The UK opened its doors to 10,000 Bosnian refugees, both Bosniaks and Serbs, in the mid 1990’s. Bosnia Appeal is a group of people who work voluntarily to give something back, and to make the world a safer place. They have operated since 1995 but only became a formal charity in 2001. Recent work has included the collection and distribution of humanitarian aid for victims of flooding in Bosnia and also for Syrian refugees.
In terms of the proposed project they have teamed up with ‘Swiss Aid for Peace in Bosnia’, (http://www.swissaidbosnia.com/), led by Jenny Stone-Wigg MBE.
How will they achieve their aim?
1. They are asking for donations of laptops from amongst the Bosnian refugees in the UK.
2. They have written to some companies who recycle computers to ask for laptops (and ideally docking stations).
3. They intend to write to retailers.
4. They will be writing to larger companies and organizations, particularly in the
Birmingham area, so that if they are planning on changing their computers this year they will give their first refusal. It is difficult to be accurate about final costs. Recycling companies may offer their own delivery arrangements to Bosnia, which may turn out to be cost effective. Companies that are retiring hardware normally arrange for data to be securely wiped, which is a licensed procedure and typically costs about £50 per machine. Some machines may come with ‘Windows’ 7 or 8 already installed, but we may need to buy ‘Windows’ for others. We are going to ask Microsoft to donate ‘Office’ software, but otherwise we will install ‘Open Office’ which is free. The schools will make their own arrangements about anti-virus software. We will almost certainly need to supply some cabling. Some laptops may not be Wi-Fi enabled and will need ‘dongles’ to connect.
How can people donate?
Direct transfers can also be made as follows:-
Lloyds TSB Bank
Account holder: Bosnia Appeal
Account number: 02807279
Sort code: 30-00-03
BIC: LOYDGB21003
IBAN:GB63 LOYD 3000 0302 8072 79
Thank you for your time and goodwill in considering this application:
Yours sincerely,
Namik Alimajstorovic
(The Bosnia Appeal team)
(Source: klix)