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Welcome to our first newsletter of 2021.

As the snowdrops and daffodils start to appear our thoughts turn to Spring, warmer weather and renewed hope. In this tough COVID-19 era, we continue to work tirelessly in order to keep our projects supported and new fundraising ideas coming.

INCLUDED IN THE NEWSLETTER

Short updates from our projects

A virtual wine tasting event

The Ellie Maxwell Award 2021

Thank you to our patrons

Meet the Team - our regular Q&A

An update from our projects

Firefly for Syrians

Next month Firefly for Syrians will be celebrating its fifth birthday – thousands of Syrian refugee children have benefitted from our programme over these very difficult years. Our work continues to be vital for so many children during this challenging time.

Firefly has provided a safe space for these children, where their psychosocial needs and gaps in learning have been addressed in a sensitive, caring and fun way.

Our children have turned their lives around and our first cohort are currently applying to universities. We started with 20 children and two teachers and currently we employ 20 teachers.

Our primary school students in North Syria Khirbet Aljouz camp, where learning continues face to face in warm and safe classrooms - there are no reported Covid cases in this camp currently

Home Schooling

In Turkey our children continue to study hard in their homes and online, we distribute learning resources to pupils via our once monthly drop in sessions and pupils work online with teacher support

Our Firefly for Syrians Electricity Programme is developing into a highly popular remote learning course.

We have over 100 pupils on the waiting list, and last month we enrolled 100 new students for the electricity course, in addition to the 100 student already on the course.

Firefly in Gaza

Our partnership with IMET2000 and ACT International, ensures children can continue to be treated for PTSD by our therapists in Gaza.

Gaza CATT Clinic

The general situation in Gaza is extremely serious - a desperate economic situation, with 10-20% increase in children suffering physically from stunted growth due to poor nutrition. Many families are struggling to find enough food for their tables. COVID-19, depression and anxiety are widespread.

This month we have eight children in treatment. We continue to raise awareness about psychological trauma and the service we provide, as we are aim to expand our work to meet the huge need.

Firefly in Bosnia (Svitac)

After the restrictive measures were further relaxed in January, Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) continued its activities in the youth centre more normally. The opportunity to attend activities in person and socialise with friends made our participants happy and has reduced the pressure that parents have felt since mid-November.

Among many useful things, our youngest participants learnt how to be safer online! We talked about safely using the internet and being aware of strangers as we played on the computer and video games.

Our daily program continued through creative, musical and language activities with the great help of local and international volunteers.

2021 is set to be an even harder fundraising year for small charities like Firefly.

To make a real difference to our work please consider regular giving to Firefly - a monthly donation gives us greater security to plan for the future:

£10 gives a primary age child in Syria full time education for a month.
£25 funds materials for one week of Svitac's activities in Bosnia.
£50 per week funds PTSD counselling treatment for one child in Gaza.

If you would like to make a monthly, or one off donation to any of our projects, please click on the link below.

Donate here

Zoom Wine Tasting Event
Friday 12th March, 7pm

Firefly have teamed up with The Grape Gals for an online wine tasting fundraiser. To find out more, please click here.

Last chance to sign up and place your wine order is Friday 5th March

The Ellie Maxwell Award 2021

An award for Edinburgh University Students running charitable projects

Previous winners of the award, Maisie Palmer of Mxyogny and Mohammed Al-Haifi of Colours of Edinburgh, were presented with their awards by Peter Constable Maxwell, Ellie's father.

From 12th March applications will be open to Edinburgh University students to apply for this award of £500 seed funding and mentoring/networking support from Firefly. For more information and to apply follow this link .

THANK YOU TO OUR PATRONS

We would also like to welcome Pandora Collin as our newest patron. Pandora has supported Firefly for the past two years at our November fundraising events and we are delighted to welcome her to our list of patrons.

We are incredibly grateful to all our patrons for their continued support of Firefly during these hard times.

The Rt Hon The Lord Alderdice
Sarah Anderson
Viscountess Bridgeman CBE FRSA
Patricia Broke
Rosemary Chambers
Pandora Collin
Virginia Constable Maxwell
Lady Julia Craig Harvey
Joanna David
Charles Fitzherbert

Professor Colin Green PhD DSc FRCVS
Desiree Hickman
Caroline Hornyold MVO
Lady Zara Jellicoe
Adrienne Kennedy
Sally, Countess of Malmesbury
Roger Michell
Neil Stuke
The Rt Hon Baroness Warsi PC
Dr Jeremy Wildeman Phd

MEET THE TEAM: Q & A with Gordana Varcakovic

Q: What is your role within Firefly?
A: Director in Svitac (Firefly Bosnia)

Q: Where are you based?
A: Brčko District, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Q: 3 words that describe you
A: Compassionate, honest, reliable

Q: 3 words that you would use to describe Firefly?
A: Family, supportive, devoted

Q: If you could meet anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
A: I would love to meet Louis XIV (King of France)

Your support is needed now more than ever, whether it is with a monthly donation, a one-off donation or fundraising for us.

Please remember us if you are fundraising. Anything you can raise helps change lives.

Donate here

We hope you enjoyed this update, thank you for sparing the time to read our newsletter and for your continued support of Firefly.

For regular updates - please follow us on these social media channels, or take a look at our website, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us via email.

Copyright © *2020 Copyright © Firefly International
Scottish Charity Number: SC 028744

Our mailing address is:
Firefly International, 27a Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, EH7 5AH

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Firefly International · 26 Dublin Street · Edinburgh, Midlothian EH3 6NN · United Kingdom