Friday. Market day in Bugojno. The day when this municipality becomes the center of central Bosnia, when the population of Kupres, Travnik, Prozor, both Vakuf (Donji and Gornji) and other municipalities that gravitate towards Bugojno gather in this city. If you witness a meeting of acquaintances, who mostly meet in Bugojno only on Fridays, when they arrange to meet and have coffee after fulfilling their regular duties, you will often hear that the planned activities of one or both interlocutors include ” stopping by Šida .” Kalabić Šida is the president of the Association of Women ‘Đerđef ‘, the most famous humanitarian association in the area of central Bosnia. Friday is not the only day when citizens stop by the premises of Đerđef to show financial or other support for one of the numerous actions launched to save and improve human lives.
We spoke with President Đerđefa in the premises of this association located in the city center. Šida explains that he rents the premises from the Municipality of Bugojno. Although the space where Đerđef works is cramped and is only ten square meters in size, this is one of the most frequented buildings in Bugojno. We interrupted the conversation with Šida several times. People come to give donations for various actions that this association carries out, and it is interesting that a good part of them want to do it anonymously. There are also several volunteers in the room who are getting ready to complete the daily tasks. The tasks are different in relation to the projects that Đerđef is implementing at the given moment. They include the distribution or collection of humanitarian funds, conversations with donors, preparation of cultural and entertainment programs, which are regularly attended by popular figures from the public life of BiH. Many popular musicians, actors and athletes contributed to Đerđef successfully carrying out some of his numerous activities. While we are talking, a local seller of perfumes, glasses and similar goods comes to Đerđef and brings several of his products as a donation for the raffle that will be organized at the next humanitarian event. Kalbić says that donors and people who support the association in other ways come from all walks of life, adding that this is just one of the proofs that people recognize them as an inseparable and essential part of the community.
Kalbić: Our mission is to help those left outside the system
Although ‘Đerđef’ has already established itself as an important pillar of the local community, it was actually founded as an association for the production of traditional Bosnian costumes. Šida Kalbić tells us that the story of Đerđef started much earlier, when a group of women self-organized with the intention of improving their household budgets through the production and sale of traditional Bosnian costumes and other handicrafts. ” We wanted to preserve tradition, some of the traditional crafts and the traditional way of life. That’s why we named the association Đerđef . Some of our members are still engaged in the production of handicrafts and traditional costumes of the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the sale of which a part of the income goes to the Association, that is, to the activities and projects we implement ,” Kalbić emphasizes. She added that they registered in 2008. ” From the very beginning, we have actively participated in various humanitarian activities, through the donation of our products or part of our earnings ,” Kalbić pointed out.
After their participation in humanitarian actions became regular and recognisable, people began to turn to them more and more often for help with the procurement of medicines, money donations or other types of assistance for the most vulnerable categories of society: the poor, the sick and the disenfranchised. Soon this association began to independently organize various humanitarian activities with the aim of collecting money, clothes, food and medicine for those in need. Šida Kalbić points out that their goal and mission has become to help those who were left outside the system, or for whom the help of the system was not enough to realize some basic rights. She emphasized that the focus of their work was on people who need medical help and cannot get it in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or at least they cannot within the period in which they should get that help. So Đerđef re-registered as a humanitarian association back in 2010.
” About six years ago, we established contact with a clinic in Turkey and we started sending patients there for whom there was no possibility of treatment in BiH and the region. As time passed, contacts with foreign health institutions expanded, so Đerđef established contacts with 33 clinics in Turkey over the last seven years, where we send most of the patients whose treatment we provide funds for. We also made contacts with clinics in Italy and Austria. We did not immediately start sending patients abroad. At the beginning, we provided support to those who needed financial assistance for treatment in domestic health institutions, public or private , “explains Šida. She underlined that although they mainly organize help for people from Central Bosnia Canton, they did not refuse to help people from other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kalbić says that so far they have helped treat people from Tuzla, Mostar, Banja Luka and other cities. She proudly added that most of the stories in which they participated as support, and sometimes as the last straw, ended successfully.
Driven and supported by over 400 success stories
The number of people who have been helped in treatment or in other ways gathered around Đerđef is about 400, emphasized the two volunteers who, after completing their tasks, came to Đerđef’s premises to submit a report on the activities performed. Šida adds that in addition to providing treatment assistance in BiH and abroad, Đerđef is also active in other aspects of humanitarian work. She states that although the activities of this association are expanding, the goal remains the same: improving the standard of living of as many socially vulnerable citizens as possible. As an example, he cites the construction of houses for three people from the social and veteran categories in Bugojno and Donji Vakuf. ” We recently built a house for one family in the Vodovod settlement in Novi Travnik. All those who participated in the work on this project were volunteers. We didn’t pay a single daily wage, and that’s proof of the altruism of our people ,” the president of the association, Đerđef, points out with pride. We learn that most of these houses were built during the coronavirus pandemic, when the functioning of the whole society was very difficult, which gives these activities even more importance.
Speaking about the financing of Đerđef, Kalbić underlines that membership fees are the financial basis for the functioning of this non-governmental organization, adding that this money covers basic administrative and utility costs, while most of it is used to purchase materials for workshops organized by Đerđef. He adds that they occasionally have the support of different levels of government. In this sense, she cited financial support from the cantonal Ministry of Economy, that is, Minister Seđad Milanović. Kalbić also says that their workshop, which is located in Vileše near Bugojno, received an incentive to purchase the necessary machines, which enabled the work of members who are engaged in the production of traditional costumes and other handicrafts. ” So that today at least 10 women are earning independently. At the same time, we create significantly more than before, and 30 percent of the total earnings of everything we sell goes to humanitarian purposes ,” emphasizes Kalbić. According to the president of the ‘Đerđef’ association, several of their projects have received support from the cantonal and municipal budgets, adding that this is a new practice that she hopes will be continued and improved, as each of these projects is multiple beneficial for the entire local community. She emphasized that part of the money that the Association receives as support should be used for scholarships for children from families from the margins of society. ” Last year, we managed to organize the distribution of packets for the youngest from the social categories ,” says the president.
The community constantly proves its philanthropy
Kalbić also states that people in this region are philanthropists and that they readily express their determination to contribute to the philanthropic activities of this association. She added that this applies especially to young people who are always ready to use their time working as volunteers. ” Đerđef has several dozen active members, but from campaign to campaign that number rises to several hundred. Young people work in our premises, collect money, participate in the organization of concerts and other events, and do administrative work. This shows that they are an important and valuable part of our society ,” underlines Šida. We learned from the volunteers who attended the interview in the premises of Đerđef that the number of active volunteers is around 20, while this number increases significantly during the larger actions they organize. Šida adds that in several other municipalities in SBK they have volunteers who are at the head of all the activities carried out in these local communities, and that each of them can count on dozens of people ready to contribute to the community through socially useful work. When asked if they are satisfied with the contribution of the community to the work and activities of Đerđef, Kalbić says that they are more than satisfied with the support of citizens, but that the support of official institutions could be more significant. She added that it would be fair to say that the Municipality of Bugojno quite regularly supports the projects of this association.
At the end of the conversation, we ask about the thank you notes and acknowledgments that cover most of the walls in the Đerđef premises. There are several hundred letters of thanks for supporting humanitarian, sports, cultural and other social actions. Part of this collection are awards for humanitarian work. Volunteers say that this is their daily motivation for further work to support society, while Šida emphasizes that her favorite are the thank you notes she receives from children who have successfully recovered with the support of Đerđef. He adds that the awards, including the one for person of the year from the municipality of Bugojno in 2021, are an indication that the Association’s work is recognized by the community and that they are on the right track. She expressed her hope that Đerđef will continue to be what it has been all these years – a place of gathering, conversation and mutual support, that is, an important pillar and support of the entire community.
Written by: Nermin Čusto
This story was written thanks to the generous support of the American people through the “Local Works” program of the American Agency for International Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina (USAID). The author and “Network for Peace Building” are solely responsible for the content of the story. The views expressed in the story do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
