Protest of Parents of Mjedenica Children: Why Touch a Peaceful and Happy Children's Harbor? Thank You for the Crumbs, But We Are Not Giving Up!

(Patria) - Participants of daily work/occupational workshops, together with their parents, gathered today in a protest in front of the Government of Sarajevo Canton. "This is just an injection for the pain," they said from the protest - with a message that the situation within their families will not be different after 2025.

At the session of the Government of Sarajevo Canton on Thursday, a decree was adopted ordering the Institute to continue running work/occupational workshops for 28 adult participants. It will come into force upon publication in the Official Gazette of Sarajevo Canton and will be valid until the end of 2025.

Parents are grateful, but at the protest they emphasize that they want a permanent solution. They do not want to speculate what will happen after December 2025. They recall the challenging period they went through with their children during the recent interruption of workshops that have been held at the Institute since 1986.

Enisa Hrustić is the mother of a child who has been involved in Mjedenica since the age of nine. She told N1 about her experience with this institution and highlighted its importance, and said she will not give up until a final solution is reached.

“My little girl went through inclusion. From a hyperactive child, I got a plant overnight. I was recommended to take my child to Mjedenica because they have all the expert team she needs. I gave my child there. I lived in Kakanj, and I brought her to me on weekends and during holidays. While she was going to school, I asked the professional staff if it was possible for her to become literate, they said ‘no’. I asked them to socialize my child and she was socialized. I am not ashamed to go anywhere with her. And until September 2, no problems, nothing, that was a shock for us,” says Hrustić.

“Have an ear for their sobs!”

About yesterday's 'solution' she says “they threw a few crumbs for our children, and thank you to everyone who started this, we are not stopping here, we are going until a final solution, the final solution is that no one thinks of doing this to them”.

“One Mjedenica that has existed for seven decades, and now it should be demolished, that is not said, it is an institution. Our children have been deprived of permanent labor rights. We are not interested in politics, we have no time for anything except our children. We will send the children to the workshop according to their decision, but we will continue through legal channels to get a permanent solution. Thank you for yesterday's few crumbs, but we parents are not giving up,” said the child's mother.

They do not want a boarding school solution and a workshop together. They say they want a permanent solution in five segments – kindergarten, school, extended stay, boarding school and workshop.

In the end, she asked why they are touching a peaceful and happy children's harbor, and issued an appeal saying: “Have an ear for their sobs!”

Let us recall, parents also protested on September 13, and that day it was said from the Government of Sarajevo Canton that the workshops would continue, but that their maintenance would be left to an association or organization of trust, given that, as they said, for adults who are not students of the Institute, they cannot be recognized as an area of educational work.

The parents opposed this, so in the final solution, the workshops are returned to the competence of the Institute. Parents today say they will return their children to the workshops as soon as they start again, but they consider the adopted decree only a small step in solving the situation.