Sarajevo - "I'm happy and excited
because the
people in Italy are good and they want the children in Bosnia to be
happy," said 11-year-old Dana Josarvic as she and 314 other Bosnian
children loaded into buses at Zetra Stadium in Sarajevo. They were preparing
for a one-month foreign exchange excursion to Italy.
Amid
the noise and confusion of so many children and their parents loading
baggage and saying goodbye for a month, there were many happy moist
eyes as people felt the emotion of the moment.
It was not so long ago in this city that children could not even cross
the street safely. Over 1,000 children were killed in Sarajevo alone
during the war, and the total destruction of the children's hospital
stands as a mute reminder that children here once may have been considered
targets. Even near the war's end, five elementary students were killed
while snow sledding in front of their school. But things are much different
now that SFOR and humanitarian organisations like Luciano Lama are teaming
up.
This
teamwork between SFOR and Luciano Lama has made it possible for 3,850
children to travel, study, and learn in Italy over the last three years.
Now, children are considered the hope of the future for Bosnia and Hercegovina
(BiH), according to Italian Brig. Gen. Giuseppe Sabatelli. "This
lets the little children know a new world. We know that these little
children don't know what it means to live in a country where we can
have all the things we want," he said. "I think that these
people have suffered too much. So if we can give them some smiles, some
little help, some love - I think if they will come back here with a
smile on their lips. I think they will transfer that smile to their
parents and to the other people here. I think that is the best thing
we can do," said Sabatelli. "I think that love is better than
money."
Italian members of the SFOR team are providing the transportation, and
Luciano Lama has again organised the Italian volunteer families for
this group of children to live and learn with.
Radmila
Kutlaca's 12-year-old son Milos spent much of last summer living with
an Italian family from the programme, and he is going back again this
year. "This is the only way we can send our children abroad to
see how life is different from here," said Kutlaca. The fact that
a mixture of Bosniak, Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat children from all
over the country are sharing in this experience is a positive thing
for her. "Of course they are mixed together. They will have to
live together. We had nice times before the war. I would like the same
life for my children."
Enabling these children to live together in peace and grow up to be
the parents, teachers, doctors, and leaders of BiH is very important
to Sabatelli. He said, "We know how many pains we had after the
Second World War. They are now in the same condition which we were when
the Second World War finished. So we must avoid other people suffering
the same pains that we had many years ago."
Related link:
Nations of SFOR: Italy
Humanitarian Aid