East Londoners return from Bosnia aid trip

Emdad Rahman

A GROUP OF East Londoners have returned to the UK after completing an aid deployment to visit Bosnia and meet with local families.

The group spent four days in Sarajevo, where their activities included providing cows to needy families and empowering communities to use the animals to generate income. Previous recipients of cows have, over time, progressed to supporting their communities as their financial situation becomes healthier. There was also distribution of sweets and football coaching for young people.

As part of the trip the group visited Srebrenica and the Genocide Memorial Centre, where they learnt about the Bosnian war and paid their respects to thousands of Bosnians who became victims of mass ethnic cleansing. The delegation also met with community leaders to discuss future projects and education programmes.

Shah Boshor was part of the team and spoke about his experience. “My friends and I have been involved in selling sweets for charitable causes,” he said, “and this experience, if anything, has taught us how important education, tolerance and respect is among all of us. It’s been humbling and we also realise how lucky we are in our own lives. The welcome from the people of Bosnia has been out of this world.”

•Help the Team raise money to buy more cows for Bosnia:
http://www.bosniatrust.com/donate

•Read the team’s blog in full:
1 Team Bosnia touchdown
2 Meeting the workers
3 Remembering Srebrenica
4 Good-bye Sarajevo