Almost one fifth of Bosnians live in poverty, according to UNICEF this affects 170,000 children who live mainly in rural areas. Educational deficits are also a particular problem for children who grow up poor. With our project "Centres of Hope", together with our project partner EMMAUS, with whom we are working for the first time, we are giving tuition, remedial courses and hot meals to more than 150 of our six to 14-year-old protégés in three day centres. The centres in Doboj, Zvornik and Srebrenica, each about two hours from the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, are the only places for the children to learn in peace and quiet and to participate in tutoring and other courses adapted to their needs.
The aim of the project is to reduce school drop-out rates, provide children with quality leisure activities, support them materially and psychologically, and provide them with daily hot meals - not a matter of course for them. The charity pays for the meals: Hungry children cannot learn. Only with a full stomach is it possible for them to concentrate on their homework and learning content. With our project, we give our protégés the chance to graduate from school and thus find a job, so that they can lead a self-determined life away from poverty later on.
"I am very happy to be able to help needy children in my country of origin. The situation in Bosnia worries me of course, but there are organisations like ours that are helping to improve it: So they see that the children are better off, they can go to school, have something to eat. This project makes me proud because we actively participate in the future of our protégés," says Irhad Fazlic, manager of our projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
