Diese Seite befindet sich im Aufbau

Background
The charity Bethesda was founded in 2003 to help those living with disabilities and their families in Backa Topola, Vojvodina province, Serbia. The three founders initially started the non-profit NGO, which by now has developed into a small institution, with the humble aim of providing a few hours of daily care for children with disabilities

Achievements
Our organisation has achieved significant results in a relatively short period of time. Of all our completed projects to date, we feel that our most important achievement is the establishment of the daycare centre for disabled children:

there are very few civil organisations in the whole of Serbia running daycare centres for those living with disabilities, and – as far as we are aware – Bethesda is the only organisation maintaining one in Vojvodina province.

The very great need for this organisation and for the daycare centre is underlined by the fact that in our region of the world, the situation of the disabled is dismal. In addition to societal prejudices, there are no state-provided alternatives in disabled care. The organisation of daycare centres, temporary homes, and personal services on the regional and local levels is also extremely difficult. In our country which is simultaneously experiencing an economic, political and social crisis, the state lacks both resources and motivation to devote genuine attention to the rights and the situation of the disabled who are maximally disadvantaged.

These shortcomings are addressed through civil initiatives, some of these working alone and some of them in joint collaborations. In our experience, positive results can be achieved through perseverence, through publicising these issues, and through a respect of life.

Organisation
At the start, the charity Bethesda had neither the financial means, nor a suitable building to operate in. All we had were dreams, plans, and our enthusiasm.

It is with thanks to a local couple that we have a site of operation. The house whose use they donated to use was in an extremely bad condition, but at last we had something to renovate. With the help of several donors and successful grant applications, and after many-many hours of voluntary work, we settled in, and were able to start our daycare program.

Today we have a core of 15-20 staff working for Bethesda. Our work is made possible by the fact that the vast majority of our qualified staff work for us on an entirely voluntary basis, who also keep attending domestic and foreign training courses from time to time. The parents of the children also participate, but we continue welcoming further volunteers.

Further activities
Our charity is engaged in a great range of activities. In the past years we have been able to organise conferences, but we also work to disseminate information to the parents.

We are looking to establish contact with other organisations which also work for the cause of the disabled. We have already established a network of similar organisations, and we have collaborated on many educational and training projects. 20-25 organisations participate in our annual programs. We maintain close links with other local and regional organisations, the local government, the educational institutions of the municipality, the social care centre, the local hospital, and the state-maintainted "OTTHON" institution for mentally handicapped adults operating in our municipality. Thanks to our network and to the world of the Internet, we can now access information about people with disabilities easier than it used to be the case. We have had many visitors from abroad, too, who are always received with a warm welcome, because each visit brings new ideas, new suggestions, new points of views to us, for which we are very grateful.

Budget
The majority of our budget comes from local government aid (which is not the same as state aid!), and the rest of it from competitive grants and from private donations. The donors are mainly small entrepreneurs and private individuals, and we have also been supported by some local firms.

Handicapped persons also have the right and the need to experience living in a community, but without the material means and the availability of trained staff, daycare centres founded on a voluntary principle are also forced sooner or later to abandon their not-for-profit activities. For this reason, we are constantly seeking support. We welcome donations from our country and from abroad as well. We are in greatest need of monetary support to be able to cover the cost of our operations, but we also need in-kind support: e.g. providing a mini-van to transport the children, orthopaedic tools, nappies, games to develop skills, office supplies and so on.

Diese Seite befindet sich im Aufbau

Operation
The charity Bethesda has been operating a daycare centre for handicapped persons, where we generally provide care, education and developmental therapy to children with severe and/or multiple disabilities. This opportunity is an alternative for institutionalisation and home visits.

Although the foundation and the maintenance of the operation of the daycare centre owes a great deal to the generous help of the charitable organisation of the Baptist Congregation of Pacir/Pacsér, its partners (HBAid, Tabita), and to the Ecumenical Charity of Novi Sad/Újvidék, the daycare centre is run on a non-religious basis.

We provide care Monday to Friday, between 7 am and 15 pm. Currently there are 7 to 12 children with different disabilities attending daily, and we also provide care to a further 12 children. Most of those in our care are school age, but the overall age span is from 5 years to 31 years. We accept disabled persons from the whole municipality of Backa Topola/Topolya, regardless of ethnic, national, religious or other belonging. One of our great difficulties is that we lack a solution for the transportation of all the children who need it.

Daily activities
The daily program consists of age- and condition-specific basic care, developmental therapy, and group and individual activities. The activities take part in Serbian and in Hungarian.

Some of this is traditional children's activities, and we also organise programs to take advantage of the opportunities in the municipality (playing on the beach, horseriding, visits to the park and so on). The daycare centre soon moved beyond organising private activities only, and today we participate in many programs of the municipal community.

Staff
There is one full time and one part time teacher working with the children, as well as highly qualified volunteers: a teacher with special training to work with disabilities, a psychologist, a physiotherapist, a speech therapist, a social worker, a nurse, a caretaker, retired teachers. One cleaner is employed for four hours a day.

The program coordinator is managing the daycare centre on a voluntary basis, as are the journalist working as our PR manager, the person in charge of applying for grants, and our accountant. The president of the organisation is also a volunteer. There are several other people helping us from time to time for no renumeration.

Aims
The main aim of the daycare centre is to make it possible for the children to stay with their families, and at the same time to relieve the families of some of their daily burdens. It further aims to develop the independence and the skills of those in our care, to help them fit into society and to fight social prejudices. We pay particular care to bring the lives of healthy children and their peers living with disabilities closer to each other.

This daycare institution also helps the families in searching for legal and material aid, and help with healthcare. At the same time, we lobby for the representation of the interests of the disabled, the improvement of their quality of life, the provision of more equal opportunities, and the shaping of public opinion.

Future plans
We have been making every effort from the beginning to keep up to date, and it is in this spirit that we would like to:
• extend daycare provision to those with very severe and multiple disabilities, and to help create the necessary professional elements for this;
• reach the approximately 80 disabled persons in our vicinity and provide help to them and their families. One of the most difficult part of promoting the interests of the disabled is that of reaching those who are not institutionalised, and their families. These families are typically 'invisible' because they are unable to go out and to leave their homes due to the lack of appropriate expert care
• as it is important for the disabled to be appropriately socialised when they enter temporary homes or institutions, we are aiming to provide professional training in independence skills, including using zoopedagogical education. Training the handicapped persons to be independent involves learning basic personal care (dressing oneself, personal hygiene), communication and motor skills, shopping, cooking and cleaning. We also teach the children to love and care for the natural environment, which increases their knowledge, their joy of life, their respect for life, their competences, and their sense of responsibility.
• we actively support the reform of the new social care legislation, which among others promotes the establishment of local alternative services for the disabled, so that they can stay with their families, or near their families, among people they know and in their own environment.
• carry on the active recruitment of volunteers.