Ruzica Maric and Mustafa Mulalic are both widows, and they met more than 7 years ago. Exactly 7 years ago, some six months after the opening of the Center for Healthy Aging in Novo Sarajevo, they decided to get married, on Valentine’s Day.
Since that day, at the Center for Healthy Aging every year is celebrated not only Valentine’s Day, but also a celebration of Ruza’s and Mustafa’s love.
Mustafa remembered the day they met: “At this celebration I noticed Ruza sitting with her neighbors. I was waiting for coffee, and then she came to the table and brought beans soup. I told her – ‘You’re not going to eat all of that by yourself, are you?’ and that was our first meeting. She said to me – ‘Well, I’m old for you’, and I pulled out my ID card and answered – “How do you mean old, I am older than you 3 years’. Then I thought about how to approach her again and I decided to pick up some wild flowers on Igman Mountain, made a good bouquet, approached her in the company and said – ‘Ma’am, this is for you’. They were all staring at me – ‘What’s this, who is this?’ Then I asked her to give me her phone number, and she was so confused that she gave me the wrong number, so I had to look for it in the municipality … I got the number and few days later we finally met,” said Mustafa.
In the Center for Healthy Aging yesterday was organized celebration with hanging out, positive atmosphere and a special program with music and poetry readings, and the dress code included red clothes or wearing red details.
From the Center stated that Valentin’s Day fame is not only celebration of love between man and woman, but also the love between friends, because numerous friendships happened here in four and a half years: people are hanging our outside the Centre, they go on joint trips, vacations etc.
The emphasis in the Center in on the healthy aging: the promotion of physical activity, daily exercise, healthy diet, with an emphasis on preserving the mental health of older people through socialization, different activities that provide the opportunity to learn the English language, computer and culinary skills, etc.
There are currently six active centers for healthy aging in B&H. Three are located in Sarajevo (one in the municipality of Center, two in the municipality of Novo Sarajevo) and one in Tuzla, Modrica and Domaljevac Samac in FB&H. There is possibility to open more centers soon, one of them in Ilidza and the other in Mostar.
