{"id":15909,"date":"2019-03-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/zomrela-danica-olexova\/"},"modified":"2019-03-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T00:00:00","slug":"zomrela-danica-olexova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/zomrela-danica-olexova\/","title":{"rendered":"The death of Danica Olexova marked the entire Slovak development community"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the second Sunday in March, an Ethiopian airlines plane crashed on its way from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. No one from<\/em> 157 male and female passengers did not survive. A development worker, Danica Olexova, was also on board. Her tragic departure hit Slovakia hard. The communications manager of ADRA Slovakia, Boba Markovi\u010d Baluchov\u00e1, has tried to write down the moments that best describe Danica, as well as the meritorious work for which she should always be remembered.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why is the crash of this Boeing 737 Max 8 of particular concern to the humanitarian and development community in Slovakia?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On board that plane were male and female passengers from more than 30 countries around the world. Nineteen people from the United Nations (UNDP, WFP, FAO) and a few others from local charities perished. They were on their way to a UN Environment meeting, so they were mainly Experts and experts<\/a> environment, climate change, food security. Among the victims were four Slovak men and women. Our community, which is dedicated to humanitarian aid and development cooperation, was particularly affected by the loss of a close friend, colleague and charity worker, Danica Olexova.
\nMany of us knew her personally. Because almost every journey of Slovak humanitarian, development and development workers started in a house in Nairobi, either with Daria Pech\u00e1\u010dov\u00e1 from St. Elizabeth's University or with Danica Olexov\u00e1 from eRka<\/a>. It was the life of the ever-smiling adventuress Danica, who loved Africa and her work there - in the form of helping the needy - that was extinguished forever on Sunday - on board a plane from Ethiopia to Kenya. We still can't come to terms with it...<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What charity projects was Danica involved in?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Danica Olexov\u00e1<\/a> began its mission in Kenya more than a decade ago. Not everyone can last in a so-called developing country for so long, and in conditions that people in Europe cannot even imagine. In order to make it, one has to really believe in what one is doing, to have enormous commitment and self-denial and faith. Not only faith in God, but also faith in the success of the projects that the person (in Danica's case, the personality) is coordinating, and also faith in the local people for whom the aid and support from Slovakia is intended.<\/p>\n

The respected Austrian development organisation Horizon3000 employed Danica in Nairobi as their field worker for five years. She was an important link between donors from Slovakia and Austria, the recipients of concrete aid directly in Kenya and the implementers of the projects that came out of the carol collections.
\nIt was directly linked to the Good News Carol Collection, which gives people in sub-Saharan Africa a chance for a better life. A few years ago, she returned to Slovakia, where she was in charge of eRko's volunteer program, Kenya's Good News development projects and working on methodological materials within the framework of global development education. All important areas, directly related to people and field experience.<\/p>\n

A positive example and role model for Danica was her aunt Frantiska - a nun who has been working for a long time on a project in South Africa, which is dedicated to helping and supporting youth and children affected by HIV\/AIDS. South Africa was the first African country Danica visited twenty years ago. She also helped in the preparation and production of mission document<\/a> in this area.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

How did you meet and where did you two meet in particular?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ten years ago, she helped a colleague in the editorial office of the Catholic Newspaper with the processing of stories for the Missions section (now Missions and Development). Even then, Danica's name was often mentioned by young people who decided to volunteer on the African continent. A year later, I visited Kenya for the first time myself, and, as it happens, we had a starting point and a safe haven at Danica's project house.
\nPersonally, we may not have always been able to give her important feedback and express our gratitude sufficiently, but many of us were impressed by her approach to her work and the environment in which she moved.
\nI admired her courage. She regularly visited the slums herself because she knew the dynamics and the population. Such knowledge and experience is not easily gained, it requires building trust and discernment. Even when she was occasionally robbed somewhere, she didn't panic... Despite her work responsibilities, she found time to be quiet - getting up early and attending the local 6am mass. These sometimes stretched from an hour to three hours, and were not only in English, but mainly in Swahili...<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

How could and should people in Slovakia remember Danica?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Danica was a believer, but she did not have the savior syndrome, she kept her feet firmly on the ground. She knew how to cope with complications and had an eye for detail. What she couldn't put into words, she captured with her camera lens. She photographed natural scenes, perhaps ordinary at first sight, but increasingly extraordinary in European reality. She sometimes remarked, with a smile and over a cup of Ethiopian coffee, that every filmmaker visits Kenya only once or twice; few will return regularly. She was right. I, too, only made it there twice with filming.
\nBut one filmmaker did make it through, perhaps because of the friendly bond that has formed between them over the past eleven years. Branislav Vincze works in a rather different world, but he and Danica shared the same passion and a similar vision - how to make good visible... Together they traveled through three African countries and their collaboration resulted in several films for the eRko organization and the promotion of Good News - not so much about the bleak poverty and life in the slums, but about the talents and aspirations of the local youth, who just need a little bit of our attention and support.
\nDanica did not appear in any of Brian's films. She was modest and did not care about fame. Today we know that as a long-time missionary, she would undoubtedly deserve her own film about her work, and not only in Kenya.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Danica also led the eRko volunteer programme in Slovakia. How was her advice valuable?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Her pre-departure preparation, coupled with personal stories from a multicultural and multiethnic environment, as well as from observing ethical standards and respect for fellow human beings in practice, was invaluable. No handbook can provide so much of this... At the same time, Danica tried not to perpetuate stereotypes about Africa. She was able to explain the actions of her interlocutors and resolved possible misunderstandings by putting them into context. She would never label any of the locals as lazy freeloaders. She knew her neighbours' stories and supported the community around her project house and project sites in every way she could. Hairdressers, seamstresses, farmers, cooks, etc., although she herself cooked and baked fantastically. With her infectious smile and tenacity, she continues to be a role model for young girls, future volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

How are Slovak humanitarian and development organisations coping with this loss?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The entire Slovak community of development and humanitarian volunteers, volunteers and field workers is still in shock. Especially in Danica's home organisation eRko, but also in our organisation ADRA Slovakia and other members of the NGO Platform.
\nI can't imagine what we would do if something similar happened in our organisation. If a colleague who was only supposed to travel for a few weeks to check on the progress of projects in the field had left us for good overnight. If she had gone to arrange the filming of a documentary on the quarter-centenary of the carol collection and never returned.
\nSuch an early departure of a young person who is doing meritorious work on behalf of the most vulnerable is always very disappointing. None of us can be prepared for this, not even humanitarian and development organisations, which honestly train before sending their people to post-conflict countries in safety, occupational health, psycho-hygiene...
\nHowever, I believe that we will not forget Danica and will continue to remember her. And that the film that she was in the field preparing these days will be successful and will be dedicated to her in its entirety. She deserves it...<\/p>\n

Text: ADRA Team, Photo: Branislav Vincze, Dobr\u00e1 novina<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

V druh\u00fa marcov\u00fa nede\u013eu havarovalo lietadlo spolo\u010dnosti Ethiopian airlines na ceste z Addis Abeba do Nairobi. P\u00e1d nik zo 157 pasa\u017eierov a pasa\u017eierok nepre\u017eil. Na palube bola i rozvojov\u00e1 pracovn\u00ed\u010dka, Danica Olexov\u00e1. Jej tragick\u00fd odchod Slovensko mimoriadne zasiahol. Komunika\u010dn\u00e1 mana\u017e\u00e9rka organiz\u00e1cie ADRA Slovensko, Boba Markovi\u010d Baluchov\u00e1, sa sna\u017eila sp\u00edsa\u0165 momenty, ktor\u00e9 Danicu najviac vystihovali, ako […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":15910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[292,293,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-novinky","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}