The inspiring stories of our alumni, who carry the Hastor Foundation in their hearts even years after their last signed contracts, testify that the connection with the Foundation does not end with the end of education. If you ever wondered who edited the first version of the newsletter that you read every month, the answer lies in the story of this month’s alumni who, as we will show below, is in many ways a special example of a Hastor Foundation scholarship holder.
The first editor of the newsletter of the Hastor Foundation, Enver Fejzović, was born in Kakanj. He graduated from the “Muhsin Rizvić” high school in Kakanj, and after that, he joined the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Sarajevo, where he obtained the academic title of Bachelor of Physics. He currently works as a physics teacher in two secondary schools in Kakanj. Enver, when he was a scholarship holder, in a unique way opened and started editing the pages of our newsletter, which we continued to print and expand with new success stories of both current and former Foundation scholarship holders. In accordance with what has been said, it is a special honor for us to tell Enver’s story below and forever weave it into these pages as an example of how proud the Hastor Foundation is of its scholarship recipients who managed to achieve their goals, but also set new ones and strive to achieve them again.
Enver became a scholarship holder of the Hastor Foundation in 2006 and therefore belongs to the first generation of our scholarship holders. He fondly remembers his interview for the scholarship where he met the teacher Ramo and Nermina Smajić who helped him to successfully fulfill his volunteering duties in the office and the field. From the moment he became a scholarship holder until the end of that status, Enver diligently and devotedly performed his volunteering duties and tried to do his best to advance the Foundation’s mission and realize its idea of volunteer work in the best possible way. As the editor of the newsletter, he had the obligation to prepare and edit texts with six other scholarship holders. People who volunteered in the field shared their experiences from volunteering, from which the editorial staff created inspiring stories.
Our alumnus especially remembers his volunteering in the field. Volunteer work at that time meant 16 hours spent with students. He spent one weekend every month with his group in the town of Ilovača near Goražde. Since Enver lived in Visoko, he had to travel 150 km one way every time. Each trip required changing three buses. For two years, he volunteered like this, getting to know the city of Goražde and its residents, whom he says are truly special people who are ready to help at any time.
In addition to regular volunteering activities in which he helped students to master physics, mathematics, and foreign language material they also had free activities during which they played, socialized, and strengthened their bonds. He cites the weekend he spent visiting the oldest inhabitants of Ilovača with the rest of the scholarship holders as one of the more special meetings. As a sign of gratitude, the son of an old woman, who had just come from abroad for vacation, presented all the students with modest gifts. This gesture delighted Enver and was the reason that that weekend with the students remains deeply etched in his memory.
In addition to volunteering in the field, I also had the opportunity to volunteer in the office, where I most often performed tasks related to the scholarship holders’ received documentation and responded to scholarship holders’ letters. In addition to my regular schedule, whenever I had a break at university, I came to the office to volunteer, and it happened that I spent up to 50 hours in the office a month. My colleague Semir Mujkanović from Brčko was my competition and motivation to spend as much time as possible volunteering in the office. Our example is just one in a series of examples of scholarship holders of the Hastor Foundation who are each other’s inspiration and motivation for daily progress. We saw each other as friends and role models, and today, reading about the current scholarship holders, I see that this is a trend that has been active throughout the years and remains the same, which is precisely what makes the Foundation and its team special. I am happy to see that the roles of me and my friends were inherited by new and more successful scholarship holders who continued to build and improve what we started in 2006.
Workshops, educations, socializing, and material assistance are just some of the benefits that the Hastor Foundation provided to Enver. However, he singles out one acquaintance in particular that he made at the Foundation, and who made a mark on his entire life. Namely, he met his current wife, Ajla Čalaš from Goražde, at an art exhibition of works by scholarship holders of the Hastor Foundation. Ajla was also a scholarship holder, first as a high school student and later as a university student. In this way, Enver, as he points out, perpetuated his relationship with the Hastor Foundation, which is a special joy for him. The Foundation thus remained an important and special part of his life, which follows him, and he cherishes with great care.
Our former scholarship holders show us how the conditions and way of working have changed during all these years of the Hastor Foundation’s existence. The number of scholarship holders has increased manifold, but the goal has always remained the same. Stories about strong friendships and lifelong loves are just one in a series of proofs of the special functioning of a community of people connected by one thing – the Hastor Foundation.
Prepared by: Nedžma Latić
Translated by: Nejra Galijašević
