Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia-Hercegovina, and is a beautiful city and well worth visiting while you are in the region. It is a vibrant, cosmopolitan European city surrounded by hills, which has recovered remarkably since the war 10 years ago.In particular, it is worth visiting old Turkish quarter, with cobbled streets and ivy covered single-storey shops, cafes, and an ornate mosque. It is here that you are most likely to be able to sample Bosnia’s delicious trademark coffee (similar to Turkish-style coffee). Adjacent to the Turkish quarter is the newer, Austro-Hungarian part, with tall buildings and elaborate architecture.

We now visit two centres in Sarajevo, though in contrast to the other places in Bosnia they would prefer to have volunteers in the Easter vacation.

Nesto Vise - Centar za Mlade

New this year!
This centre has been open since 1995. It is a large, well-equipped building in the suburbs of the city. The director is very friendly and speaks perfect English. They aim to take children away from the streets giving them a safe environment and providing opportunities to learn new skills. There are 800-1000 children who visit the centre from the ages of 4-18. There is also a pre-school playroom open daily. The centre already has art, music, photography, dance and health education particularly about STDs and HIV. High unemployment is a particular problem in the area. It is open all year but OXAB volunteers are particularly welcome during the Easter vacation. English lessons would be appreciated but any volunteers would need to have a well-organised project if they decided to work here.

SOS Kinderdorff Drustveni Centar and SOS Children’s Village

New this year!
This is in quite a poor suburb of Sarajevo. The Children’s Village is essentially an orphanage. The youth centre has children from the Children’s Village and also from the local community. There are many activities here including art, pottery, drama, breakdancing, photography, English, German and Maths classes and health education. There is also psychological help for traumatised children. Like Nesto Vise, it is well funded, well equipped and very efficient but again, the children often have many social problems and may be deeply emotionally scarred from the war. Again, they would particularly appreciate volunteers in the Easter period. No more than 4 volunteers would be able to visit at one time. It would be appreciated if the volunteers could offer something different to the children. The Creative Activities Coordinator speaks good English.

Last updated: March 2nd, 2008