I am Maja Schulze, I´m 21 years old and I am volunteering with SVITAC in Brčko/Bosnia for one year.
Maja with Svitac volunteer Saira
I am from Germany from the 230 000 inhabitants big town Halle/Salle (near Leipzig). I finished my school, and then I finished my apprenticeship as an assistant of fashion/design. But my interests are also in other ways of life and I really want(ed) to see and to be in Bosnia.
Main thing: to be in Bosnia. I wasn’t interested in a specific town or village: SVITAC accepted my application. So I choose the town Brcko.
Of course I search by “Google” this town and find out: Brcko is a district, it is located in the north of Bosnia, it has 60 000 inhabitants, has a boulevard, the winters are cold and the summers are really hot.
There were 5 months before my trip to Bosnia. Enough time to prepare the trip, for example I needed a passport or to buy toothpaste. And, of course, the most important thing to say “goodbye” to my friends and family and the others, which know me. I chose the best way to do this: A Party! Afterward there were good moments with the best.
Finally came the day: The start of my trip, which should take 12 months. And we start in Berlin. My best friend, a friend, my boyfriend and my lovely mother brought me to the airport Tegel. It was the hardest part of everything to say “goodbye” here and finally to go alone to the aircraft and let the trip really start.
So I flew from Berlin to Vienna, from Vienna to Belgrade. In Belgrade waited the most difficult challenge of me: finding the right bus which to Brcko.
At the airport I asked a nice woman by the tourism information. She gave me a map of Belgrade and explained and drew my way from the bus station where the Airport Bus arrives to the other where the bus to Brcko is.
At first I was looking for the bus at the airport. There was a mean taxi driver, who said to me that the bus company exists anymore and he would drive me for 20 €. But I didn’t believe him: The bus company still exists. I was so happy and bus to the city centre was just 100 Dinar (=1€).
The next difficulty was that I could’t read anything. Everything was in Cyrillic. What should I do? Where have I to go out? But also here, there people around you, which speak English. They would help. They helped me. Finally I went out. It was the ready place. Now I took a look on the map, which direction I had to go. Besides, “WOW” I am in Belgrade. Such a big city and so much live and people. And it was so warm. Ok, go!
Here I needed help again. I am not good with maps. With asking and asking and asking I found the bus station, bought the ticket (1000 Dinar!!!!:-) ) – the people were really friendly – and sat down in the bus to my final station – Brcko.
I was the whole way between sleep and asked someone “is this Brcko?”. And also here, there are people, which smile at you and tell you what you need to know.
After three hours was the city Brcko. Hello I am there.
I’ve been in Brcko for 3 months. I got get to know my hosting organisation SVITAC. That means Edina, my Mentor, Gordana, my local language teacher and coordinator, and Sanjin, the music teacher. I also got to know my Pair Volunteer Saira. This is a nice idea from SVITAC. They will organise a Pair Volunteer for you, who is your “personal assistant”. Because of Saira I didn´t and don´t feel alone by organising and doing my Workshops. Also she is big help by conversation with the kids, because I didn’t know ‘local language’ (Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian). So I started to assist Edina with her German lessons and looked sometimes in the English lessons of Gordana. In addition I have my own workshops. At the first are the arts & crafts and now theatre/dance.
Where do I live? I live in a beautiful house. It is just 10 minutes from the youth centre. Also it is just a short way by foot to the city centre or to the ELLIE MAXWELL Youth Centre.
There are different places, where I can go in my free time. Sometimes I go with my flatmate or with Saira or Edina. But there are also the possibilities to go alone, maybe to take a walk or enjoy the coffee bars by yourself.
But you should know that Brcko has neither cinemas or theatres, and the swimming pool is rarely open. Also my flatmate had at first time problems to do something in her free time, because of her hobbies. She liked climbing in mountains or this specific wall.
My problem was and is that here is no theatre or cinema, maybe sometimes living in a city without swimming pool.
You have to open your eyes and ears to here what is going on. So the cinema was in Brcko with the film “Cirkus Columbija“ of few months ago. Also a theatre festival was coming for a whole week and you could visit some auditions.
Now my flatmate and I started to go to kick boxing. Here is club and you are really welcome to join the training. We want to become fit or don’t lost or fitness, so it was a good decision. The training is really fun, but also hard. That means you feel what you did the last training.
On nice Sundays I like to take walks by the river, sometimes I decided to go by the Sava or sometimes I decided to do by the Brka. One time I took a walk with my flatmate and the Swedish girls (also there is entertainment because of new international people in the house) to Croatia. It is just a bridge away from Brcko. And there are fantastic civapcici.
You have to figure out for yourself what you are going to do for nightlife. There are some clubs, pubs, disco bars or coffees. One time I tried a whole night with Turbobofolk. That was in Jajce (a city in the middle of Bosnia), but you will find it here as well.
I would say give everything at least one chance.
So at the end it is a small city with few possibilities to create your new life. But to travel few times is for me really necessary to get many views of this country and to be alive.
