A humanitarian campaign for the children of Petrinja by the Slovenian "Zveza prijateljev mladine Slovenije" NGO and Radio-Television Slovenia has managed to collect €67,000 for the construction of the "Our Children" house in Petrinja in the aftermath of last year's earthquake, the Our Children NGO said on Monday.

Based on the wishes of Petrinja residents, and in particular families with children who wish to remain in the town, the funds were collected to build a prefab house that will be used as a play center and to provide psycho-social support and entertainment for children, youth and families.

Various events will be organized there, expert and creative workshops, while the funds collected are also earmarked to purchase equipment and other supplies. The house will also provide help with learning and expert psycho-social assistance for children, adolescents and parents.

The director of Slovenian Television, Natalija Gorscak, said that in the past 50 years Slovenia experienced destructive earthquakes in Kozjansko and Posocje, hence it is aware of the misfortune and powerlessness of people after an earthquake.

“These incidents are very difficult to explain to children and adolescents and it is hard for them to understand. In the hope that their lives will be back to normal as soon as possible, we gladly launched the fund-raising campaign for all of them as part of our December campaign,” she said.

A donation agreement, as the first step towards building the house, was signed by Martina Botuzic-Dzeverlija, the president of the Our Children Petrinja NGO, and Darja Groznik, the president of the “Zveze prijateljev mladine Slovenije” NGO from Slovenia.