I'm an eRkár and I'm proud of it

I'm a member of eRko and I'm proud of it The movement of Christian communities of children helps with its activities in the upbringing and informal education of children and youth. The origins of the civil association eRko can be found in the 1970s, when the secret father Bishop Ján Chryzostom Korec encouraged and led priests and lay people in three areas of the apostolate (spreading the faith): with children, youth and families. Everything was done secretly, out of public view in families, in groups and outside informal communities. Subsequently, in 1973, Evžen Valovič started organizing the first meetings aimed at children. Over time, young people who worked with children and youth in several villages in Slovakia gathered around him. They reached the all-Slovak level only in 1987. At the time of the gentle revolution, in November 1989, 17 representatives were already meeting, namely from Banská Bystrica, Košice, Prešov, Bratislava, Trnava, Humenného, ​​Orava-Námestov and Malatina, Hotianske Nemiec, Čierny Kľačiani, Hriňová and Rajec.

Representatives of the apostolate of families registered the Movement of Christian Families as the first civil association in January 1990. The lay people, who were organized around Evžen Valovič, figured in the statutes as a commission for the Christian education of children. In June 1990, they started using the name Movement of Christian Education of Children. Subsequently, in September of the same year, at the first all-Slovak meeting, the definitive statutes were formulated and the name was changed to the Children's Christian Community Movement. The memorial date of writing the statutes is September 22, 1990. On October 3, 1990, the civil association was registered with the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic. Later, the abbreviation eRko was added to the name of the civic association. It is actually the letter R, colloquially "erko", and is the initial letter of the word "joy" and the name of the magazine Rebrík, which is published by the civic association.

Right from the beginning, the basis of the activities of the civil association eRko was the meeting of children and youth in small groups, communities. The first years of the civic association brought with them developed methodological materials, topics for meetings for work with children and youth, but also various events for the whole year, which are formulated into apt names of various topics that connect all children's communities throughout Slovakia. Currently, the two-year theme "Let's move the world with good" works in eRK. This program was created for the school years 2013 - 2015. It is aimed at acquiring virtuous behavior and thus building the child's character. The annual theme presents topics for conversations and practical actions of children and youth for individual months. The goal is to motivate children to move, change and influence society and thus the world in which they live. The word SOCIETY contains virtue. The role of children in society can be precisely to follow a responsible and good lifestyle through the life of virtues, but for this they need help - the presence of an educator, especially a parent, loved ones, but also a leader.

In the summer of 1990, Evžen Valovič received an invitation for two representatives to a one-week course for leaders of children's communities, organized by the Catholic children's organization Katholishe Jungshar Osterreichs in Austria. Maroš Čaučík and Fedor Pisarčík were sent. The course was enriching in terms of gaining new knowledge and experience, but mainly friendship was created between the civil association eRko and the Katholische Jungshar Osterreichs in Austria. At the turn of 1995/1996, eRko organized the first edition of Dobra novina. 2,952 carolers in 238 groups in 104 villages took part in it and caroled 1,123,996.90 Sk. The National Volunteer Center honored male and female volunteers for their selfless help to others in 2014. The jury evaluated approximately 100 proposed nominations in 9 categories. Dobrá novina won in the "Volunteer project of the year" category. When receiving the "Heart in the Palm" award, the representative of Dobra novina emphasized in her speech that this award mainly belongs to 26,000 carolers, for whom caroling is not just volunteering, but has become their lifestyle. The first award for the voluntary act of the year Srdce na dlani was won by Dobrá novina in December 1999.

In 1996, they made a documentary film "Joyful Way" about the civil association eRko. The Children's Pastoral Center has been operating since 1997, which began to focus its activities on many initiatives for children's communities and also for the pastoral care of children in the parish. The Children's Pastoral Center initiated and started campaigns in 2000 that continue to this day, namely "Children's Act of Help" and "Turn off the TV, turn on yourself". A child's act of helping is a nationwide campaign motivating children and youth in the month of October to act of selfless help. Children and youth try to help others in their surroundings, either individually or with their community. During this campaign, children and youth learn to be aware of the needs of others who need help. They participate in the life of their village and open themselves to the whole community of the village and parish. If several children do small good deeds in several places in Slovakia, it will create a great work. As an example, we present the Children's Act of Help. In 2007, during this campaign, children mapped accessibility in their surroundings. In 2014, the theme of the Children's Act of Help was the slogan: "Persevere in helping". The children helped in their surroundings and the result of the campaign was 10,950 good deeds and 674 kg of plastic caps were collected throughout Slovakia for the sick Tobias.

In the spring of 1998, the civic association eRko joined the worldwide coordinated action "Global march against child labor" as a sign of solidarity with children who were forced to work. Thumbprints were collected from children and adults who wanted to support efforts to respect children's rights, eliminate child labor and improve the social conditions of families, especially in developing countries. Within one month, 13,243 fingerprints were collected from 69 cities and towns. The 578 sheets with thumbprints were made into a two-volume book, which was presented to a delegate of the World Labor Organization conference in Geneva in early June 1998.

In November and December of the same year, the civil association eRko organized the nationwide event "Peace for Sudan", during which children had the opportunity to draw pictures and write letters to the representatives of the conflict, which was then already 15 years of civil war in Sudan. Both representatives of the warring parties were sent the same text of the letter, but only half of each image. The children thus wanted to encourage the addressees to meet, because that was the only way they could see the entire drawings. The result of the work was 9,299 children's letters from Slovakia, Austria and Kenya for Peace for Sudan. Both letter shipments weighed 27 kg each and were delivered in the summer of 1999 to the President of Sudan, Oman el Bashir, through the Sudanese Consul in Vienna, and to the commander of the South Sudan Liberation Army, John Garang, the letters were handed over through his representative through the Italian partners of the civil association eRko.

In the field of protection of the rights of the conceived child, on June 1, 1999, the eRkár teamed up with three other civil associations: Association for Helping People with Mental Disabilities in the Slovak Republic, Community of Life, Society of Friends of Children from Children's Homes - Smile as a Gift. They published a document called the "Declaration of the Rights of the Conceived Child", the aim of which was to supplement the "Convention on the Rights of the Child" with legal protection of human life from its conception and enlightenment on the subject of the unborn child. In 2000, campaigns began to be organized, which also continue to this day: March 25 "Conceived Child Day" and November 2 "Candle for unborn children".

On the basis of cooperation with the Life Forum, the civil association eRko joins the "Conceived Child Day - March 25" campaign every year, where respect for the unborn child is shown and spread by wearing a white ribbon. We know from our own experience that the campaign was successful in our village. At our meetings with the children, we prepare for this campaign a month in advance. We had meetings on various topics, for example the value of life, the uniqueness of life and the fact that every single human life is valuable, without distinction. We made white ribbons, which we then distributed in the village together with information leaflets and campaign posters. We made gifts for pregnant women and mothers in our village, as well as gifts for our parents as a thank you for their own donated life. Children and youth participate in this campaign with joy and thus learn to show and spread respect for unborn children and for life in general. In our opinion, during this campaign we should also ask our own parents about how they prepared for our birth, whether they were looking forward to us or not, whether we were wanted or not. Therefore, we would like to supplement this campaign with a meeting in which children and their parents would also participate.

For this meeting, the children would prepare in advance with their leaders and discuss the questions they would appropriately ask their parents in the discussion. The meeting would be in the spirit of joy and the topic of 'my life' would be discussed. The children would discuss with their parents the stages of the mother's pregnancy, what they experienced during the pregnancy and in general the expectations of the child's arrival in this world. We think that such an activity is very necessary and important so that children are aware of their parents' love, which was born even before they came into this world, and at the same time it can bring new positives to the parent-child relationship. The right to life is the greatest gift and should be appreciated and thanked for. At one meeting, when we were talking about the values ​​and uniqueness of life, a seven-year-old boy from a divorced marriage told us about the situation at home. His mother is expecting a child with another man. The boy told us that he already loves the child very much and is looking forward to seeing him because he knows that he will need his love as well. That's when we realized that the campaign fulfills its purpose in our community, because the boy showed his love and respect for his own mother with such an attitude, and such knowledge is extremely gratifying for us, because we see that our activity and efforts in the civic association eRko are bearing fruit. Closely related to this campaign is the "Candle for Unborn Children" campaign, which takes place every year on November 2nd, on the Remembrance Day of All the Dead. On this day, we also remember unborn children who were not given a chance to live. These campaigns of the Forum of Life, to which the civic association eRko joins, build respect for the life of unborn children in the members, but mainly respect for their own life.

Other projects in which eRko participated were:

• project GO FORWARD – focused on the development of life skills (friendship, cooperation, conflict resolution, tolerance and communication);
• the 3D CLUB project "Voluntarily donate good" was devoted to philanthropy through the establishment and activities of children's clubs;
• the USE YOUR TIME project provided a methodology focused on activities for twelve- to thirteen-year-old children.

Character and principles of the non-profit organization eRko

The civic association eRko is registered pursuant to Act no. 83/1990 Coll. on the association of citizens. At the same time, it is also a lay movement in the church, which helps voluntarily in the field of education of children and youth, so that they take steps towards personal Christian maturity. As a children's organization, it regularly applies for a subsidy from the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic intended to support work with children and youth. Occasionally, additional grants from public or foundation sources are applied for. The civic association eRko annually receives funds from 2% of the tax. Taxpayers decide on the purpose of using a part of their levies and directly support selected civil associations with them. eRko is not systematically financed by the church, but receives occasional donations from the church for its activities. He receives other donations from his sympathizers. It provides a detailed financial overview in its annual reports, which are available to the public on the association's website.

The movement is a non-profit organization that operates on the principle of membership - the main source is contributions and grants. Members of the association pay a membership fee once a year. In 2014, the membership fee for a child (member under 15) was €2 and for an animator €3. The members hand over the contribution in their village to the person responsible for the parish, who hands over the membership together with the membership forms on the date set by the head of the regional center. The latter also ensures the accounting of the membership fee according to the currently valid rules approved by the Slovak Council for the eRka secretariat. If a parent decides to register their child to the civic association eRko, he must find out if eRkárs meet in the given location. If so, by contacting the head of the children's community in the village directly, the parent can find out about the possibility of involvement, the way the meetings work, etc. In 2012, 8,515 members were registered in 39 regional centers.

The organization has a nationwide scope and unites more than 8,000 members. It is among the largest organizations in Slovakia that work with children and youth. The great effort of the civil association eRko is to help the parents of children and youth in upbringing and informal education, so that they grow into mature adults.

Brief overview: Children's communities - 468 Members under 15 years of age – 6,254 Members over 15 years old – 2,261 Number of municipalities – 253 Number of districts – 58

Organizational structure of the civic association eRko:

1. Communities composed of children, youth and leaders.
2. The Regional Center coordinates activities and informs each other about the progress in individual municipalities at regular meetings of leaders of children's communities. At the meetings, the leaders exchange experiences, information and enrich each other and prepare joint events for children and youth. For better coordination of activities and information, the civil association in Slovakia is divided into 5 territorial councils. East Regional Council, Spiš Regional Council, Nitra – Žilina Regional Council, Banská Bystrica – Rožňava Regional Council, Bratislava – Trnava Regional Council.
3. The All-Slovak Council is the highest body of the civil association eRko, which consists of a specified number of elected representatives from individual territorial councils and the chairman of the movement. Members of the All-Slovak Council are elected for a period of three years. They meet at least twice a year.
4. Commissions are created due to the diverse activities of the civic association. Committee members are volunteers who do this work in their free time. The commission is determined by the all-Slovak council. Commissions meet several times a year. We know: spiritual-pastoral commission, methodical commission PEPO, good news commission and foreign commission.
5. The Secretariat is divided into the secretariat of eRka, Dobra noviny and the magazine Rebrík. The eRka secretariat consists of the chairman of the movement (Juraj Králik), an organizational secretary, an eRka methodologist who coordinates education and campaigns, an education manager and a regional advisor, a financial manager and a manager for the economy of regional centers. The secretariat of Dobra novina consists of the director (Maroš Čaučík), program coordinator and project managers of Dobra novina. The secretariat of the Rebrík magazine consists of the editor-in-chief (Katarína Jantáková), the manager of publishing activities for children and an illustrator.

Civic association eRko also cooperates with other organizations in Slovakia and abroad. The organization cooperates with:

• The Youth Council of the Slovak Republic,
• Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic,
• by the Iuventa organization,
• the International Catholic Federation of Children and Youth Organizations FIMCAP,
• Council for Youth and Universities of the Bishops' Conference of Slovakia,
• platform of non-governmental development organizations PMVRO,
• the international Catholic alliance for solidarity and development CIDSE together for global justice,
• Forum of life,
• Forum of Christian institutions.

Civic association eRko cooperates with Lux Christian television, which broadcasts children in society once a month in the program "Doma je doma", i.e. how children live in civic association eRko. Every month, members of the civic association from different corners of Slovakia appear in this show. The topic of each session is the events of the civic association eRko in the given village, locality, and also how they work with the annual theme.

The goal of the civic association eRko is to work with children and youth at meetings. It has a deep meaning and significance and is manifested in the following facts, which we have observed during our several years of work in eRko, and we can also mark them as goals of the eRko association, which are successfully being fulfilled:

Together with the leaders, the children experience a joyful community where they develop their knowledge, talents and skills that lead to personal maturity and service to others.

Through community life, children, youth and leaders get to know the world around them.

Every eRkár has the opportunity to find his place in the community of safety, security, acceptance (as we are), love, appreciation, openness, trust, service, growth, prayer, bearing difficulties, but also forgiveness, acceptance of mistakes.

Every year at the turn of May and June, the civic association eRko organizes a campaign for children, youth and adults called "Turn off the TV, turn on yourself!", the aim of which is to limit television, computer games, social networks and other media for a week. The campaign is not a fight against the media, but its goal is to support the meaningful use of free time of children and youth. Through this campaign, the organization invites to daily meetings during the week so that children can spend this time with their parents, loved ones, and friends in the community. During this week, eRko offers discussions, games, activities, trips and competitions as a form of effective use of free time. Parents at home or leaders at meetings lead discussions with children and youth on various topics. One of them is the topic related to drugs, alcohol and other addictive substances. Through various examples, children and young people are shown the real threat of using addictive substances. The culmination of this whole event is the celebration of International Children's Day. In 2014, the organization organized its 14th year and was attended by approximately 7,000 officially registered participants from 150 municipalities in Slovakia.

Campaigns of the civic association eRko

Civic association eRko organizes various events for children, youth and their leaders. However, the association also organizes an event in which children participate together with their leaders and help other children who need help. This event is called "Good News". It is a carol event during the Christmas season, when groups of children visit family homes in their parishes (municipalities) and proclaim the good news about the birth of Jesus Christ, while simultaneously collecting financial donations. The Good News provides these financial donations to developing countries in Africa. As reported by eRko, 21,503 children and 5,235 volunteers took part in this event in Slovakia from the 18th edition of Dobra noviny, 77,466 families were visited in 1,268 villages, and the proceeds of the collection were €869,891.81.

At the turn of 2014/2015, the 20th edition of Dobra novina took place and €949,709.53 was collected. The preparation for the Good News is different in every community, but the same in one. In that all communities want to help children in another world. The carolers first meet at the ceremonial send-off of the carolers, at which the Slovak bishops personally encourage the carolers during the Holy Mass and give them a special blessing. Part of this event is development education and solidarity education.

eRkárs in Betlanovce

In 2014, as every year, eRka members from Betlanoviec in the district of Spišská Nová Ves joined Dobra noviny. The preparation in our community for Dobrá novina 2014 looked as follows: the first week we had a meeting on the topic of life in Africa, which we got to know through the methodological material of the civic association. Through photos, videos and posts, children and youth saw how their peers live in developed countries. During the second week, we participated in the ceremonial sending of carolers in Spišská Nová Ves, where Father Bishop Štefan Sečka encouraged us to carol and gave us a blessing during the holy mass. During the third week, we prepared a carol program together with the children. For the fourth week, exactly on December 26, 2014, Dobrá novina was held here. Together with the children, we visited 41 families in Betlanovce and collected funds worth €430. Also, every year in January, the President of the Slovak Republic is prayed for.

In May, children and youth meet at pilgrimage sites in Rajecká Lesná and Levoča, where the "Children's Missionary Pilgrimage" event takes place every year. It is an event where children are thanked for participating in the Good News and where small communities meet with other communities from all over Slovakia and create one whole, one big joyful community. In 2015, around 3,500 pilgrims took part in this pilgrimage. We also took part in the missionary pilgrimage in Levoča. During the ascent to the pilgrimage site, the children together with their parents and leaders (animators) spent time on various tasks and activities that were prepared for them and from which they learned about a pure heart.

The main theme of this year's pilgrimage was the idea "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." To the place of pilgrimage, we all carried with us a pre-arranged sacrificial gift, which was donated to people in need through diocesan charities. Children brought sacrificial gifts on the pilgrimage - canned goods in Rajecká Lesná and potatoes in Levoča. At the end of the pilgrimage, together with the children, we prayed for peace for countries plagued by armed conflicts - Ukraine, Kenya, Syria, Iraq and South Sudan. This event of the civic association eRko is commendable in that members and non-members of the organization meet all over Slovakia, and at pilgrimage sites they create a community that unites and helps other people who need this help, and new relationships and friendships are formed between communities from other municipalities and parishes.

Dobrá novina organizes a three-month stay in Kenya for volunteers called "Volunteers for Africa". Volunteers must meet certain criteria, such as being at least 21 years old, fluent in English, and willing to work with the poor and disadvantaged. In 2013, with the financial support of SlovakAid, three volunteers who worked in a program to support children with disabilities in Kitala, a project for girls in Nairobi and a program to support street boys in Nyeri completed this stay.

Help for parents in raising children and youth

The civic association eRko helps parents in education by conveying values to children and youth through trained young volunteers (animators). By the term trained volunteer, animator, we mean a person older than 15 years who has completed the Getting Started course and an accredited Basic course or another course that develops through several levels of leading children's communities. Children and youth meet together with leaders at regular meetings where they develop their skills, talents, and knowledge. Leaders are role models and therefore the values ​​of the civic association are passed on to children and youth through them.

We have identified two types of principles for strengthening values ​​in the civil association eRko: external and internal principles.

External principles: 1. "I have time." This principle means having time and at the same time liking (liking children at meetings and have time for them). 2. "I read, I study." This principle is a task for the animator, the civic association provides him with various education courses that can help him in the future when working with children at meetings and other activities and events. 3. "I like to play." In general, play is an activity that a person performs voluntarily and with pleasure. Even the animator plays with the children at meetings. These are games and activities adapted to the age category, where children actually relax and have fun. 4. "Sharing with experience." Each animator makes a feedback of himself, which creates a picture of what is happening in his community (what they learned, what they experienced) and shares their experiences with other leaders in other villages, cities or in the regional center, etc. 5. "Go to meetings." This principle is closely related to the first principle. If the animator chooses this path to help in the upbringing and informal education of children and youth, he should find a place and time in his life for the community he will work with.

Internal principles:

1. "Living faith." The animator testifies to children and youth about faith with his life.
2. "Development of an open community." It is the animator's effort to develop meetings, community, by looking for a connection between him and the children and youth in his community. He tries to be tolerant, to accept everyone as he is, to develop cooperation with other parishes, municipalities, to be in solidarity with those who are in need.
3. "I have respect for life." To be an example for children and youth with your life. To value your life and the lives of other people. If the animator wants to be a good example, he must not e.g. smoking, taking drugs, consuming alcohol.
4. "Live responsibility and trust." To be reliable, truthful, trustworthy for children, youth and their family, so that parents know that they can rely on the animator and entrust them with their children.
5. "Serve with joy." Each animator chooses this service voluntarily, although it is not always easy, but this service enriches and strengthens everyone for the further development of their own life.

Camps are the culmination of the year-round gathering at meetings. These tend to be a motivation for participation in other regular eRka activities for children. In the camp, children have more time to get to know each other and help others, but also to get to know themselves. In 2015, we prepared a camp, the main theme of which was to show children what a "Warrior of God" looks like. Every day they familiarized themselves with the values ​​that every warrior should have (eg cooperation, protection...).

Another educational aid is the magazine Rebrík. This monthly magazine is intended for children from 6 to 10 years of age and supports the active use of children's free time, family education and school education. Readers in the magazine are accompanied by siblings Reb and Rika. It is the only Catholic magazine for children in Slovakia. The idea to publish it arose at a nationwide meeting on May 14, 1990, and the 25th edition of the magazine is currently being published. The motto of this year's edition is "Explore the world with friends". On the other hand, the civil association publishes the methodical magazine LUSK for leaders, which contains materials, topics for meetings, information about planned events in the eRk. The first edition was published in 1991 and currently, in 2015, the 150th issue will be published.

Conclusion

With this contribution, we wanted to point out the importance of non-profit organizations in Slovakia, which focus their activities on the education of children and youth, because it is very important for our future. We need to raise such young people who will stand behind us whenever we need it, and therefore it is necessary to dedicate your free time to children and youth. The activities of such non-profit organizations eliminate social problems in children and youth, while prevention of their occurrence is equally important.

Based on my own experience, I tried to present my findings, knowledge, experiences from working in the civic association eRko and from various events in which I personally participated as a member, but also as a responsible person, and in which I subsequently gained experience and knowledge for my own life. If I wanted to become a leader (volunteer animator) in eRk, I had to complete the Getting Started course in Liptovská Osada, which was intended for people aged 15 and over. There I acquired the necessary basic knowledge and acquired skills for organizing and implementing meetings. I could lead my own meeting only after I turned eighteen, until then I helped my leaders. I was no longer a child at the meeting, but a collaborator (collaborating animator). I helped organize larger events where I performed specific tasks. After turning eighteen, I became a legally responsible person, and thus an official leader at meetings. In 2013, I became the person responsible for the parish of Betlanovce in eRK, which I am to this day. In addition to the coordination of work in the parish, the role of the responsible person of the parish is also to contact the head of the regional center and the eRka secretariat. Among other things, I share my experience working with children with other leaders. The condition is to be over 18 years of age and able to lead other eRka leaders, who may be younger and try to live in the spirit of the civic association style.

We realize that education is the most important thing in shaping a person, and we have tried and are still trying to show this to children and youth at meetings and events through our special example. We are aware that it is only up to them how they will take our example to heart and how they will work on themselves. If they take even just a small thing into their lives, but a significant one, it means a lot to us and we consider it a success. For example, solidarity, cohesion, tolerance, empathy, etc. This will guarantee us that in the future such people would know and be able to help us.

Author: Bc. Stanislav Hodák the author is the responsible person for the parish/village of Betlanovce Websites where you can find more information: http://www.erko.sk

Literature

How eRkárs grew in communities: 25-year-old eRkostrom. Bratislava: eRko – Children's Christian Community Movement, 2015. No ISBN.

HODÁK, S. 2015. Non-profit organizations operating in the field of social services in Slovakia. Research-educational and consulting center in Spišská Nová Ves. 2015. No ISBN.

Movement of Christian communities of children - eRko. [online]. 2015, [cit. 2015-08-01]. Available online:

It proves you. 2012. Bratislava: eRko – Children's Christian Communities Movement, 2012. 39 p. It does not have an ISBN.

Tak tik blok 2015. 2014. Bratislava : eRko – Movement of Christian Communities of Children, 2014. ISBN 978-80-89516-17-9.

Annual report 2013, 2014. Bratislava: eRko – Children's Christian Communities Movement, 2014. 15 p. ISBN 978-80-89516-14-8.

Law no. 83/1990 Coll. on the association of citizens.