"REMEMBERING SREBRENICA"
#BRAVO team had the opportunity to learn more and inform and increase awareness on the importance of peace, human rights through the memory of the genocide in Srebrenica with the reflection on crimes against humanity, mass murders and mass rapes in Europe and worldwide in the scope of youth exchange “Remembering Srebrenica”.
#BRAVO team had the opportunity to learn more and inform and increase awareness on the importance of peace, human rights through the memory of the genocide in Srebrenica with the reflection on crimes against humanity, mass murders and mass rapes in Europe and worldwide in the scope of youth exchange “Remembering Srebrenica” together with participants form Italy, Germany, Serbia and the Netherlands.
They joined the peace march on 10th of July where they walked over 30 kilometres of an extremely hilly and hard terrain. After arriving in Potocari, they paid their respects to the victims by visiting the memorial centre. This march gave them an almost authentic experience of that the people of Srebrenica went through on their way to free territory. The next day, participants joined the commemoration ceremony which was held in the memorial centre after which they met with the mothers of Srebrenica and talked with them about the happenings in Srebrenica which led to the fall of the safe/UN protected zone, about the mass killings, rapes and how they later decided to come back to what was left of their homes. IFS EMMAUS centre presented their work to them, where they discussed the projects, they had completed in Srebrenica and how great of an impact it had on the people there. We sincerely thank IFS EMMAUS for hosting us and giving a great contribution to this project.
After visiting Srebrenica and attending the burial of the genocide victims, they continued the workshops in Sarajevo where they had the chance to speak with Ajna Jusić, the President at Forgotten Children of War Association who shared her very personal and tragic story about the consequences war had left on her life and her family. Besides Ajna Jusić, participants had an opportunity to meet and hear first hand experience from Mrija Maja Šarić, Director of Foundation Wings of Hope. Marija Maja Šarić is an experienced therapist who worked with victims of war in Bosnia and today is helping victims of Ukrainian war to deal with trauma.
Participants visited the tunnel of hope which gave an enormous contribution during the war. They had the opportunity to hear more about the Sarajevo siege and how many people were killed, injured during the longest siege in modern world history. The history lesson was held by Mr. Harun Hodžić, author of the book “War stories”.
What is so special about this project is the fact that within the project activities, we promoted the history of our country, raised awareness about the Srebrenica genocide and promoted peace and intercultural dialogue between multiple countries.
Also, we use this opportunity to thank all the sponsors and people who helped us and took care of our marchers. We would like to thank AŠDŽ asčinica and restaurant Bijela tabija for provided lunch packages and sandwiches, Caffe Mevlana and CAPO DI HORECA for drinks, Cream Shop for sweets, and ArtBalans for designing t-shirts. We also thank the professional fire brigade and civil protection for the provided tents.
We are sincerely honoured that we had the opportunity to take part and give our contribution to this amazing project which gathered many young people from multiple countries.