Sign Up, Volunteer and Enjoy!

Investing personal time, effort, knowledge and skills to successfully perform certain services or activities for the common good means engaging in volunteering. Volunteers gain different experiences of social activism where they become socially involved and become active members of society. Volunteering successfully creates a space in which every person, regardless of certain affiliations and differences, can make quality changes in society.

Our scholarship holder Azra Zahirović, who is 24 years old, also dedicated herself to volunteer work. She was born in Travnik, and for the last five years, she has been studying, working and volunteering in Sarajevo due to her university obligations.

She described herself as a youth activist with almost 10 years of experience in the NGO sector. She loves art, especially literature, which often inspires and motivates her in life.

She graduated in 2019 from the Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of International Relations and Diplomacy, receiving the Golden Badge of the University of Sarajevo. After that, she enrolled in a master’s degree at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Department of Management and Organization.

In a few months, I will finish my dissertation on the topic of “Youth Entrepreneurship in Bosnia and Herzegovina” and thus I will finalize my graduate cycle of studies.

Along with her university education, she attended numerous conferences, seminars and was educated in the field of peacebuilding in the region.

She has been a scholarship holder of the Hastor Foundation for over 10 years.

Now that I am nearing the end of my formal education, and even this scholarship, I can say that the acquaintances and knowledge I gained at the Foundation have greatly facilitated my professional career. In addition, I must say that the young people throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina that I met through the Foundation especially inspired me to work on myself and stay in this country despite all the difficulties and challenges.

She loves to write, read and travel. She considers literature, especially poetry, as her therapy.

Literature gives us space to constantly get to know ourselves, while travel is an opportunity to come up with ideas that have the power to change the situation in our communities through new people we meet and landscapes we experience.

Through volunteer work, she had the opportunity to visit almost the whole of Europe and believes that all young people should take advantage of the opportunities offered to them through various international programs.

After such experiences and travels, I always return to Bosnia and Herzegovina with new ideas and inspired by faith in possible change. On the other hand, through volunteer activities, I developed abilities and skills that mean a lot in today’s business world, and I gained the most important practical knowledge through the NGO sector, specifically project management.

Because of the coronavirus-caused pandemic and lockdown, Azra felt the need to make some change in her life. As she had fewer obligations in the final semester, she applied for the ESC or European Volunteer Service program – as it was called earlier. This program is part of the Erasmus + program, which gives young people the opportunity to do exchanges around the world.

Given that she had not had the opportunity to visit Turkey before, and had a strong desire to learn more about its rich culture and tradition, she applied for an exchange in a small town in central Turkey. The topic of the project she applied for was Strengthening youth capacities and raising awareness of the importance of volunteering. She worked specifically at Afyon Kocatepe University, in the International Cooperation Department, and her job was mostly to promote the program and educate other young people from Turkey on how to apply for exchange programs.

During these two months of the project, I met wonderful people, learned a lot about the Erasmus project and had the opportunity to help other young people realize their dreams and go on an exchange to another country.

In addition, she learned the basics of the Turkish language and traveled to many parts of the enchanting country.

Turkey surprised me with its hospitality, wonderful holiday destinations, but especially the great food and the fact that people there just know how to enjoy the little things. However, the way they treat animals was especially inspiring, their humanity and calmness in problematic situations is something I would like to carry over to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Turkey was a discovery for Azra, and after the project, she got the desire to further explore this part of the world. She has established connections with many members of the academic community, which is extremely important to her in her further academic work.

Also, Azra invites all our scholarship holders who have the will, desire, knowledge of English, positive and adventurous spirit to apply for one such exchange. He will be happy to tell you all the details and help with the exchange.

We wish Azra all the best in the continuation of her work and we expect more new positive experiences from her.

Finally, she tells all young people: