Book Pays Tribute to Bosnia’s Activist Heroes

Catibusic said stories about people like those described in the book are rarely presented in the media, which might be one reason why so many people believe the youth of Bosnia just want to leave, without even trying to make things better first.

Minja Culic, another of the authors, explained that the book is a product of a project supported by Humanity in Action, HIA, an international educational organisation. The project, called Encouraging Democratic Values and Active Citizenship Among Youth, started in October 2018.

"It took us four months of intensive work to gather everything in one place, although it was difficult to settle on only 14 stories, among so many other inspirational stories," Culic told BIRN.

Haris Osmanovic and Emir Zukic are the remaining authors of the book.

Book promotion in Sarajevo. Photo courtsey of HIA in Bosnia/klix.ba

All four of them are young Bosnians who believe their country can overcome its problems, Culic observed.

"We are all students - at this point two of us recently graduated - and we see our future here in this country. But we are aware that if we want to make it better, we must work on it," Culic told BIRN.

Catibusic said that she sees her future in Bosnia, and will only leave if she has convinced herself that she did everything she could to stay in Bosnia.

"Through interviews with all of those people in our book, we can see that we have people who are willing to try to make life better in Bosnia, in different fields, which is promising, even though many people believe young people only want to leave," Catibusic said.

Joblessness is a major problem for the young in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 67 per cent of them are without paid work, three times higher than the percentage in...