“ To Brave Hearts with Love” the greatest humanitarian achievement of Srpska

Written by: Milorad Dodik

I always fondly remember, and on my face I do not try to hide the expression of sincere feelings of pride at the commemoration of the first donator evening “To Brave Hearts with Love”. It was held on December 29, 2010 and 300,000 BAM was collected to help children from the Republic of Srpska suffering from malignant diseases, and for us initiators it became an inspiration and a guide for future action.

That December, the first page of the story of humanity and warmth was written, and in the years that followed, the pages continued, the amount of funds collected for the purpose of treating children increased, and campaign “To Brave Hearts with Love” became a synonym for a synergistic action in which the institutions of the Republic of Srpska and citizens had the opportunity to express love and solidarity with everyone who needs help.

Each of the 13 subsequent donator evenings, which have been continuously held so far, had a different theme, but the goal and mission of campaign “To Brave Hearts with Love” have remained unchanged to this day. All these years, we were guided by the thought that if we save one child, we saved someone’s whole world, and the strength it brought to us was enough to fulfill our duty and to direct maximum energy towards creating a carefree childhood and irreplaceable children’s joy.

The spark of feeling that awakened in us every time we saw a smile on small, gentle, innocent faces has been priceless. Age does not allow them to feel all the weight they are dealing with, which life unfairly assigned to them. The tears of happiness on the faces of their parents when they are faced with the knowledge that they are not alone in this exhaustive struggle, when they feel the empathy of their fellow citizens and the institutions of the Republic of Srpska is a special feeling.

However, in order to fundamentally understand the story of campaign “To Brave Hearts with Love”, it is necessary to look at everything that it has mediated so far.

That the citizens recognized the humanity and potential of this humanitarian campaign, and on the other hand showed that there are true patriots living in the Republic of Srpska, with the desire and will to show solidarity with their fellow citizens who need help, was clear to us already in the following year, in 2011 when BAM 550,000 was collected during the donator evening for children with developmental disabilities.

At the initiative of the Association “Adults for the Children of the Republic of Srpska”, in 2012, at the third donator evening when BAM 700,000 was collected in order to help children suffering from diabetes in the Republic of Srpska, i.e. the purchase of insulin pumps.

The fourth donator evening “To Brave Hearts with Love” was held in 2013 with the aim of helping children with autism, when BAM 607,000 was collected. In December 2014, the fifth donator evening, BAM 850,000 was collected for the construction of the Parents’ House. It is used for free accommodation for parents and children who are being treated for malignant diseases at the Department of Oncology. In addition to free accommodation for sick children and their parents, the house provides support, a warm family atmosphere and a place where they can forget about treatment for a moment and through play can bring back a part of their damaged childhood.

The Centre for Rare Diseases of the Republic of Srpska was the initiator of the action to direct the funds collected during the sixth donator evening “To Brave Hearts with Love” in order to help children with rare genetic diseases. For these purposes, BAM 820,000 were collected, and the seventh donator evening was held in 2016, for the construction of the Centre for the Prevention of Developmental Difficulties for Mothers and Children, which was the goal of that year. It was held on the initiative of the Centre for the Prevention of Developmental Disabilities “For Mother and Child”, and thus BAM 1.3 million was collected.

The eighth donoator evening is particularly significant because after that event, humanity in the Republic of Srpska gained a new dimension, instilled hope in hundreds of parents, and brought back a smile to the faces of generations of children and ensured the right to a carefree childhood. After the donator evening “To Brave Hearts with Love” was held under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Srpska in December 2017, the Solidarity Fund began its work, to which BAM 1,361,528 was collected at that time and was transferred for the diagnosis and treatment of children diseases, conditions and injuries in abroad.

During the ninth donator evening, BAM 1,438,038 was collected for the purchase of devices for robot-assisted rehabilitation of children with movement disorders, while the following year, BAM 1,254,000 was collected for the construction of day centres for children with developmental disabilities in Banja Luka and Trebinje.

The humanitarian story did not die down even during the corona virus pandemic, and from 2020 until today, three more humanitarian evenings were held, and the funds were directed to the establishment of the first human milk bank in Srpska, at the initiative of the Association of Parents of Prematurely Born Children “Mrvice”, collecting funds for the purchase of means of transport for children with intellectual disabilities, and the purchase of transport incubators.

It is important to note that transport incubators enabled vitally important modern neonatal transport, and in addition to donations to hospitals throughout the Republic of Srpska, solidarity was also shown with our people in Kosovo and Metohija, who live in difficult conditions, and one such incubator was donated to the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica. In addition to humanity, this also sent messages of support to persevere in the fight for survival on the age-old hearths and protect our holy, Serbian land.

There is an intention that one such incubator will be donated to one of the maternity hospitals in FBiH, if funds are available. Humanity has no boundaries and the life of every child is important, wherever they live, whatever their skin color is and what nation they belong to. In front of the shocking stories and difficult lives of innocent beings, all politicking and machinations lose their meaning and become irrelevant. Any personal recognition is incomparable with the awareness that you have saved only one life, and with the campaign “To Brave Hearts with Love” we have saved many more lives. Nobody needs a bigger recognition than that.

SOLIDARITY FUND

As a permanent guarantor of the support of the institutions of the Republic of Srpska to parents with children whose condition requires diagnosis and treatment abroad, from one of those 13 donor evenings “To Brave Hearts with Love” the Solidarity Fund was established, another crown of work and an institution of love, courage and solidarity, and devoid of all political manipulations.

By establishing the Solidarity Fund, the Republic of Srpska has systematically solved one of the most important issues – financing the treatment and diagnostics of the children abroad. The funds of the Solidarity Fund are approved through a simplified procedure for the diagnosis and treatment abroad of children under the age of 18, who are insured persons of the Health Insurance Fund of Srpska and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Solidarity Fund currently disposes with BAM 18,386,410 in its accounts, and since the beginning of its work until today, treatment and diagnostics for 617 children from the Republic of Srpska have been financed, for which more than BAM 35 million has been allocated. The Solidarity Fund issued 1,139 decisions for treatment abroad, because some children go for treatment several times during the year, and children from the Republic of Srpska were treated in reference clinics around the world, in Germany, USA, France, Italy, Turkey, Austria, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Holland and other countries.