Project of Hastor Foundation and Kinderhulp Bosnie
By: Nevena Šarenac
Since 1997, the BiH Foundation ‘Hastor’ and Foundation ‘Kinderhulp Bosnie’ from the Netherlands have been realizing projects of sending socially endangered children from BiH to the Netherlands for 21 days of vacation, leisure and education. ‘Sarajevo Times’ spoke with the volunteer of both organisations, teacher Ramo Hastor.
‘The thread that brought me in touch with both things is the ‘Hastor’ Foundation, because ‘Kinderhulp’ Foundation from the Netherlands fully believes and trusts ‘Hastor’ Foundation when it comes to the selection of children and preparing their paper work’, said teacher Ramo as he starts his story. He has been a volunteer at ‘Kinderhulp Bosnie’ since 1997, and of ‘Hastor’ Foundation since its founding in 2006.
Having in mind that both foundations help low income children, Ramo’s task is to choose children from eight to twelve years of age from different parts of BiH to travel to the Netherlands for a 21 day vacation.
Teacher Ramo travels through BiH throughout the year and talks with heads of BiH municipalities and school principals. Based on the information from the field, he selects which children will travel to the Netherlands.
‘In the beginning I would choose 120 children that would go in three buses, and then to the Netherlands on a vacation. After I retired, I chose 42 children who would visit the land of tulips. They are followed by two Dutch guides, as well as two BiH guides that received scholarships from the ‘Hastor’ Foundation. Those are hard-working students, to whom the vacation in the Netherlands is a stimulus for better studying’, said teacher Ramo in a statement to our portal.
Hosts for BiH children in the Netherlands are picked by volunteers of Kinderhulp Bosnie Foundation, and the practice is that one Dutch family hosts two children from BiH for a 21 day vacation.
‘Separation from parents is hard for our children, because some of them are being separated from their mother for the first time and going into the unknown. However, in the bus, euphoria and a happy atmosphere occurs and children sing. They socialize during their trip, talk and cheer for their vacation in the Netherlands.’
During their stay in the Netherlands, children from BiH, as they say, have a fairy tale comfort during their stay.
‘There, they never hear ‘I don’t have’, ‘It cannot’, ‘war’, ‘murder’ and similar words and phrases. They live a special life in the Netherlands during their stay. During the visit, numerous activities are organised, visits to amusement parks, zoos, etc. Dutch volunteers gather clothes, which are given to our children. All that is on a volunteer basis, because people want to show that they’re charitable. A farewell party is organised on the last day, during which our children recite poetry, sing, act and often someone from the places where children stayed greets them and wishes them a safe travel home and the continuation of cooperation. Children remember the trip to the Netherlands for their entire life’, says teacher Ramo.
Dutch families also come every year to visit the children from BiH children that visited them, and it often happens that Dutch hosts continue supporting financial aid to BiH children in donating money for building and rehabilitating their homes, buying them clothes, school supplies and similar things.
It is interesting to note that the Dutch media also wrote about the cooperation of ‘Hastor’ foundation and ‘Kinderhulp Bosnie’ and the travel of BiH children to the Netherlands.
Scholarships of ‘Hastor’ Foundation
Foundation ‘Hastor’ was founded in 2006 as a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that encourages and supports primary school and high school pupils and students from the all over BiH who work hard, show great will to succeed, have the need for financial aid, and who are ready to improve their life and the life of others through education.
‘Scholarship receivers are not obliged to return the money to ‘Hastor’ Foundation. Although we do not have the obligation to employ our scholarship receivers, our wish is that they get a job. Therefore, in cooperation with our partners, we organize a program of intern development’, notes teacher Ramo.
‘Hastor’ Foundation has been organizing this program that includes the scholarship receivers of the foundation for two years
The education lasts for three weeks, during which students have the opportunity to hear 12 modules on different topics and lecturers are experts from the business world.
‘Primary school pupils, high school pupils and students from BiH can apply for the scholarship of the ‘Hastor’ Foundation. The advantage is given to socially endangered categories, children without one or both parents and to students with a high grade average.
‘We want to develop humanity in people, friendliness, and the awareness of others. Better education has a long-term effect on solving issues of BiH society, like poverty and unemployment. We can work together to find a cure and answers on questions that are on the way to progress. Education is the choice of the winner’, says teacher Ramo.
He said that he sees many beautiful things in BiH.
‘I am appalled to see in the media, that some people talk badly about BiH. I see many beautiful things in this country. Although I’ve spent a lot of my time abroad, I never stayed there and I always returned to my home. I know what is beautiful, and that’s why I’m here, in our BiH’, concludes teacher Ramo.
