While large amount of money from the budget is paid for the benefits of politicians, there are more and more hungry people, especially children, in BiH. This problem is largely present in Lukavac, where the first soup kitchen for children was opened. Unfortunately, there is a need for the same project in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar as well.
There is no record on the exact number of children in the state of social need in BiH, but available data from the field is showing that there are more and more of them every day.
The project of the fist soup kitchen for children was started by the Association of Altruists “Ruke prijateljstva”, which started this human story in which 100 children have the opportunity to get a meal with the help of good people and volunteers.
“We are making a lot of effort in order to collect as much food as possible for the winter period, so that the soup kitchen can function properly. Our volunteers are collecting food in the field with the necessary documentation and our cards, and we are mostly insisting on the help in groceries and not money,” said the Vice President of the association, Selma Zukic.
Although this project is praiseworthy in the humanitarian sense, Zukic stated that it is sad to even have this kind of story in BiH.
More than 20 children from Tuzla are also waiting for the service of a warm meal that the Association “Zemlja djece” realizes with the Soup Kitchen Imaret.
“Around 300 children goes through our center on an annual basis, using this or some other service in our offer. This is devastating data because that is the first meal in the day to some of our children who come to the center, which means that they mostly come without having breakfast, and if they come earlier, we try really hard to provide them a snacks before they go to school,” said Elma Devedzic from the Association “Zemlja djece”.
“They have their needs and rights. We need to recognize what is required and important for healthy growth and development of our children. The efforts that were made so far are not enough, because if they were, we would not have such a large number of hungry children without basic rights, who are staying and working on the street while being exposed to begging. They are excluded from the educational system and they are suffering from violence. The government has to react on this and protect the youngest ones,” stated Devedzic.
(Source: A. K./Klix.ba)