Education is a prerequisite for a happy life. However, not every child has access to it. That is why the H. Stepic CEE Charity, together with the Austrian-Bosnian Cultural Association MEDO, took action to improve the education of pupils, who mainly live in the returning areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina refugees and go to school there. During the war between 1992 and 1995, especially nine municipalities in the north-east of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Zvornik, Bratunac, Srebrenica, Vlasenica, Lopare, Ugljevik, Milići, Bijeljina, and Janja) experienced tragic destruction and loss.
Many people fled, in order to escape from the war’s cruelties. In recent years though, more and more war refugees returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina. A lack of infrastructure and unemployment are only two examples of the existential problems a variety of these returnees is faced with due to the difficult economic situation in the repatriation areas. The result is an everyday fight for survival that forces the affected people to completely neglect their educational training. Most families in this region simply can’t afford education and vocational training for their children, even if they wished nothing more than a solid education for their offspring’s future. The parents cannot even provide their children with exercise books, pencils or a school satchel. Unfortunately, the schools themselves cannot afford to finance the required school equipment.
For that reason, the Charity supports the pupils in the nine returning areas with school material and appropriate equipment, and thereby facilitates their access to better education. The mayors and the school administrations personally nominated the children to assure that the support actually reaches those who are affected the most by these problems. The project promotes the construction as well as the development of the cooperation between Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, the returning families are supported indefinitely. The H. Stepic CEE Charity is deeply concerned for educational work, because sometimes even the smallest contribution – i.e. providing school material – allows improving the basic conditions for a better and more secure future.
