Festival Let's GROW Up Together

The Older Brother, Older Sister Program Celebrates 20 Years!

In May 2004, the pilot phase of the Program was conducted, and the first cycle officially began in September of the same year. Since then, this initiative has continued without interruption in Sarajevo. Over the years, it has spread throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the current cycle involves eight partner organizations from eight cities.

To mark this anniversary, the Foundation for Support and Development of Mentoring Programs, Older Brother, Older Sister, organized the "Festival Let's GROW Up Together" on June 8th, aimed at children and volunteers from the current cycle, as well as all partner organizations. In Sarajevo, at the Safet Zajko Education, Sports, and Recreation Center, around two hundred participants, including both younger and older siblings, joined us from six Bosnian-Herzegovinian cities where the Program is implemented during the 2023/2024 cycle.

In organizing the Festival, the Foundation was supported by everyone currently involved in the Program. Each pair prepared their own time capsule, and 17 participants took part in the Creative-Artistic Works Competition. All 17 submitted works received awards, with five of them winning the Creativity Oscars in the following categories: Best Creative-Artistic Work, Best Prose, Best Poetry, Best Photography, and the Most Registered Categories. In the upcoming weeks, the Foundation's social media will feature these works and the stories behind them.

The time capsules were packed into a large collective time capsule and entrusted to the Foundation for safekeeping, to be opened by future OBOS participants, together with new generations, when the Program celebrates its next anniversary. This box contains memories, photos, letters to future selves, and messages of gratitude for the wonderful time spent together.

After the formal part, where awards were given, time capsules were packed, and participants had the opportunity to meet and discover how many more mentees and mentors are part of this story, the "Games Without Borders" followed. And indeed, there were no limits to the smiles, team spirit, support, and togetherness. The two teams with the best times took home, in addition to medals, wonderful memories.

During their free time, participants explored the Center, played, and continued getting to know their new friends.

Volunteer Amila Balić has been spending time with her mentee for two years. She says their time capsule was a surprise for her younger sister: "It contains photos from the two previous cycles, each with a sentence... We visited everything in Sarajevo, I don't know what to single out." Her mentee admitted, "I will remember when we were everywhere, when we spent time together, how we always played and joked." For her, the capsule is their shared time that she will always remember.

The Foundation expresses its gratitude to the employees, volunteers from the Association for Prevention of Addiction NARKO-NE, and the team from the Older Brother, Older Sister program and Boombar project for their selfless support in organizing the Festival.

A special thank you also goes to Adisa Gagula, whose photographs will ensure that the Festival lives on through images.

Iman Muratović

Grant Manager

Foundation for Support and Development of Mentoring Programs, Older Brother, Older Sister