Founded in 2003, KERIC is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation working mainly with children and young people aged 4 – 30, as well as adults. It offers a wide range of activities with an added international dimension to develop the personality of children and youth. KERIC’s mission is to connect the region Kysuce with Europe and the whole world.

Voluntary service projects comprise conversational language courses for children and adults, cooperation with schools, a home for the elderly and a charity.

The Slovak Republic was formed on 1 January 1993 after the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic split on 31 December 1992. The Slovak Republic is land-locked and borders the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and Austria. It covers an area of 49,039 square kilometers, much of which is mountainous. The population is 5.4 million (May 2011 census). The Slovak Republic celebrates its National Day (Constitution Day) on 1 September. The capital is Bratislava. Slovakia joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004 and the euro zone on 1 January 2009.

The Slovak landscape is noted primarily for its mountainous nature, with the Carpathian Mountains extending across most of the northern half of the country. Amongst these mountain ranges are the high peaks of the Fatra-Tatra Area (including Tatra Mountains, Greater Fatra and Lesser Fatra), Slovak Ore Mountains, Slovak Central Mountains or Beskids. The largest lowland is the fertile Danubian Lowland in the southwest, followed by the Eastern Slovak Lowland in the southeast. The development of Slovak culture reflects the country’s rich folk tradition, in addition to the influence of broader European trends. The impact of centuries of cultural repression and control by foreign governments is also evident in much of Slovakia’s art, literature, and music.