Caritas’s Holy Family Kindergarten in Sarajevo organized a voluntary action to collect gifts for children in Petrinja during the Advent season.
Caritas’s Holy Family Kindergarten in Sarajevo organized a voluntary action to collect gifts for children in Petrinja during the Advent season. Slightly more than 600 packages were prepared and made by parents and children of the kindergarten, together with educators and employees of Caritas of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese.
At the end of December 2020, Petrinja was hit by a series of earthquakes and destroyed a large part of the infrastructure (half of the city), seven people were killed and several dozen people were injured. In addition to the destroyed infrastructure, the daily life of the inhabitants changed because the consequences of the earthquake also affected the psychological state of the inhabitants whose struggle for survival has begun and is still ongoing.
The consequences of this disaster were also felt by the children, which is why the Caritas kindergarten, the Holy Family, came up with the idea of providing support to children. The director of this kindergarten, Kata Ostojić, said: “Since the beginning of the series of earthquakes that hit Petrinja and the surrounding areas, we at Caritas have felt solidarity with people in need. As Caritas who takes care of children, we have a special way of sympathizing with children and parents who have certainly been affected by these earthquakes and have affected their lives. We thought about how to help and the idea of collecting ‘For Petrinja’ gifts seemed like a good Advent action that we could all get involved in. Personally, I am very happy that all parents responded to this action and the fact that neither some media nor politics can destroy what is good within every person, a person who shows that love really has no limits.”
The collection of gifts lasted throughout Advent, and the donation and visit to kindergartens in Petrinja was organized on Tuesday, December 14. The visit began in the kindergarten “Petrinjčica” where the employees of Caritas kindergarten were welcomed by the director of the kindergarten Nataša Vidović with representatives of the City of Petrinja. “Petrinjčica remembers this year as extremely challenging and demanding, in which we passed a great life exam. We will soon be marking a year since the unfortunate event that changed our lives. We have entered a month of peace, hope, love and prosperity. A month when we especially remember the gifts of our loved ones. Donation is a gift to every child and a gift to every employee donated to us by Caritas of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, it is invaluable to know that there are people who think of us even after so much time has passed. Knowing that we have new friends who will open some new cooperation opportunities between the two countries. Thank you very much, everyone,” she said.
After the kindergarten “Petrinjčica”, the staff visited the kindergarten “St. Mary Magdalene” in Selima, where they also brought gifts that were prepared with great joy by the children from the kindergarten “Holy Family”, together with their parents. The staff was greeted by Matea Faltak with homemade cookies made by a mother from kindergarten in gratitude for this wonderful activity. Matea expressed her great gratitude that the children and staff from this kindergarten have not been forgotten because the media story about Petrinja has decreased, and thus every help and attention has become less frequent.
The director of Caritas of the Sisak diocese, Kristina Radić, welcomed the representatives of Caritas at the headquarters of Caritas in Sisak, where they discussed the current situation, the pandemic and all the challenges facing charities.
The director of Caritas of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, Rev. Mirko Šimić said: “With this act, Caritas wants to show solidarity with the areas of the Sisak diocese that were affected by the earthquake. With this action, in which the parents and children of the Caritas Holy Family Kindergarten participated, we wanted to express our closeness and show unity and charity with a concrete gift for the kindergarten children in Petrinja.”
The children of the Holy Family Kindergarten, their parents and Caritas staff have shown that love really knows no limits and that sometimes it only takes a little more effort to show readiness for help, togetherness and love we all need in these difficult and challenging times.
“And the children from the kindergarten in Petrinja? Well, their happiness is best evidenced by the photos at the end of this text that made us all smile and a sense of satisfaction because we were part of this Advent action“, reports the website of Caritas of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese.
