Bridges Across Borders

Poruka BAB-a svima:U ovom trenu, svi prolazimo kroz teška vremena. BAB će se reorganizovati i razviti nove načine da nastavi sa radom. Nećemo planirati projekte sa volonterima koji prelaze granice do 2021. Molimo sve da se posvete svojim porodicama i zajednicama. Ako imate hrane, novca – dijelite. Jer virus ne poznaje naciju, vjeru, spol ili broj godina.Ovo su neke fotografije jednog od naših projekata prošle zime u Sarajevu. Kad je BAB prvi put došao, shvatili smo da su zdravstveni uslovi u nezvaničnim “skloništima” za imigrante i izbjeglice strašni. Pa smo se prihvatili posla i očistili ih. Kasnije je formirana neovisna grupa – brigada za čišćenje, i volonteri iz svih grupa su se ujedinili da čiste i spriječe bolesti i viruse. Hvala svim nevjerovatnim volonterima koji su pomogli. Hvala svima koji su donirali, pa smo mogli kupiti proizvode za čišćenje i zaštitnu odjeću za naše volontere.

Message from BAB to all. Everyone is going through hard times at the moment. BAB will be restructuring and developing ways of continuing our work. We will not plan any projects with volunteers crossing borders. until 2021. We ask everyone to focus on their own families and communities. If you have food, money etc, please share. A virus knows no ethnic, religious, gender or age differences.Here are some photos from one of our projects last winter in Sarajevo. When BAB first arrived we realized the health standards in unofficial shelters for refugees and immigrants was appalling. So we cleaned them. Later on an independent group called “cleaning brigade” was formed and volunteers from all groups worked together to clean and stop transmissions of disease and viruses. Thankyou to all amazing volunteers who helped. Thankyou to everyone who donated so we could buy cleaning products and PPE for our volunteers.

decembar 2019:
Trenutno, BAB nema projekata u Bosni i Hercegovini. Obavijestit ćemo vas ako budemo u mogućnosti poslati ERT (Emergency Response Team – tim za hitne intervencije) da pomogne migrantima i imigrantima koji su zaustavljeni u kretanju u BiH ove zime.
Želimo da zahvalimo svim nevjerovatnim volonterima koji su podržavali naš rad još od 2011. Želimo zahvaliti svim donatorima koji su pomogli nama da mi pomognemo drugima.
Radujemo se budućim projektima u BiH o kojima ćemo vas obavještavati.

Presently BAB has no projects in Bosnia Herzegovina. We will keep you informed if we are able to send an ERT (Emergency Response Team) to help refugees and immigrants stranded or on the move in BiH this winter.
We wish to thank all the amazing volunteers who have supported our work since 2011. We wish to thank all donors and everyone who has helped us to help others.
We look forward to future projects in BiH and will keep you informed.

Even though we are not posting so many updates we are very busy organizing new projects and supporting others. We are in the early stages of preparing our second exchange between Germany and Bosnia Herzegovina for people interested in arts and activism. You can get a taste of the first exchange by clicking here.

.https://bridgesacrossborders.net/exchange-for-women-interested-in-art-and-activism/

We are continuing our support for the children’s home in Mostar we have been supporting for three years as our next installment of documents is now ready and partly translated. This is an ongoing project and we will keep developing our support for children and teenagers at risk in BiH. The idea of these documents once they are used, tweaked and developed will be offered as open source and for free for any educators, teachers, social workers to be able to use to help young people at risk. We wish to thank the two amazing volunteers for developing and translating these documents.

New street art projects are being planned and developed. We will tell you more as the details are confirmed.

We are also collecting medical supplies for volunteer doctors and nurses working in the Balkans. If you can help please email us for more information.

Our BABmobile which was invaluable for helping keeping refugees and immigrants alive this past winter in Sarajevo is repaired and fully legal to start helping again. We would like to thank the BAB volunteers and Flaming Kitchen in Germany for making this possible.

Thankyou to everyone who is helping us to help others.

English text below.

Zdravo divni ljudi. Kako se naš projekat zimskih hitnih intervencija bliži kraju, želimo da zahvalimo svima koji su pomogli BAB i omogućili ovaj rad. Već smo u razgovorima sa malim NVO iz Bosne i Hercegovine o budućim zajedničkim porojektima. Dešavaće se mnogo soli/infor događaja ove godine širom Evrope. Takođe smo sretni da će se neke od inicijativa koje smo razvili za imigrante nastaviti i ubuduće. Nastavićemo vas obavještavati o svemu ponovo hvala

Hello wonderful people. As our winter emergency response project is coming to an end, we want to thank everyone who has supported BAB and made this work possible. We are already in talks with small local ngo’s in Bosnia Herzegovina about developing future projects together. There will be a number of soli/info events happening around Europe. We are also happy that some initiatives we created supporting refugees and immigrants that will continue for the near future. We will keep you informed about all and again thanks.

English text below.

Kako se netrpeljivosti, podjele i nasilje nastavljaju širom svijeta, naši BAB volonteri/ke nastavljaju pomagati izbjeglicama i imigrantima u Sarajevu. Podržavamo skloništa, kuhamo i dijelilmo pokrivače i vreće za spavanje kao i obično. Ali, uz to, shvatili smo da drugi vonoteri i male nevladine organizacije trebaju pomoć. Svakog petka naveče, naši sjajni volonteri/ke kuhaju za druge volontere iz svih grupa, tako da s emogu okupiti, pojesti dobar obrok i podijeliti iskustva. Hvala svima koji nama omogućavaju da pomognemo drugima.

As intolerance, division and violence continues around the world our BAB volunteers continue to help refugees and immigrants in Sarajevo. We support shelters, cook and give out blankets and sleeping bags as usual. But in addition we realised other volunteers and small ngo’s need support. Every Friday night our amazing volunteers cook for other volunteers from all groups, so they can come together, eat good food and share moments together. Thankyou to everyone who is making it possible for us to help others

Apart from our normal daily work trying to help refugees and immigrants.
BAB was invited to give a presentation at a Sarajevo secondary school yesterday. There was more young people than we expected. Around 80 teenagers came and we also offered a question and answer session about our work in Bosnia Herzegovina. We were amazed by these young people and their understanding and empathy to the situation of the refugees and immigrants. They also want to help us help. Some of them wrote amazing essays which we will publish on the website when we have some spare time.

Then in the evening when we were doing our normal night checks we came across a guy we have got to know the last three months. We know him as “Sound as a pound” as when he knew some of the volunteers came from Merseyside he would always say the phrase. He is from a north African country and had dated and English woman so he knew various slang. He had arrived back in that moment on the street where we had met him a few days before just as he was leaving for the border. We hoped to never see him again. He was caught in Zagreb and it was clear he had been heavily beaten and pushed back. The details are too horrific to write. He broke down in our arms crying. It is hard to explain how it makes you feel to see people being broken by this situation. We gave him a sleeping bag and some blankets and some money for food as he had not eaten in days. It is not easy work but we again want to thank everyone who has been helping us to help others

Every shelter in Sarajevo tells a story of a dark past in this land. The shelters in buildings we support have been left abandoned for many years, usually as far back as the war. These empty shells that were once full of life, people and stories that are forgotten with time. Then the new refugees and immigrants started to arrive and new stories are told from these hidden places. This is a story from photos where one old man lives without knowing his future.

Our work continues. As well as supporting shelters for around 100 people. We also support other groups supporting other shelters. We send volunteers to Aid Brigade and Collective Aid to work in their kitchens which means we help feed 700 people daily with two hot meals. Every night we have volunteers ready to take blankets and sleeping bags provided by BASIS to anyone who arrives in the city tired, cold, hungry and possibly injured. Our amazing team of volunteers are developing the next instalement of documents for the childrens home in Mostar. These documents will eventually become open source for all teachers, educators and social workers supporting children at risk all over Bosnia Herzegovina. In addition we are also developing cultural and political awareness documents to be provided to other volunteer groups working in BiH. These will also be open source and for free. It does not stop there. We are in discussions with a number of secondary schools in Sarajevo to give presentations and organise a wrting competition in English about the childrens perceptions of how it is to be a refugee or immigrant in Sarajevo during this hard winter. There are more things happening which we will tell you about when they are confirmed. Thankyou to everyone who is helping us and today a special thankyou goes to Fläming kitchen in Germany for their continued financial support.

Our volunteers are very busy in Sarajevo helping refugees and immigrants in various ways. We help deliver food, we manage many shelters with out largest being for 60 people. We take care for hygiene and disease prevention, we provide emergency aid for new arrivals, we chop wood, we support the community center. We try to assist with mental health issues and the general well being of the people we help. We work in partnerships with other groups who are helping.

Here are some pictures since our last update to give you more of an idea.