The Parents House was designed to provide accommodation and support for children who are struggling with cancer and their families who come outside of the capital city Sarajevo. More than a hundred families from all over BiH stayed in this house since its opening back in April 2016 until today. A total of 60 newly diagnosed children used services of the House on an annual basis, as well as 25 cured young people within the project “MladiCa” of the association “Heart for children suffering from cancer in the FBiH”.
Although the financing of the Parent’s House is not included in the budget, according to the manager of the association Fikret Kubat, there is already enough money provided for the normal functioning of the House this year.
“Sarajevo Canton allocated 74,000 BAM for the Parents’ House in the year of 2018, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of ZDC approved 20,000 BAM, the Municipality of Centar, the City Administration and the Municipality of Stari Grad provided 10,000 BAM each, the Municipality of Novo Sarajevo allocated 5,000 BAM and this is almost sufficient budget for 2018. And we have 80 municipalities and 10 cantons in the FBiH, and if all of them would share these obligations, there would be no problem at all,” noted Kubat.
As he stated, for the work and normal functioning of the Parents’ Home is requested between 120 and 150 000 BAM annually. Moreover, the city of Tuzla should get this kind of facility soon.
The project of psychosocial support for these children and their families is one of the priorities of the Association “A heart for children suffering from cancer in the FBiH” in the next two years, according to Kubat.
“Our mission is to provide permanent, active and full support to children and their beloved ones. Psychosocial support can always be further improved. We provide a large number of services to parents, which include translation of documents, contacts with hospitals abroad, financial help in the purchase of medicines etc. When children are done with their hospital treatment, they need rehabilitation and resocialization, as well as stay on the mountain as much as possible in order to strengthen their immunity and return to normal life. We have been working on programs on Vlasic and Igman for ten years, and we are planning to continue with that, because it is very important for children, who are still being treated, to have the opportunity to go on a mountain for a few days and stay in fresh air,” concluded Kubat.
(Source: faktor.ba)
