Author: Mladen Lakić
In November 1999, a group of parents and friends of children with developmental disabilities decided to establish an association, the first of its kind in the Pale Municipality, one of the municipalities in the city of East Sarajevo.
Today, 23 years later, the Association Sunce is not only the first but still the only association of this kind in this Municipality and probably the most famous association in this city.
The focus of their work is social inclusion of their members, improvement of legal regulations, building own capacities, training and development of programs, implementation of project activities, establishment of cooperation with relevant institutions and individuals, media representation, and public engagement and networking.
The Association Sunce currently has 68 members, mostly people with reduced intellectual abilities.
The president of the Association and one of its founders, Milenko Vujinović, said that he is proud of all that Sunce has done for its users in the past decades.
He reminds us of the beginnings, and the general situation in society, when it comes to people with developmental disabilities.
“In the beginning, we rented premises. No area necessary for the life of our members and families was adapted for their needs. As for healthcare, we did not have medicines. We got them through humanitarian aid from abroad and we did not have professional staff, so we went to Serbia and other countries for treatment,” says Vujanović.
He points out that children with developmental disabilities were not registered in the Center for Social Work, and that the first children from this category were enrolled in schools only in 2005.
It was just part of a complex mosaic of problems that children with developmental disabilities and their families face in their daily lives.
Sunce was established with the desire to act as a day care center for children, where they will have the support of professional staff but with the strong involvement of parents and friends.
“Since its establishment, we have organized the support of professional staff – pedagogues, psychologists, speech therapists and special education teachers. A speech therapist currently works in the Association for all the children of the Pale Municipality, provided by the Municipality. When it comes to our local community, we have a very good cooperation with the Center for Mental Health and Pale Elementary School,” Vujinović points out.
He recalls the years when persons with developmental disabilities did not have a regulated legal status when exercising their rights in the field of health care, but also other areas as well, which caused numerous problems.
The Association Sunce focused part of its work on advocacy initiatives, and Vujinović points out that significant progress has been made, although cooperation with institutions, either at the entity level or at the state level, could be far more effective.
“The system is slow to respond. Nevertheless, we managed to fight for the inclusion of persons with developmental disabilities. We significantly influenced on the changes of the Law on Social Protection from 2012, especially when it comes to daily care, but also care at home,” he says.
One of the main goals of the Association Sunce was to create conditions for their own premises, which would be conditional for day care, for the largest number of preschool and school children. The wish, which ultimately came true, was that the members of the Association would not be excluded, on a daily basis, from their parents, friends, and people who are close to them. Working and studying in a familiar atmosphere, says Vujinović, gives the best results.
He explains that the current building of the Association Sunce was financed by the Italian government. He is proud of his long-term cooperation with Italy.
“We provided the legal and technical conditions that had to be met, and their engineer designed the facility, and that’s why we have these wonderful rooms today,” says Vujinović.
When it comes to the financing of the Association, as with many others, the greatest emphasis is on projects and cooperation with various foundations, while a smaller part of the costs is also financed by the Pale Municipality.
“With the exception of the Pale Municipality, which supports the Association in the amount of material needs for communal services, there is no other help. For the last four to five years, emphasis has also been placed on sports. We mostly rely on the projects we do and in that way we provide the necessary funds,” says Milenko.
Unfortunately, Sunce still does not have a complete staff, but they try to provide the children with the most comfortable stay and all kinds of support, which they certainly deserve.
A speech therapist, as well as a pedagogue, regularly works with children and youth, and is available to them in all situations. Also, a volunteer psychologist is available, who regularly talks with children, as well as the parents.
A small number of people, including volunteers, as well as professional staff, work diligently day in and day out, in order to improve the work of this community even more.
Art workshops, music therapy, sports – these are just some of the activities that the Association Sunce provides every day.
Vujinović explains that not only children who are members of the Association come for treatment by a speech therapist employed by the Association, but also children included in inclusive education, and children who do not have any psychophysical disabilities.
“Children regularly come for treatment and we work mainly with speech disorders, pervasive developmental disorders. There is evident progress among the children, and we have excellent cooperation with other institutions, as well as with parents. “Not only children from the Association come to the treatments, but also children from kindergartens and elementary schools, as recommended by educators or teachers,” says Vujinović.
The Association implements many other activities, and in almost all of them, the parents of the residents are involved as assistants. Vujinović gives us a vivid example of parents’ involvement in daily work: “As an association, we don’t have staff to maintain hygiene, so all these tasks are done by parents”.
Vujinović points out that when it comes to the Association’s cooperation with the local community, all those who come into contact with children have very good cooperation through the Child Protection Group in the Pale Municipality.
This group brings together all those who have contact with children: representatives of municipality, police, health center, center for social work, kindergartens, schools, non-governmental organizations.
“All of us who work with children are part of that network. We meet once a month to exchange information, identify problems, and implement joint actions, because that is the strength of around 24 people who are in those institutions. If we can’t solve some things, then it’s very difficult for someone else to do it in the local community, isn’t it?” says Vujinović.
The inclusion of persons with developmental disabilities in work processes is an important segment. Association Sunce managed to organize training for 20 people, not only from its Association but from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina, after which they acquired skills in beekeeping as a branch that has significant potential for self-employment.
“We implemented a project financed by the European Union, on the basis of which 20 people from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the same number from Montenegro were trained in beekeeping. That way, in the future, they will have their own sources of income,” our interviewee points out.
In the Association Sunce, a honey packaging facility was also launched, where one person is always employed, and in accordance with the needs of the season, sometimes two.
Sunce has implemented a large number of projects together with international organizations, but also many sport successes, of which they are very proud.
Vujanović highlights the achievements of the Sunce sports section members. Milada Elez, who plays table tennis and shot put, and is a champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2019 she was declared the sportswoman of the year in Republika Srpska, in the category of persons with disabilities.
The Association can also boast of the great result achieved by Njegoš Mihajlović, who won third place as a member of the BiH national team at the Special Olympic Games in Dubai.
Since 2002, Sunce has been included in the Special Olympics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and has sports activities and sections, which are held in the form of three-month training sessions.
“Some of the best results, that is, the majority achieved by the representatives of BiH at the European, world and regional competitions of the Special Olympics, were achieved precisely by competitors from our Association. Given that we do not have specialized trainers and sports workers, we as parents conduct training sessions so that the child can master the basic skills and rules of sports. I mostly run it, but I also have two or three parents who help me,” says Vujinović.
With joint efforts, parents and friends gathered around the Association Sunce help athletes who reach the very top in special disciplines. Such a result, concludes Vujinović, shows how important the power of community is when it comes to the life of persons with developmental disabilities.
