A popular song says, “Don’t touch my plains, because I’ll return to them,” but one young woman from Slavonia chose to return to Africa.

In the summer of 2024, just after graduating from the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, volunteer Marta Kon travelled to Tanzania for the first time. She spent three months volunteering at St. Anthony’s Orphanage and working on our Godparent Program. In the regions of Monduli Juu, Morogoro, and Mbeya, she visited students supported through sponsorships and met new children still dreaming of going to school. Marta shared her experience on the HRT show “Kod nas doma” >>

When someone from Slavonia goes on a long journey, there’s usually tamburica involved. So her parents, Melita and Dražen, although a little nervous about sending their only daughter to distant Africa, opened the gates of their family ranch near Županja. Together with over a hundred friends, they organised a charity evening with tamburica music and barbecue, a real Slavonian send-off to support Marta and the children she would care for.

That was last year. Since then, Marta has started working, and for her first summer holiday, she decided to return to Africa. Which meant another evening on the ranch, this time with a surprise.

Around a hundred cheerful guests returned to support Marta, and they discovered that her father, Dražen Kon, and his longtime friend and colleague, Hrvoje Gutzmirtl, would be joining her in Tanzania. The two veterinarians have planned how to spend their three weeks: playing and spending time with the children (with some surprises we won’t reveal yet!), helping local families with animal care, and traveling north to assist in building a primary school.

The evening on the ranch was full of music, laughter, and stories about Africa. It ended in the spirit of kindness and community. All money raised will go through Kolajna ljubavi to buy livestock for the orphanage.

Because wherever Slavonians go, they don’t come empty-handed. Along with full suitcases for the children, they will bring goodwill, smiles, knowledge, and that special spirit of Slavonia under the African sun.