SARAJEVO – All children deserve the right to education and the conditions for a happy upbringing, is the motto of the center of the International Solidarity Forum Association (MFS) – EMMAUS, located in Potočari. As part of the center, there is boarding accommodation for dozens of children from the areas of Srebrenica, Bratunac, Vlasenica, Milić, Konjević Polje and a part of Zvornik.
The project of boarding school accommodation for children in Potočari has existed since 2013. The basic idea of the project is to provide children from remote areas around Srebrenica with the conditions for a smooth process of schooling and education, by providing the basic conditions that every child deserves.
Due to the great distance of rural areas, poor road communication, and the poor social condition of the returnees, the schooling of children living in the remote surrounding areas of Srebrenica is largely absent.
Elmedin Škrebo, assistant director of the MFS-EMMAUS Association, said that the boarding center for Bosniak children in Podrinje is one of their activities, which is no longer a project but a program, given that it has existed for many years.
“This will now be the 16th school year that we have been working with the reception and placement of children in our capacity in Potočari. We have been building this for years through our international youth work camps and with the support of various donors. We are glad that it serves its purpose today, that these capacities are expanding day by day”, explained Škrebo.
In the immediate vicinity of the boarding school there is also the Home for Mothers of Srebrenica “Hatidža Mehmedović”, the construction of which began in July 2019, and which was opened two years ago. This House is also a project of MFS-EMMAUS.
“The first employees of the Home for the Elderly were precisely five children who were our users, and now they are our employees. In a way, this is our help to returnees in terms of their education, growing up, socialization through all that we offer them here, and ultimately employment. And through this work, they also take care of their mothers and ours who are from their area”, said Škrebo.
In addition to the educational component, there is also an educational component that is indispensable, which implies the acquisition of knowledge, skills and habits for the growth of the user’s children into independent and stable personalities.
“I can freely say that the boarding school is one of the brightest points in our work, given that it has existed for a long time and bodes well for the future of our country. If there were no boarding schools, 20 to 30 families would not be in Podrinje, or they would go to other countries or the Federation of BiH for the education of their children, but also for their existence. That’s true because that’s what I heard from conversations with the parents of those children, as well as the local imams who support us in all of this,” Škrebo pointed out.
Accommodation in a boarding school includes a full week’s stay, accommodation, food, transport to and from school, as well as support from professional staff in completing homework and help in learning. Computer science, English, Turkish and German language courses, as well as other social activities, are also organized for children.
“Here, we invest a lot of effort in the area of children’s socialization. The visits we have during the year are very important. Staying at the boarding school is free. Parents in Podrinje are additionally burdened with existence. Here we have the problem of the distance of Potočari, or Srebrenica, from the villages in this area. Not only children from the area of Srebrenica live here, but also from Bratunac, Vlasenica, Milić, Zvornik. This year, most of them were from the Bratunac area,” Škrebo said.
That the boarding school is a bright spot for these children is also shown by the fact that bus tickets are very expensive from other cities in Podrinje to Srebrenica, but also that there are not as many buses as in some other cities. There is no public transport to most villages.
In the boarding school there are children who come from rural areas, the surroundings of Srebrenica, Vlasenica, Bratunac, Konjević Polje, a part of Zvornik and Milić.
“Last school year, we had 63 children in the boarding school. These are children from the fifth to ninth grade of elementary school, because there are no regional schools. Also, we have children from high schools, occupations they have in Srebrenica. We expect approximately the same number of children this year as well”, emphasized Škrebo.
About 70 percent of the boarding school is girls.
“This is the situation because this boarding school enabled girls to enroll in their desired occupations. Most of the ‘better’ schools are on second shift. There are few parents who will let a girl come home at night for her safety. It happened that children dropped out of school for that reason and ended up not finishing anything,” explained Škrebo.
According to him, the donors who help them realize this activity are different.
“We have the Union of Municipalities of the Turkic World (TDBB), which has been supporting children’s stay here for many years. I can freely say that without them and their support, this boarding school would probably work at a reduced capacity or maybe even not at all. There are also a couple of business entities that have taken upon themselves the obligation to finance the children’s stay here, then our Islamic community, and I mean the funds they have at their disposal. There are also our congregations in the diaspora,” said Škrebo.
Written by: Vesna Bešić
This story was written thanks to the generous support of the American people through the “Local Works” program of the United States Agency for International Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina (USAID). The content of the story is solely the responsibility of the author and the “Network for Building Peace”. The views expressed in the story do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
