While politicians start the fight for power, which brings with it high salaries and numerous privileges, the citizens of this country struggle every day to survive. It is the most difficult for the elderly and people without any income, who would not be able to survive without the help of soup kitchens. The number of those who do not even have basic needs is increasing.
Anyone who needs a hot meal can knock on the door of the “Mozaik prijateljstva” organization. And there are more and more of those who need a meal. It started with the pandemic and culminated in inflation. Three times as many meals are prepared daily in this soup kitchen, and more and more hungry people know it because many ask for their meals to be delivered to their homes.
”Before the COVID-19, there were 200 on a daily basis, 400 during the weekend. Today during the weekend we have over 1200, and now on a daily basis, we have 700 hungry people. But what is perhaps even more increased is what people don’t see. A lot of people are asking for help so that no one can see them. It wasn’t as pronounced before as it is now,” said Miroslav Subasic, director of the “Mozaik prijateljstva”.
Every day there are the elderly, the infirm, the unemployed, those who are in a state of social need, but more and more those who have regular incomes, but when they pay off the loan or pay the rent and all utility costs, the amount left is insufficient even for the monthly needs for bread.
The help of humanitarian organizations is increasingly needed, and those faced with ever-increasing expenses due to enormous price increases. The Red Cross of Banja Luka calculated that for the first six months, the costs for meals were 15.000 BAM higher. The monthly amounts for 440 users, which they receive from the City Administration, have not changed for the past few years.
”Food prices have been rising for years. Now it has culminated, and certainly, the amount of funds allocated to us by the City in the last few years has not changed, and this creates a big problem for us. We continue to survive with the help of donations from our humanitarian cash registers, which we have in the markets. The meal is certainly of high quality. We sent a letter to the city administration to plan a significant increase in the budget for next year,” Zeljkica Ilic points out, member of the Red Cross of Banja Luka presidency.
”The fund we get is the same. And we exceed almost 1.000 BAM per month. If I were to tell you how much we spend on electricity and water, I can’t even think about wood, and winter is coming. When you look at all that, where is the fuel,”Miroslav Subasic added, director of ”Mozaik prijateljstva”.
When everything is put together, it can be said that soup kitchens are wizards. They are also called that by those who provide them with meals and a kind word every day, because without them, they say, it would be difficult to survive, BHRT writes.
The humanitarian organization “Help Others Salzburg” prepares meals for 78 beneficiaries every day in its soup kitchen in Sapna.
Help Others volunteers deliver freshly prepared food to beneficiaries’ home addresses. It is mainly about the population of elderly and sick fellow citizens who need help.
“The number of users regularly changes between 80 and 100 of those who need our help in the municipality of Sapna and the Zvornik returnee settlements,” said the director of Help Others Salzburg Dzevad Islamovic.
The organization is financed exclusively by donations from Bosnia and Herzegovina. people who live and work in European countries, but also those from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“People can donate agricultural products, food they use in their homes, meat, pay financial aid through our accounts, which can be found on the official website Help Others,” said Islamovic.
More than five years ago, Help Others Salzburg embarked on an ambitious project to establish an organization that would help citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a weaker financial status, which resulted in the implementation of projects worth more than three million euros.
“We worked on projects from the construction of residential buildings for socially vulnerable families to the provision of better living conditions for fellow citizens in need. We regularly participate in projects that will improve the education of children from Podrinje,” said Islamovic.
In Kalesija, this organization opened the first Humanitarian Center for children, where parents from Kalesija and the surrounding municipalities can come weekly to receive weekly food, clothing, shoes and hygiene items for children.
All potential beneficiaries are decided by the municipal centers for social work, but those in need can contact the staff of Help Others Salzburg at any time during a difficult period in their life.
