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EU - Zajedno do fondova EU

3.4 A true hero

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1 Examine photos

Look at the photos and the title of the text. Where do you think the people are and what do you think the text is about? Talk to your partner and compare your answers.

Word count: 0

2 Reading

Read the text and check your ideas from exercise 1.

Think about the reasons why Dejan Nemčić travels to Africa every year and discuss them with your partner. Then answer the following questions:
a) Which countries does he visit in Africa?
b) Where does he work?

Dejan Nemčić doesn't think of himself as a hero, but in small villages of Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zanzibar that is what the villagers, especially the children, call him.

Every year, as soon as the school year in Croatia finishes, he flies to Dar es Salaam, his African base, from where he travels by bus to a few hundred schools in remote villages. He has helped the school children there by donating school supplies like bags, pens, pencils, notebooks and geography maps.
But what first brought this Croatian Geography teacher to this remote part of the world that tourists rarely visit? Dejan Nemčić was born in Garešnica where he finished primary and secondary school and then went to Zagreb to study Geography. After graduating, he moved back to his home town and worked there for five years. A year ago he moved back to Zagreb and is currently working in Primary school Botinec.

Since the fifth grade when he saw the map of the world for the first time, he has known that this was the job he was born to do and that travelling the world and helping those in need would be something that he would live for.
When working with his students, he uses Skype to contact his friends, Geography teachers or immigrants, who walk around the city where they live, showing students the sights and answering their questions about the city and the country. His passion for teaching and volunteering comes alive every summer when he travels to Africa to donate all the school supplies that he has been collecting from his students and different companies which are helping him to fundraise money to buy the supplies for African children.
The children and their parents are always amazed when he comes back because he keeps his promise to return to their village and school. A lot of children there are illiterate due to lack of schools, inadequate school buildings or lack of school supplies, but Dejan is trying to help as much as he can by investing his time and money to help those in need.

His Croatian students are always looking forward to the first day of school because their teacher always shares his summer experiences with them by talking about the places he visited and the people he met, especially the children which are the same age as his students.

3 Find the synonyms

Match the words in bold from the text with their definitions.








4 Reading comprehension

Read the text again. Are the statements 1 to 5 True or False? Correct the False ones with the correct answer.

1. Dejan Nemčić is a true hero to children in African countries.

2. Nairobi is his African base from where he travels to other countries.

3. He studied Geography in Osijek.

4. The children are always surprised when he comes back.

5. His student's don't like mystery Skype classes.

5 Listening

"Afrika možemo zajedno" is a project that Dejan Nemčić started a couple of years ago. There are a lot of charities that help African countries and Aid for Africa is one of the biggest. Listen to a radio programme about the organisation. Complete the sentences with the numbers in the box.

Aid for Africa is an alliance of charity nonprofit organizations working on the ground in sub-Saharan Africa to make a difference to the lives of children, families and communities.

In January 2004, its first year of operation, Aid for Africa brought together nineteen charity organizations to be part of the alliance. Over the last fifteen years Aid for Africa membership has included more than eighty members. Today we support fifty nonprofit organizations that are working on the ground with African partners throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Formed from a concern and idea, the alliance is now a reality. As already mentioned, we are a 501 nonprofit organization and our members pay no member fee, no application fees, service charges or membership dues and we are committed to maintaining low management and fundraising costs.

In the 2015/2016 fiscal year, 89.8% of its revenue supported programme activities and during the last three years, just 8.8% of Aid for Africa's total revenue was used for administrative and fundraising expenses. We are very proud of Africa Classroom Connection which builds and improves schools in South Africa and Malawi serving children aged 5 to 21, 40% of whom are AIDS orphans.

The organization’s model engages the local community which raises 5% - about $500 of the overall cost of each classroom. The remaining 95%, or $10,000 per classroom, is paid through partner organizations like ACC. Each classroom serves 45 children, year after year. ACC's board of directors covers all administrative expenses, which ensures that 100% of donations support our work in Africa, allowing us to help the maximum number of students possible.


6 Write the numbers

Write the following numbers:



















7 Write about you

Answer the questions about you, write the numbers using words.

For example: How old are you? I am fifteen.