In the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, when more and more people live on the edge of poverty, the help of humanitarian organizations is becoming increasingly important. One such organization, which helps a large number of people and various categories, is the International Solidarity Forum – EMMAUS.
MFS-EMMAUS has 240 employees and 50 active volunteers. The organization was established in 1999 with the aim of providing assistance to all vulnerable groups in need. It currently has offices in Sarajevo, Zvornik, Srebrenica and Doboj East.
Some of the projects implemented by MFS-EMMAUS are the Duje Reception Center in Doboj, which accommodates users with various sociological problems, the Boarding School for Children in Potočari, the Youth Day Center in Srebrenica, Zvornik and Doboj.
Through their activities, they also provide scholarships to children in Burkina Faso, and finance children without one or both parents throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. The organization also runs a soup kitchen in Doboj, helps people who have survived human trafficking and illegal migration, provides community care services for the elderly, and participates in a project to prevent child abuse through communication and information technologies.
The organization is a member of other, larger international organizations. Thus, they have cooperated with many organizations from around the world, as well as many embassies and public institutions.
Considering that they have been operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 22 years, they know the needs of the people in need very well.
“MFS-EMMAUS is active in many fields throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and we know very well the needs of residents which number, from year to year which is devastating, is increasing and we find socially sensitive people everywhere we go. Due to unfortunate circumstances during the pandemic, in addition to regular users, there were hundreds and even thousands of new users who need help due to the current situation. All this is the result of non-expansion of social rights and the inability of the system to recognize and act preventively in time, so the majority of the population turns to humanitarian organizations asking for help”, says Jusuf Fajić.
They also point out that they witness the increase of hungry people and people in need in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Some informal estimates are that every third resident is a person in need. We can easily conclude this and justify it with the new requests for help that are constantly coming to our address. It is not only the socially sensitive person who seeks help, many do not dare to ask for help out of shame or disbelief that anyone will help them. Let’s not forget retired persons with minimum pensions and people who feed their families without permanent employment, who feed on child benefit and as such fall into that category but simply do not ask for help for some reason”, says Jusuf and adds that they, in addition to regular users and those who for help, find additional users and include them in some of the projects they implement.
In a situation like this, motivation is hard to find. Nevertheless, MFS-EMMAUS succeeds.
“Our main motivation is our users’ satisfaction. Is there a better feeling than seeing a smile on the face of someone you helped, especially on a child’s face. We have overcome much more difficult periods, we will overcome this as well because we must not stop working for the sake of people in need”, says Jusuf.
It is rare that one NGO has a diverse portfolio of activities like MFS-EMMAUS. From helping children, the elderly, the poor, people with disabilities to survivors of human trafficking – they try to involve as many people as possible in their activities.
“MFS-EMMAUS has developed several assistance projects at home and abroad over the years and contributed to the community in various fields. We focus equally on all projects and for each situation we discover the cause and consequences by finding solutions for a longer period of time. We don’t always act with some flash support for the population. We are looking for long-term solutions that, in addition to providing assistance in a given period, will provide the same or even greater support in the coming years. We help different categories of people and that is why the range of our activities is extended to various activities”, says our interviewee.
They have over 5,000 permanently involved users in regular activities, and at the one-year level, assistance is provided to over 30,000 natural and legal persons.
“At the one-year level, 1,279,000 meals are prepared through six of our soup kitchens, which is an impressive figure considering the increasingly frequent increase in the price of basic foodstuffs. Over a thousand children receive scholarships every year in Burkina Faso, thanks to donations from people from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the diaspora. With the help of our donors, we provide scholarships to 2,400 orphans in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and we have 80 children in our boarding school in Potočari and the total number of children in the three Day Centers is 90,” said our interviewee.
They point out that nowadays it is difficult to survive as a humanitarian organization, to find funds for all humanitarian activities, but at the same time to provide salaries for employees.
“Self-sustainability is something we have preferred since the beginning in 1999, by launching agricultural and greenhouse production, developing internal capacities that will contribute to the self-sustainability of our projects and users’ nutrition. Even today, we enjoy the benefits of these projects through the solidarity economy, which has not stopped working for years. Within our capacities, we even have a dairy whose products find a place on the tables of our users of the Duje Reception Center, which currently has 440 users, boarding school for children in Potočari and users of one meal a day and migrants. Of course, great support in sustainability is provided by our long-term domestic and foreign donors who have recognized the quality of our work and existence”, representative of the MFS-EMMAUS proudly point out.
However, regardless of their successes, they also face many problems in their work.
“Like any work, the humanitarian one has its challenges, but we are trying to overcome these obstacles in the best possible way. We would recommend other organizations not to give up on implementing their projects, no matter how difficult it may have been to find funds, to work together to strengthen our capacities and to do the best we can”, says Jusuf Fajić.
In the end, he points out that the next steps are oriented towards the end user, i.e., people who need help.
“Our next steps are to continue to act better and faster towards the end user, to keep the number of projects we implement from year to year and to expand the range of humanitarian help. Increase and strengthen cooperation with existing donors to an even higher level with transparent reports. The basic plan must always be to help all people in need wherever they are”, says Jusuf at the end.
Prepared by: Nataša Tomić
