The Flower of Srebrenica Foundation awarded 42 scholarships to students from Srebrenica and its surroundings

(Patria) - The Flower of Srebrenica Foundation, within the "Silver Flower of Srebrenica" project, today awarded scholarships to 42 students, from socially vulnerable families and for the particularly gifted, from the area of Srebrenica and its surroundings.

The scholarship awarding ceremony was attended by the Rais al-ulama of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Husein-ef. Kavazović, who also presented one scholarship.

"We are at the place of a great waqif, Gazi Husrev-beg. In this building here resides another waqf, of our second waqif, Adil-beg Zulfikarpašić. Our people are good people, sometimes referred to as Good Bosniaks. From our people, a large number of waqifs have emerged, people who have left endowments, waqfs from their property, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also where the sultans built theirs, in Istanbul, throughout Egypt, in Palestine, and elsewhere. All of this speaks to the nature of our people.

Schools, hammams, mosques, what was needed by our people and other peoples, were established on those waqfs, on those great endowments," said the Rais al-ulama in his address to those present.

We hope that what we are witnessing today, thanks to Mensur Bektić, will grow into a lasting good that will help our children when they need it most, emphasized the Rais al-ulama.

"Waqfs were actually institutions that helped gifted children, poor children, and it should continue that way. The most important figures of our people were not from the high class, so to speak, but rather those who were given the opportunity to become great. That is why waqfs are important, and that is why associations like this are important.

I invite you all to participate, either through this or other organizations that provide scholarships and nurture our children. If there are our children on the Drina, if we are on the Drina,
we will be in Sarajevo, we will be in Tuzla, and in other places," said the
Rais al-ulama.

The scholarships are in the amount of 500 KM each, and the money for the scholarships was once again collected by the Foundation from the sale of silver "Flowers of Srebrenica" in the past year.

"12 years ago, I was returning with friends from a funeral in Srebrenica. Under the impression of everything we saw, we talked, and they told me, 'You are an esteemed artist, do something for Srebrenica.' From that year to the next, I worked on developing the Silver Flower of Srebrenica project. It was created as my support for all our martyrs, the innocently killed. The Flower of Srebrenica is a symbol that should remind all of us that such evil must never happen again, that such evil must never catch us again.

These scholarships are precisely a stimulus for our children to learn, to pass on, to know who they are and what they are, to wish no evil to anyone. We thank everyone who supported us, including the Riyaset of the Islamic Community," stated the author of the silver "Flower of Srebrenica," Mensur Bektić.

This is the tenth scholarship award by the Foundation. The selection of students was entrusted by the author of the Flower of Srebrenica to Munira Subašić, president of the "Movement of Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa".

"There is a large number of children coming from families that are struggling, we visit them, we know that. Thanks to Mensur, their education is made easier. We, as an association, receive many requests for scholarships; this year there were more than 70. Children are our future, we must invest in them," said Subašić.

One of the recipients is student Amna Katica.

"This is the first time I have received a scholarship, I was surprised. I am happy, it will ease my education. This is a motivation for me to try harder," said this fifth-grade elementary school student. Also, thank-you notes were presented today to the friends of the project who have supported and continue to support the Foundation's work.