For several years, the Center for Peace Building organization from Sanski Most has been organizing the Peace Caravan. Thanks to the Caravan of Peace, a large number of young people have the opportunity to visit several cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, observe, learn, socialize and get to know the slightly different customs of different cities in our country.
The Peace Caravan is traditionally preceded by the Peace Week , which this year hosted around 20 international participants. We hung out with them on September 19 in Sanski Most and shared the experiences of our employees and their never-ending path to activism. Let’s go back to the Caravan of Peace and the young people who take advantage of the opportunities on their way.
This year’s first destination visited by the participants of the Peace Caravan was the town on Vrbas – Banja Luka. They enjoyed a tour of the city, visited important cultural landmarks and discussed various topics important to young people, while mostly thinking about the opportunities for young people in our country. After Banja Luka, the participants visited Tuzla, learned the meaning and origin of the city’s name, toured the city and its sights, being delighted by the fact that Tuzla is the only city where they can see six different places of worship from the same place. They left Tuzla for Mostar! The participants enjoyed visiting this city as well, learning about the similarities and differences in our country, making friends and exchanging opinions.
And after those tours, the team came to Sarajevo and, among other things, visited the premises of the KULT Institute for Youth Development.
The employees of the Institute spoke with young people – about the work of the Institute and the strong connection with young people, who are woven into its vision and mission. Young people had the opportunity to hear about various trainings conducted by the Institute, which to a large extent often determine the future of young participants, about various support programs for civil society organizations, youth rights, strategies for young people and numerous other topics important for young people. All young people had the opportunity to ask everything they were interested in when it comes to the Institute’s work with and for young people, about the various experiences in that work, challenges and positive sides, and about the civil sector in general.
“I signed up for the Caravan of Peace because I recognized it as an excellent opportunity to meet new people and cities in BiH, but also to exchange opinions with my peers. Today’s visit was my first meeting with the Institute, and I had previously heard about the Institute as a leading non-governmental organization working with young people. I like how this all sounds and maybe in the near future I will visit the Institute for some reason” , says Imran Šupuk, a participant from Sanski Most.
“My journey with the Peace Building Center began a few years ago and I have been a participant in their activities ever since. It’s my first time on the Peace Caravan, I signed up to get to know people and cities, because generally when we young people attend a seminar in a city, we spend our time there, we don’t have the opportunity to visit several cities in our country at this pace and in this atmosphere. In this way, we get to know the cultures of the cities we visit. Although these are all cities in one country, each one is special in something – it is not the same in Banja Luka, Tuzla, Mostar and Sarajevo. Many young people had the opportunity to visit a city for the first time in their lives, here I was in Tuzla for the first time thanks to the Caravan of Peace. I am also glad that we had the opportunity to visit different cultural sights, but also to create critical thinking and not have prejudices” , says Amina Bećirević, a participant of the Peace Caravan from Ključ.
The Institute for Youth Development KULT thanks this cheerful and motivated team for their visit. They brought additional energy to the premises of the Institute, showed once again that young people are the force that brings change and were an additional motivation for the Institute to continue stronger and better for all young people who want to be active and be a change in their community.
The Peace Building Center is a partner organization that previously participated in the organizational capacity building program supported through the Strength of the Local.
Until your next visit – visit mladi.org!
Source: mladi.org
