Practical and inclusive museum workshops for children

The first inclusive workshop for children with and without disability has been held in the Herzegovina Museum Trebinje on 29th November. Twelve (12) children took part in the workshop titled “Pigeon Post Station Trebinje”.  The workshop presented traditional and for today’s standards, unusual way of communication. The origins of “pigeon post” are believed to date back to the Persian Empire and then Ancient Greece when pigeons were widely used to carry short messages. In our part of the world, the use of pigeons as mail carriers, starts with the Austro-Hungarian rule and goes back to 1878. The Austro-Hungarians decided to train the pigeons for military use, so they have built a pigeon post office in the old town of Trebinje. According to some military documents and town plans that date back to that period, the pigeon post office was built before 1890 at the location where it stands today. Near the pigeon post office is a building that was previously used as military barracks and nowadays belongs to the Museum of Herzegovina, and was built more than a decade later, in 1904. Trebinje  pigeon post office is the only one such reconstructed post office in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The workshop  presented the old methods of communication, primarily use of pigeons as mail carriers. Also, children saw the original postcards from the museum’s collection, showing Trebinje in different historical periods. The overarching theme was the right to communication. The participants were children from the Elementary School “Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj“ and the association of parents of children and youth with special needs “We All Share the Same Sun“ from Trebinje. The participants have learned about the way, that not so long ago, people exchanged information. Children all made their own postcard and addressed it to a friend. This workshop highlighted one of the basic human rights and that is the right to communication and to prompt true information or news. The educator was the museum pedagogue Simo Radić, advised by Olgica Rudakijević who works with disabled children.

Photos from the workshop can be found on BMN Facebook page.

The second inclusive workshop has been held in Zenica City Museum on 3rd December. Children with disabilities and typical children were introduced to Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The workshop was designed by Lejle Agić who is the museum educator at the Zenica City Museum. Lejla prepared all working materials and explained how in their museum they use the video with a sign language to tell the story of the museum collection. The children worked on coloring pictogram.The workshop aimed at explaining the right to equal and adapted access to information and contents of culture, recreation, leisure and sports. The participants were 30 pupils of 8th grade of the elementary school Vladimir Nazor and protégés of Center for Children and Adults with Special Needs of Zenica-Doboj Canton. Every child received the museum magnet they have made themselves, as well as hand made presents (cup and a photo frame that remind them they have the right to access culture).

The warm and fun atmosphere of the workshop can been seen on the photos.

The project “Tinkering and Making for Human Rights – improving cultural participation of children”is supported by the Embassy of the United States in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

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