College education for 10 talented students in BiH

BOSANA FOUNDATION

Scholarship and Personal Development Program

Quarterly Report

April-June 2015

Executive Summary:

The Bosana students and staff have had a very eventful second quarter; there are many exiting news to share with our supporters. The Bosana Annual Benefit was held last weekend of May and it was, as usual, attention-grabbing and successful. The Bosana event fundraised close to $54,000 and this will allow us to keep our scholarship program on track and focus on our current students. Two of our donors covered an all-inclusive trip for two of our students to travel to Los Angles to attend Bosana event and meet all the people that are helping young adults such as themselves.

Students and Program Update:

The board and staff have decided to implement new strategic course for the organization, which is why we are not going to accept new students this academic year. We will dedicate this time to focus on internal development of the Foundation as well as our current scholarship recipients to make sure that the students we currently have further develop and assure success after college.

This part of the year is busy for some students, depending on the university they attend, they might have few exams that they are able to retake from previous quarter; however, most of them worked on their second semester midterms. Majority of our students had good midterm results. Classes are still in progress but some universities have started with the exam season so we are collecting documentation from our students and a more detailed report about their academic success will follow in the next quarterly report. We are hoping to have some graduates this year but we will have to wait for the final results after the exams.

This summer we are collaborating with Azra Smailkadic-Brkic, a journalist and human rights activist on a new project. During the month of August there will be a summer camp called “Back to Nature” where children will be able to reconnect with nature and spend time away from all the electronic distractions of the world we live in today. Summer camp will be at the Vlasic Mountain and it is for children ages 10-14. In order to realize the camp, our goal was to fundraise at least $3,500 to cover costs for the 30 participants, which we managed to achieve. The camp participants will be underprivileged children, as well as children from orphanages. Another important aspect of this program is that our students will be able to be part of this camp. They will work on this project as counselors, which will give them working experience, but it will also be a paid summer internship for at least three of our students. We hope that this will be our first of many summer camps where we will strive to also include more children next year, from different cities and also children of Bosnian origin living abroad. Our goal is to build lasting friendships and connections among children in BIH and abroad.

Highlights of the quarter:

• In April, our student Nermina, who studied English Language and Literature, has defended her B.A. diploma and became one more Bosana graduate. She was accepted to Bosana Foundation in 2010 and we are very excited to see her graduate.

• Our student Edin from Tuzla also completed his B.A. degree and will graduate in the next quarter with the diploma from DIF (physical education) University in Tuzla.

• Our student Anela, has been honored for her volunteer work with Inter-religious Youth Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Reception was organized, at the Embassy of the United States of America in BiH, to recognize successful work of volunteers on reconciliation project.

• Our student Amila helped publicize a story of a family from her hometown that was homeless due to horrific acts of violence and domestic abuse at home. The mother with her two children was sleeping on the streets and she decided that she needed to do something about it. Publicizing the story on Facebook, she attracted attention from Bosana staff and donors and within weeks we were able to find a rent-free home for the family and raise close to $1500 dollars for the family to have in the first few months. This is an excellent example how our students can work together with Bosana Foundation to engage our donors to do even more good for our local communities in BIH.

• We are also extremely proud of our student Anes. He has been an exemplary student since he was first accepted to Bosana Foundation in 2011. Anes received his bachelors on time and started master’s program last year. He has been one of the top students in his class. In the meantime, he applied for different jobs and programs to be able to acquire some working experience. This year Anes, along with only two other students from BIH (first ever) has been accepted to Royal Air Force Academy in Cranwell, Great Britain. He will have full scholarship during the ten (10) month training and after his training is complete he will have a guaranteed job with the BIH Army.

• Nadja, another amazing Bosana student, worked with her colleagues and organized free tutoring sessions for students of Economic faculty in Bihac. This is just another way our students are trying to give back to their own community.

• Since march, our students have started their own humanitarian project where they allocate 2KM each month and Bosana double matches the total. This adds up to approximately $200/month. Our students pick different city each month as well as a family or an individual that they believe needs help the most. In April, Milena, our student in Banjaluka, visited a family to help a single mother and her twin girls. Milena studies in Banja Luka so she investigated and decided to help this family with food and other supplies.

• In may- our students Nadja and Adnan from Bihac used the monthly charity student fund to help several families in Bihac area. These families are in an extremely difficult situation and are grateful to get any kind of help. Our students brought clothes, food and some toys for the youngest members of the family. Then they visited grandma Lucija who could not afford to buy medication and little girl Majda, diagnosed with cerebral paralyses.

• In month of June, our students helped families in the cit of Mostar. Our students in Mostar: Emina, Selma, Josip and Katica divided the money from the student humanitarian fund in two batches and helped two families with food, medications and little tokens of their appreciation. They visited families living in small cities around Mostar: Salakovac and Posusje.

• Next quarter, two of our medical students will travel to the United States to attend a weeklong residency at the Ceders Sinai hospital and will also spend additional week sightseeing in Los Angeles thanks to two of their mentors who invited them to be their guests.

• Our former student Selma, who studied art at the university in Banjaluka successfully completed her Masters in Romania and was also accepted to University of Syracuse on full scholarship, as well as receiving a teacher assistant position.

• The Bosana “Do-Gooders Award” that we first gave last year to our most generous donor was also given this year to our most loyal partners from Sweden who helped two of our students build new homes in Maglaj after the floods. It’s also a big honor that the same award that was designed by our friend and a famous artist from Tuzla was also given to Pope Francis that visited Sarajevo in June.

Challenges:

There were no special challenges during this quarter. All our students are busy transitioning from classes to exams, they are getting ready and some of them are taking tutoring lessons. This year seems to be most promising of all end of the year semesters as our students are working hard and are in good spirits that most of them will be able to pass all of their classes. Besides Nermina and Edin, we are hoping to have few more graduates. Since the exam season is in full swing, and there will be few more options for our students to take exams, we will wait for the next quarter to give you more detailed report about their academic success.

Donor driven update worth mentioning:

Once again, one of our most committed donors from Richmond Virginia decided to help Bosana Foundation with a private fundraiser. This time she used her baby shower as an opportunity to raise funds for our students. Selma was able to raise $800 with her friends and family. She asked her guests to, instead of buying gifts for her baby, they donate that same amount to Bosana. Options are unlimited for those who want to help others and Selma is a great example of such individual.

Links:

• http://www.bosanafoundation.org