“I can tell Amila everything, and by the way I call her sister. I tell everyone that I have an older sister, and once she came to pick me up at school and I was really happy then” , the girl Lejla* enthusiastically talks about her “older sister” Amila Balić, with whom she hangs out once a week in the program “Older Brother, older sister”.
“I go to school, I’m in the fourth grade and I’m doing great at school, I just got an A in English, I only had one mistake! I have a great time with Amil, we have a great time together and go everywhere. The best time for me was when we went to the Museum of Illusions. I like to do various things with Amila, and normally, when we go somewhere I cheer up, hug her and we walk together. If it ever happens that we can’t see each other, then I’ll be sad” , says Lejla, and Amila explains how she has been participating in the program for the second year already:
“I am friends with Leila and we have been together for about a year, this is already our second cycle. From the point of view of a volunteer who hangs out ‘one on one’ with my Leila, I can say that it’s really nice for me. In this almost one year, we visited almost everything we had from our ‘wish list’…”
“We’re not quite there – we’ve got a puppet show left!” , Lejla interjects.
“Yes, we are still waiting for the puppet show. But that’s why we went to the youth theater for a play, to the cinema, we went on trips to the park, we go for walks on Wilson’s promenade, we use the time to talk about everything we’re doing, what’s happening to us at school, how everything is with homework , we talk about reading… We use our time together to play, play social games, most often Uno, we compete,” adds Amila, and Lejla nods her head in approval.
She is a dentist by profession, and Amila decided to participate in the Program out of her love for children and the desire to be helpful, as well as the pleasure that volunteering gives her:
“Besides spending time with children, through the program I also participate in other activities in which children are not involved, such as workshops and group meetings with volunteers. Through these gatherings, I also get a positive reaction from them, you come from the gatherings in a good mood, filled with energy for the new week. You also have some kind of support, friendship, companionship, and it is very useful for all of us volunteers” , concludes Amila, whom we met with her friend Lejla on one of our joint trips to Trebević.
The boy Harris* is also on the trip, who says he likes playing badminton, walking and socializing. One cycle has passed and he is waiting for a new volunteer: “I hung out with volunteer Amina and I had a great time with her. We walked, we enjoyed it”.
The girl Adina* is here with volunteer Amna Gazibegović and says that she likes outings and hanging out together, as well as regular meetings with Amna. Amna completed her studies in social work and enrolled in a master’s degree, so in addition to the humanitarian segment, volunteering also serves as a form of practice for her: “I’ve been volunteering for the third cycle here, I’ve been friends with Adina since the beginning, and we’ve been together for two years. We always make a plan for hanging out on a monthly basis, we make sure that while the weather is nice we go out as much as possible because she likes it the most, and that’s why we make the most of the nice weather. All together, it really fulfills me, because in addition to working with children, I also work on myself and the development of personal skills”.
There are also other female volunteers on the trip who are engaged in group activities or are preparing to work with children. Selmini Sažić is in her first year of volunteering and says that she is very satisfied so far: “I am studying pedagogy, and that is one of the reasons why I am in the program, to have some new experiences.” On the other hand, I’m here to make a child happy, to give him love and support because I think all children deserve that.”
Ajna Tucak, Ema Šahbegović and Edna Smajić are also in their first year of volunteering.
“I am very much looking forward to spending time with the children and future activities. I’m in my third year of psychology, and last year I had the opportunity to socialize with children in a similar project, but I was interested in this possibility of socializing “one on one” and personal work” , says Ajna, and she looks forward to working with children and new knowledge. Ema: ” Although my study of computer science is not directly related to these activities, I want to do some good deed, to make the children I meet happy, to make them feel better after talking and hanging out with me.”
Edna is a social worker by profession and that, she says, was the indicator for her to start volunteering: “I like working with children, and I also signed up for my personal development and education.”
Amina Šehović, has been a volunteer of group activities for three years: “With my colleagues, I create workshops and all gatherings planned for children and volunteers. I am here because it fulfills me, I work on myself and expand my experience, knowledge and skills” , he says.
Social worker Emina Ahmetspahić has also been volunteering at the program for three years: “I gained a lot of useful experience and knowledge at the program. At group activities, we socialize with children, organize workshops, we all have a good time, we spend time in nature with various useful and fun activities”, she says, and her professional colleague Džela Hukar is volunteering for the second cycle and has the opportunity to be an older sister for the second time. :
“Last year I had a girl as a younger sister, this year I am hanging out with a girl from the Home in Bjelava, but unfortunately today, due to illness, the children from the home are not with us on the trip. I joined the program with the desire to support children, but also for personal professional development and progress,” she says, and Mia Elezović, who studies psychology, adds that she joined the volunteers in order to spend useful time with children, but also to gain important practice. as a psychologist.
Maida Smajić, a student at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Sarajevo, says that although her vocation is not directly related to working with children, she has a desire to contribute: “I want a child next to me to be happy and satisfied, I also want to work on myself, give myself some new experiences in life.”
Izanela Mahmutović, the coordinator of the “Older Brother, Older Sister” program at the Association for the Prevention of Addiction NARKO-NE, says that through the activities they carry out the ‘recruitment’ of new volunteers, they are in contact with the Home in Bjelava and centers for social work that identify the children for whom they evaluate that it would be good if they were included in the program.
“After that, we train the volunteers, we connect the children with them, and later we monitor their gatherings, which are held once a week. We also organize group activities for all volunteers in the program, we continuously provide them with support in building their skills that they need to socialize with children, and providing support when they encounter some challenges. Through group activities, children socialize, get to know other children, and volunteers get to know each other and connect so that as a group they can help each other, exchange experiences and provide mutual support” , explains Izanela Mahmutović, emphasizing that the program is particularly positively recognized in the Home :
“Children of primary school age from 6 to 14 years old participate in the program, and when they turn six they literally ask “can I have my older sister now?”. This is important to them because they usually do everything in a collective and group, and when they have an older brother or sister, it is a person who is there only for them, who takes them by the hand and takes care of them, and all the attention is in that momentu theirs” , he adds, and when it comes to children from families, he says that the reasons why social work services nominated them are different:
“Sometimes it’s when there are a large number of children in the family and the parents don’t have the time or capacity to devote themselves to them, sometimes it’s a child with difficulties or children who grow up with grandparents who also don’t have the capacity to devote themselves to them, so there are other reasons , but essentially the goal is the same – that the child gets the opportunity to experience all the things in his childhood like any other child”.
The executive director of the “Older Brother, Older Sister” Foundation, Ivana Radić, says that the Foundation’s mission is to enable the implementation of mentoring programs through the empowerment of partner organizations, volunteers and cooperation with institutions, providing positive models of behavior to children and young people throughout BiH: “All this, of course, with a vision that children and young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have equal opportunities to develop the life skills necessary for a healthy upbringing and take responsibility for building a just society. The general goal of the Foundation, therefore, is reflected in the fact that through volunteerism, advocacy, support and philanthropic activities, it nurtures universal human values and contributes to the healthy growth of children and young people so that they become exemplary and responsible members of society”.
The Foundation acts as an umbrella body that is responsible for ensuring the quality of the implementation of the “Older Brother, Older Sister” program in accordance with the Quality Standards, and provides financial and advisory support to partner organizations.
“In addition, the Foundation actively works to collect funds to ensure that every child in need has a mentor – an older brother or sister, and we do this through promotional and crowdfunding campaigns” , adds Iman Muratović, assistant for public relations and fundraising .
Ivana and Iman say that mentoring, as a relationship, is important for everyone involved: ” Since the end users of the “Older Brother, Older Sister” Program are children, it is essential to mention how much mentoring positively affects them – the skills they acquire while spending time with their elders they use brothers and sisters in their daily lives, and they often remain in contact with their volunteers for many years after leaving the Program. In fact, these are the moments when the clearest picture of mentoring is as a two-way street, in which both parties benefit”.
In recent years, children with developmental disabilities have also been included in the “Older Brother, Older Sister” Program: “We are actively working on developing a program fully adapted to children with developmental disabilities. During the coronavirus pandemic, an online mentoring program was successfully implemented, so that older and younger brothers and sisters would not lose the continuity of companionship and success that they achieve together from cycle to cycle. It is not uncommon for children who were previously beneficiaries of the Program, when they grow up, to give back to the Foundation with volunteer engagements, suggestions for improving work and different ideas on how to further involve former beneficiaries in our activities”.
The Foundation provides mentoring to partner organizations throughout BiH in the process of implementing the Program, the idea of which is to connect young people aged 20 to 30 with children from vulnerable categories. The foundation monitors children’s progress through four key parameters: relationship with volunteer, free time, participation in educational and cultural activities, socially desirable behaviors, and self-image.
“The results of the Program, in addition to testifying to the progress of the children, also clearly show the fact that the Program has a significant impact on the volunteers as well. The main focus is on individual gatherings of pairs of children and volunteers, but group gatherings and excursions are also a great joy for all participants. Of course, during their volunteer engagement, volunteers have the professional support of coordinators and collaborators on the program through group advisory and individual meetings and workshops ,” says Ivana Radić, underlining that in the less than 20 years that the Program has been implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, more than 2,000 people have gone through it. children and volunteers.
Although the Foundation and the Program have almost 20 years of experience and a good organization, they say that the cooperation with the Institute for Youth Development KULT, which included them in the program for assessing and developing organizational capacities “Local Strength”, helped them to improve further : We have been following the work of the Institute for a long time, and we had the opportunity to attend a couple of their trainings and learn more about their work. When they presented us with a proposal to participate in the development of organizational capacities through their tools for the assessment of organizational capacities (POK) and for the development of organizational capacities (ROK), we realized that that very moment was crucial when we made the decision to work on the internal structure of the Foundation and its improvement of our capacities. I must admit that it was not easy, the process itself is demanding and requires a lot of time, but it is necessary and honestly, we at the foundation somehow feel stronger after going through the whole process” , Ivana Radić recalls the beginnings of cooperation with the KULT Institute.
“Through the POK tool, we saw our shortcomings and decided on three areas that we focused on in our organizational capacity development process, namely: Project cycle management, Public and media relations, Finance and administration. Through this entire process, we improved our procedures and regulations, internal forms, records, reporting forms and the like. KULT’s support consisted of various trainings, individual consultations and engagement of experts, and the Job Shadowing concept. Somewhat spontaneously, improvement in other areas besides the ones mentioned, but the most noticeable progress is in the Finance and Administration segment” , explains Ivana Radić, and concludes:
“After this whole process with the Institute, we realized how important it is that only we within the Foundation are orderly and organized, that we operate according to standards and that only with a strong internal structure can we expand further and develop our ideas and projects towards other organizations and donors”.
*Children’s names have been changed to protect privacy
Source: mladi.org
