The vulnerable groups influenced the most by the coronavirus pandemic were children and elders. Obliged by the current epidemic situation, and with the aim of securing conditions for the healthy development of children, the staff of the Foundation Older brother, older sister have developed guidelines for online mentorship.
Even though that the program ‘Older brother, older sister’ officially terminated all of its activities by March 5, 2020, in all 8 communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in which it operates, some pairs of children and volunteers have spontaneously kept in touch and continued their relationships and friendships. Some volunteers are again helping their younger sisters and brothers with the homework, while some simply socialize online or play some educational games.
So, even in the time of crisis, the mentorship has spontaneously shown its natural potential – and it has once again confirmed that there is nothing stronger than genuine and authentic human contact, friendship, love, and care for other people. And that is exactly why we have been trying to make it possible for all the children, which are included in the OBOS at the moment, to experience the benefits of mentorship, even in these hard times.
Through online mentorship, we have developed the guidelines for online socializing of volunteers and children, taking into consideration all possible obstacles. We have also developed entertaining-educational online workshops for group activities, and so the counseling meetings with the volunteers were adapted to operate online. Besides comprehensive activities, the staff of the Foundation has also prepared technical guidelines for the usage of online tools and for conducting online meetings and activities.
Online mentorship is an addition to regular mentorship of volunteers and children in the program Older brother, older sister due to the epidemic situation and cannot be used separately without regular mentorship relation.