“Young people in Kozarska Dubica have many problems, but we are here to help each other. Only united and with faith in a better tomorrow, we can achieve a lot,” said Miranda Tadic Stojakovic (25) at the beginning of story about the importance of youth working together.
She is a student on the master studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Banja Luka. Just like her peers, she wants to contribute to improving the lives of young people in her homeland. Therefore, she got engaged in the work of the recently founded the Association of Youth – Fokus, on bringing young people of different nationalities and religions together.
“What is most important is that our Association does not recognize and does not accept any economic, religious, political or other boundaries. Our organization enables better development of relations among young people, because young people here communicate, propose ideas to each other and carry out many actions, which receive only praise and positive response,” said Miranda.
Association of Youth “Fokus” from Kozarska Dubica started with work last month, with the aim of affirmation and inclusion of youth in social life of Dubica with a special focus on activities that will promote humanitarian work, the fight against all forms of discrimination and involving young people in decision-making processes.
The Association strives to multinational composition of membership in its work, and it will prevent any political interference in its activities. Special thanks goes to the initiator of the establishment of the association Fokus, Azra Nahic, who is the most important donor, and her friends from America, without whose help it would be difficult to implement the launch of the association.
Association “Fokus” will formally start with its work on the 18th of January 2017, when the process of registration at the Court in Banja Luka is finalized, but they already carried out first actions of the association. Both times it was a humanitarian activity for vulnerable population. The first action was the delivery of food packages, with the total value of 725 BAM, to six of the most vulnerable families who were selected in consultation with the Centre for Social Work Kozarska Dubica. When choosing a family, they took care about the representation of all constituent peoples living in the municipality, as well as national minorities. This action was carried out with the help of businessman Zoran Sinkic. The second action was assistance to Soup Kitchen Zivot, which takes care of more than 70 users of all nationalities. Volunteers of Fokus presented donation in food including 100 kg of potatoes, 30 kg of beans and 30 bags of pasta.
“We did not want to wait with our actions because we have a lot of plans, but also a lot of people in need that we can help. We are here to help our citizens, young people and children, we want to help them as much as possible, of course, not looking at the nationality. We believe that we should not live in the past, but at the present and try to do as much as we can to make it better,” said Nedim Krivdic (23), a computer science student and president of the Association of Youth Fokus.
According to him, this is just the beginning of the activities of Fokus on the mission of good, mutual love and help. By the end of the year, they are planning another visit to socially vulnerable households in Dubica and respond to another humanitarian action, and they will provide 50 packages for vulnerable children. They are planning larger projects from next year, such as free courses and education and helping the elderly citizens.
“We are aware of problems in our community, so we are trying to act proactively, we are working on projects and on how to offer some opportunities. It is up to young people to use them in the best way possible. Because the easiest way is to give up and just go away,” concluded Nedim.
(Source: fokus.ba)
