Bosnia & Herzegovina: The Journey
Volunteer Halima Begum was only 5 when the Bosnia conflict took place. “This is the forgotten massacre,” she said, “Young people like me don’t even know about it yet it was our brothers and sisters who were killed. I want to go and tell the Bosnian people that they are not forgotten, we are one global community and their suffering will not go unheard.”
MADE in Europe launched its Journey programme in 2011 and sent a team of 12 young people to Bosnia & Herzegovina in June/July 2011.
The programme aims to revive the Islamic concept of a journey as an act of learning and enrichment, not just a photo opportunity! And it’s not just a physical journey, but a journey of reflection, exploring our motivations for action and contemplating the world around us.
Bosnia has suffered greatly from violence and aggression, and the people have been slowly rebuilding their lives for the past fifteen years. In this context of post-conflict development and reconciliation, we find communities with unique experiences and stories to tell.
Through the volunteers making the journey to understand the experiences of these communities, our own communities here in the UK will be enriched by bringing back new experiences and lessons learned, and raising awareness amongst our communities about issues of global poverty, conflict, and development.
The preparation!
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Volunteers were required to fundraise to cover the cost of their travel and local expenses in Bosnia. They also fundraised for development projects which had been identified by the local partner organisation Prosvjetitelj Muallim. Through football tournaments, an epic trek up Mt Snowdon, mosque collections and cake sales, the volunteers were able to raise enough for two strawberry farms! From February to June, the volunteers took part in a series of workshops which covered:
The programme is accredited with the Gold Volunteer Achievement Award (VAA) so volunteers were supported to identify individual goals to work towards by the end of the programme.
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Two days before beginning their journey, the volunteers had the priviledge of meeting the Grand Mufti of Bosnia, Mustafa Ceric who was delivering the khutbah (sermon) at the East London Mosque. The Grand Mufti gave a very inspiring talk about the vital role that young people have to play in changing the narrative from one of war to peace and tackling the greatest issues of our time including poverty and climate change.
The trip!
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The volunteers lived with families around the Srebrenica area, a region devastated by the war and genocide 15 years ago and supported the families with their day to day tasks including fruit picking, working with livestock and other farming activities. They also set up the strawberry farms which they had fundraised for in the UK which will be a source of sustainable livelihood for local families. The volunteers travelled to Bosnia & Herzegovina as ambassadors of two UK mosques, East London Mosque and the Muslim Community & Education Centre, who supported them to fundraise for the strawberry farms. Prior to the trip, the volunteers collected messages from children attending classes at the mosques which they distributed to school children in Bosnia & Herzegovina The programme also included a 2 day induction at the University of Sarajevo, taking part in the 140km 3 day mars mira (peace march) to re-enact the route that the Bosnians took to flee the Serbian army and attending the Srebrenica massacre memorial service. |
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What now?
On their return to the UK, the volunteers will be sharing their experiences through a series of talks, a photo exhibition, blogs and a documentary. They will also be continuing to fundraise to support the communities in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
You can share in their experiences right now by reading their blogs...
- Wasim Mir talks about their induction at the University of Sarajevo
- Tabassam Hameed blogs about the adventures which were the Mars Mira (peace march)
- Leila Taheri recounts the emotional journey of visiting the memorial at Potocari
Want to go on the next trip?
Applications are now open for the 2012 programme! Apply by 28 November - for more info click here