog now, see if I can input in some way, very inspiring.
May I ask how you became involved?
lisa
November 29, 2007 at 8:27 am
Hi Lisa,
Thanks! I used to play in a band in Northern Ireland years ago. My frend Eugene was in it. We went travelling. He got married to a serbian woman. They settled in Belgrade and then went back to Ireland. Eugene then started up the charity and it’s grown from that. He asked me to get involved a few years ago. Very glad to be part of it now. It’s great to make a difference.
cx
November 30, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Cormac is a great man with the kids. The kids love his crazy zany Irish ways, or maybe it’s not even being Irish maybe it’s just being Cormish.
December 2, 2007 at 12:00 am
Hi Lisa
I’ve just heard from a contact of old that Cormac is giving all his spare time at the moment to putting together a new and exciting Sporting Hearts web site. What a man!
So watch this space for details of the launch party.