JONA
A while ago I had a dream about helping families in a small town in Eastern Slovakia. So in 2002 I got together first supporters and executives of nonprofit organization JONA and in December 2002 JONA was officialy born.
In the beginnings JONA was running prevention programs at elementary and secondary schools. Main goal was to empower teens with information and skills in areas of relationships, addictions, violence and employment. We were blessed to be able to teach kids Christian values.
In 2005 we opened Mother's Centre for women on maternity leave and their little ones. Because of 3 years maternity leave in Slovakia women it's hard to find a job afterwards (too many changes in workforce during that time). Until opening of Mother's Centre women were expected to stay at home and take care of their households and families, centre helps them to keep in touch with technology, other women, get needed support and social interaction. Centre also provides support for first time moms and breastfeeding moms as well as trainings with different proffessionals (psychologists, doctors, lawyers, social workers, etc.).
In spite of doing such a great job Mother's Centre is constantly fightling to survive. Ignorance (or not understanding?) from the side of government and municipality, lack of support and finances is huge problem in providing much needed services. All the workers are recently volunteers and every Euro JONA gets is used to provide services for women and children. JONA has huge base of supporters and fans and they're the only reason nonprofit organization is still around!
I learn every day that change comes very slow. Slovakia used to be communist country, communism fell down in 1989 and become country in 2003 (it used to be Czechoslovakia before). There are still plenty of people praising communism and refusing any change. Many young people are leaving Slovakia as they don't see any changes towards better. There's still lots of clientelism and corruption even though Slovakia is part of European Union now and accepted Euro in January 2009.
In the beginnings JONA was running prevention programs at elementary and secondary schools. Main goal was to empower teens with information and skills in areas of relationships, addictions, violence and employment. We were blessed to be able to teach kids Christian values.
In 2005 we opened Mother's Centre for women on maternity leave and their little ones. Because of 3 years maternity leave in Slovakia women it's hard to find a job afterwards (too many changes in workforce during that time). Until opening of Mother's Centre women were expected to stay at home and take care of their households and families, centre helps them to keep in touch with technology, other women, get needed support and social interaction. Centre also provides support for first time moms and breastfeeding moms as well as trainings with different proffessionals (psychologists, doctors, lawyers, social workers, etc.).
In spite of doing such a great job Mother's Centre is constantly fightling to survive. Ignorance (or not understanding?) from the side of government and municipality, lack of support and finances is huge problem in providing much needed services. All the workers are recently volunteers and every Euro JONA gets is used to provide services for women and children. JONA has huge base of supporters and fans and they're the only reason nonprofit organization is still around!
I learn every day that change comes very slow. Slovakia used to be communist country, communism fell down in 1989 and become country in 2003 (it used to be Czechoslovakia before). There are still plenty of people praising communism and refusing any change. Many young people are leaving Slovakia as they don't see any changes towards better. There's still lots of clientelism and corruption even though Slovakia is part of European Union now and accepted Euro in January 2009.
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