Bosnia Project

Project Aim:

The main aim of the project was to organise recreational, educational and sport activities for the children who were orphaned and for the youth who were living in extreme poverty. We started the project by employing two youth workers, one male and one female to work with the children. These activities were done over the weekends. Project aims to help children who have been disadvantaged with their school work and any social bereavements or troubles as well as providing a safe and healthy environment for them to learn and play. There were ten refugee camps in the vicinity of Tuzla and out of these the Bosnia Children’s Project operated in five camps.

These ten refugee camps were:

Tinia, Mihatovici, Spionica, Grah Potok, Doborovci Gracanica, Karauala Zivinice, Litve Banovici, Memici, Grbic and Jezivac;

In 2006 there was an expansion by the project to include a bigger geographical area and populace.

Since 2006 Bosnia Children’s Project successfully sponsored a Youth centre to be opened in Zivinice. This camp is set up to offer wholesome fun and activities for the young children and youths.

Other activities organized by the MYF include

Organising educational classes for children.

Organising Events for adults.

Providing school books and sports equipment to the poorer children and orphans.

Sports activities, tournaments and day leisure visits are conducted for the teenagers and children in a positive atmosphere.

Social gatherings are organised for the youth again in a good positive atmosphere.

During the holy month of Ramadhan, iftar(break-fast) is provided for the young Muslims.

At Eid celebrations (both Eid ul Fitr and Eid al Adha) parties are held for children and gifts are arranged.

Day trips to the towns of Zenica and Sarajevo.

Organising student exchange trips where youth from the UK went over to Bosnia for ten days in the Summer of 2003 and similarly in 2006 Bosnian children came over to Manchester.

Another  2 week rip organized for Adults and children from UK to Bosnia in 2007.

Individual families are visited for moral support.

Camp competitions were arranged in Sport, Art and other areas and were held over the Summer and Spring months.

Conclusion:

The project has been running solid for sevens now. We have established ourselves and have expanded in terms of activities we do and the area we cover. We now operate in Eastern Bosnia. We have many more proposals for improvement and expansion of our work. In order to maximise our efforts we require a Mini Bus for transportation of Children between camps and activities. There are many various ways you can help us keep running the project so please feel free to contact us for more information.

If you have any further enquiries please email bcp@myf.org.uk