ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR BIG HEARTS FOR SUPERHERO BABIES! – REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HUMANITARIAN CAMPAIGN

01 Feb ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR BIG HEARTS FOR SUPERHERO BABIES! – REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HUMANITARIAN CAMPAIGN

Dear friends,

First of all, we would like to wish you a Happy New Year. May 2022 be the year of the most beautiful changes, peace, love, solidarity and success.

On December 31, 2021, we ended a series of activities within the humanitarian campaign “For Superhero Babies 2021”. The total amount of funds raised by 134 donors together is 995,180.90 Serbian dinars, which is three times more than we originally planned. This will enable the purchase of a bigger and better sterilizer, but also the purchase of the most urgently needed equipment for the Institute of Neonatology.

The contract with the Institute of Neonatology was signed on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, which was the last working day of the director of the Institute, Dr. Milica Ranković Jankovski, who, after this beautiful event, went into a well-deserved retirement. The money was transferred to the Institute in two installments, on December 15 and December 30, after receiving the last donation in 2021. We will officially publish the report on the purchase of equipment as soon as the purchase is realized, and according to the current procedure, that would be in a time frame of several weeks, after the Institute sends us a report on the use of funds.

A gala charity dinner in order to raise funds for the purchase of a new sterilizer for the Institute of Neonatology in Belgrade was held on November 19, 2021 at 7 pm in the KROKODIL Center. By purchasing a ticket for the Eat & Talk Argentina charity dinner, but also by personal contributions, fifty-nine donors helped secure the funds for a new sterilizer. The menu, for which Marko Mrvić, the official chef of the Argentine residence in Belgrade, was in charge, included empanadas with two types of filling (minced meat and vegetarian variant), puchero – a stew with meat and vegetables, served with a piece of faina (a type of thin pancake made from chickpea flour) and ice cream with caramelized milk (dulce de leche). Argentine red wine Malbec was served, and guests were also able to try traditional Yerba Mate tea. During this evening we presented the works of three Argentine writers – Cesar Aira, Isidoro Blaisten and Samanta Schweblin. Excerpts from their books were read by actor Branislav Trifunović.The Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina, H. E. Osvaldo Narciso Marsico, took part in the conversation with Vladimir Arsenijević and presented the specifics of Argentine culture to the audience. We also enjoyed the concert of the tango ensemble Tanguango. We closed the evening with an auction sale of works by illustrators, painters and designers who have exhibited at the KROKODIL Center in previous months.

What sorts of administrative difficulties can you expect when you give birth in the 23rd or 24th week of pregnancy, when the baby is legally and medically considered to be live-born and not a miscarriage, but the rest of the administration that derives from existing legal norms and regulations does not recognize this? On the occasion of marking the World Prematurity Day, November 17, at the KROKODIL Center for Contemporary Literature (Karađorđeva 43, entrance from Male stepenice 1a) we talked about all administrative challenges faced by parents of children born before the twenty-eighth week of gestation. These challenges relate to the following problems that parents face:

1. assigning a name to a child;

2. opening maternity leave;

3. submitting documentation for obtaining parental allowance.

Milena Berić, a member of the Board of Directors of the KROKODIL Association, who gave birth in 2019 in the twenty-third week of gestation, talked with Ljiljana Živković, a social worker at the Institute of Neonatology. With this event at the KROKODIL Center, we wanted to point out these problems and raise awareness of the inadequacy of legal norms and regulations to the fact that a child born after the twenty-second week of gestation is in Serbia medically considered to be live-born. We remind you that every fourth child in Serbia is born prematurely.

The third activity took place on Sunday, November 28, at 10 am. We marked the end of the running season with another charity race in the form of training #runningagainstcovid! We ran 7k, 15k and 21k in the neighborhoods of Dorćol and Novi Beograd and donated all the income from registration fees to the Institute of Neonatology for the purchase of a new sterilizer. Many thanks to all those who ran while listening to audiobooks at our charity race for superhero babies! A total of 75 runners ran in Belgrade, but also in ten cities across Serbia. The first place in the half marathon category won Milan Adnađ, the second place Dejan Alargić and the third place Vladimir Arsenijević. All three finished the race in less than two hours. The first place in the 15-kilometer category won Novica Stojanović, the second place Goran Mutavdžić and his friend Marko, while the third place won Jelena Radivojević. The first place in the 7-kilometer category won Ivan Čurović, and the second and third place Goran Stajić and Miodrag Janković. After the race, at 1 pm in the KROKODIL Center (Karađorđeva 43 / entrance from Male stepenice), where the start and finish of the race was located, there was a lecture for high school students titled Nutrition and supplementation through exercise given by the main coach coordinator in AK RUNNING Ivan Čurović. You can watch the lecture on the KrokodilEngagingWords YouTube channel.

The organizer of the race was AK RUNNING. The race was co-organized and supported by the Association for Recreation and Fitness of Belgrade and the Association KROKODIL. The partners of the race were the Secretariat for Sport and Youth of the City of Belgrade, Abela Pharm, Esensa, Uniqa Insurance, BeneFit, FitPass, DY Nutrition and Nike. The event was organized within the project of the Association KROKODIL Audio-Marathon: Reading While Running which is part of the European project Be(P)Art.Grow with Arts supported by the European Commission and whose implementation partner is AK RUNNING.

From the beginning of the summer of 2020, premature babies whose mothers are infected with the coronavirus are hospitalized in the Belgrade Institute of Neonatology. A large number of these mothers, hospitalized in Covid maternity wards throughout Serbia, are not able to provide milk for their babies for months after giving birth, nor to take them into arms. Within the activities of the Institute of Neonatology, the Human Milk Bank has an important role since it provides donor milk for children to whom their mothers’ milk is not available. In that way, they are provided with the healthiest and the most natural source of nutrition. This milk is pasteurized every two hours and served in special sterilized bottles intended for the smallest and most endangered babies… seven days a week, every day of the month. The existing sterilizer is over twenty years old and is serviced almost once a month. These services are extremely expensive and often take a very long time. Due to its age, this sterilizer reaches a temperature of only 80 degrees and its capacity is only 80 bottles, which is not enough in the existing epidemiological conditions. The situation is alarming. With the campaign For Babies-Superheroes 2021, we managed to raise funds for the purchase of a new, bigger and better sterilizer, but also for the purchase of the most urgently needed equipment for the Institute of Neonatology. We have thus also enabled the staff of the Institute to provide sufficient quantities of milk for all the most endangered, premature babies who are cared for by doctors and staff of this institution twenty-four hours a day. One in ten babies is born prematurely, worldwide. That means that 15 million babies are born prematurely every year. More than 4,000 such babies are born in Serbia every year. Premature birth is defined as birth that takes place three or more weeks before the due date. Premature birth is a serious health problem, and many babies lose this battle. Babies born prematurely often have problems with the airways, hearing, vision, as well as developmental difficulties. Premature babies, on average, spend the first 50 days of their lives at the Institute of Neonatology.

On this occasion, we would like to offer a big thank you to all those who have contributed to the successful realization of our humanitarian campaign.

List of donors:

Bogdan Babić

Dragan Jekić

Aleksandra Vuković

Marija Radovanović

Bojana Miković

Milena Berić

Gordan Mandić

Katarina Marković Mandić

Dragica Lukić

Robert Čoban

Sanja i Stefan Mandić Rajčević

Nevena Krivokapić Martinović

Mila Todorović/Centar za bebe

Vladimir Ožegović

Predrag Karasović

Rada Radojević

Jovan Popivoda

Jelena Crnokrak

Srđan Đurović

Kristina i Petar Vranić

Narcisa Stanković

Miljana Petrović

Aleksandra Zdravković

Danijel Maksimović

Marija Vuković Biserko

Bridgewater Labs

Ambasada Republike Argentine

Havijer Čalian

H. E. Osvaldo Narciso Marsico

Marko Mrvić

Jovan Popivoda

Jonathan Pendelbury

Biljana Đurđević

Jelena Milićević

Igor Kordej

Radenko Adnađ

Agora izdavaštvo

Marijana Berić

Milan Adnađ

Anđela Ćulibrk

Gordan Mandić

Luka Martinović

Miša Stoiljković

Sara Mandić

Gordan Mandić

Marija Pasuljević

Stefana Pekez

Vladimir Arsenijević

Aleksandra Jelesijević

Branislav Trifunović

Kvintet Tanguango

Aleksandar Dmitrović

List of donors/runners:

Milan Adnađ

Vladimir Arsenijević

Aleksandra Paunović

Jelena Arsic

Ana Morokvašić

Marko Maričić

Novica Stojanovic

Gorana Vučićević

Jelena Savic

Amina Đerlek

Uros Jelicic

Ana Malešić

Ana Malešić

Aleksandra Markov

Morana Kristek

Dobrinka Vićentijević

Bojan Zivic

Dragana Krstec

Sava Veselinović

Daliborka Jović Stanković

Tamara Lakčević

Dejan Kecman

Ivan Stamenkovic

Zoran Markovic

Ena Vukčević

Tanja Milutinovic

Branislav Dušanić

Đorđe Rebić

Katarina Nikolic

Senka Đekić

Nenad Radovanović

Ivana Kalicanin

Ivana Kalicanin

Bojana Vlahović

Svetlana Stamenković

Bratislav Branković

Biljana Stanković

Goran Stajić

Ivana Djukic

Sonja Vukašinović

Milena Bogavac

jelena radivojevic

Biljana Rašić

Nemanja Pavlovic

Milan Šamerić

Tijana Ugrenovic

Aleksandra Vujovic

Ana Stojanović

Dejan Alargić

Горан Хаџи-Боричић

Jovana Mladenovic

Vesna Đoković

Dragan Grujić

Aleksandra Nikitović

GORAN MUTAVDZIC

Milan Šamerić

Milica Lazarević Jekić

Aleksandar Rakic

Branko Nikitović

Jelena Mackovic

Đorđe Samardžija

Branka Bojanic

Jovana Rakonjac

Danijela Stanković

Marea Grinvald

Milica Klanšček

Sara Prodanović

Marija Rajić

Tatjana Majstorović

Maša Vučković

Milena Berić

Ivana Drmanac

Ana Stojanović

Ivan Čurović

Bogdan Dončić

Aleksandra Jelesijević

Sara Mandić

Danijela Gašparac

Miodrag Jankovic

Danijela Nestorović

Sonja Vukašinović