(Photo: E. M./Klix.ba)
Young people from Visoko, Ervin and Lejla Šeta, brought a ray of light and hope to their city during the coronavirus pandemic.
They opened a shop “Šarena čarapica” which, in addition to handmade/organic products, is filled with a lot of love since the store was given a symbolic name because of their three-year-old son with Down syndrome, and colorful socks/šarene čarapice are a symbol of this genetic disorder.
Numerous citizens living in Bosnia and Herzegovina lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, and the authorities in our country called on the citizens to use the land and start producing food. Ervin and Leila decided to open a store at the time of the coronavirus pandemic to show that it is not the end, that nature has an answer and that it is possible to take new steps in a very unfortunate and difficult time.
In an interview with Klix.ba, Lejla said that they had been thinking for a long time what to do for their three-year-old son Emin.
“I have never met children with disabilities, and when our Emin was born, month after month, then year after year, we were convinced that these children are wonderful to work with and that it is not as others present it to you. There were a lot of bad stories around me, no one wanted to give us a chance to portray it as beautiful. Ervin and I were slowly looking at what we could do and what we could give to our Emin and now we realized that we can work with him, and also open a store with a symbolic name,” says Lejla.
She points out that their goal was to be based exclusively on healthy/natural food that everyone wants. Although they planned to open the store after the coronavirus pandemic, they decided to do it earlier. As they say, throughout their lives they were brave enough to fight much bigger battles and see the light in everything, so they decided to prove their courage and bring light during dark times.
“At the very beginning, at a time when a lot of people lost their jobs, the response and reaction to our opening of “Šarena čarapica” is wonderful. Our goal is to support small producers, we are both producers and sellers and we are aware of how much we need the support of citizens”, adds Lejla.
They buy vegetables and fruits from Lejla’s future son-in-law in the village near Kakanj, but also from other subcontractors who are exclusively engaged in organic farming, after which they make their own juices, jams and other organic products that customers really love and buy.
“We got nice feedback from our citizens, but also from other visitors who heard about our story. Our goal is to reach a higher level of our organic production. For now, we offer juices, and soon we may add cakes and various types of jams, everything that people need/ask us to produce”, concluded Lejla.
In addition to the business goal, they want to break all prejudices against children with disabilities, which would make children more accepted in society, just as their products are accepted by their loyal customers.
