They said that the first multi-ethnic organization in the post-war Mostar is the Rotary club, which is celebrating 15 years of existence these days. It is an organization that is not really widely known among people, but its projects are very important, especially because they are focused on disadvantaged social groups. By giving to the community, its members receive friendship in return.
At the very beginning, prominent businessmen, entrepreneurs, artists and prominent members of society entered the club. Zlatan Buljko proudly mentioned Edin Batlak, Ivan Prlic, Safet Omerovic, Marinko Maric, Ekrem Krpa, Dragan Marjanovic, Djordje Kulicic, Husein Kapic and many other prominent names. The current president of the club is Nevzet Sefo, and they elect a new president every year.
“We gather people who are willing to help others in everyday life, who are willing to help others in need, people in different kind of situations, by providing service above yourself, we are searching for the time in our lives to help others. Projects that are implemented by the club are mainly related to that kind of needs,” said Buljko.
There are more than one million and 200,000 members of Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries. There are about ten clubs in our country. Besides Mostar, there are also two clubs in Sarajevo, one gathers international and the other domestic members, a male and female club in Banja Luka and clubs in Tuzla, Brcko, Srebrenica, Lukavac, Doboj, Bihac, and Bijeljina. All of their projects are based on a broad partnership of Rotary clubs, and the main idea is based on the regular weekly gatherings of members of the club.
“Integrative kindergarten “Suncani most (Sunny bridge)” was long-time supported by Rotary Club Mostar, and it received more than 500,000 EUR since 2002. We are especially proud of the established Vlado Puljic Fund, which represents a project that is based on scholarships for students of fine arts and literature, the arts that late Puljic, a former member of our club, was engaged with,” said Buljko.
The rotary idea is dating back from 1905, and everything started from Paul Harris. Some of the famous members are Neil Armstrong, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Thomas Mann and many others. Their symbol is gear because everything is in the motion of progress.
(Source: R. D./Klix.ba)
