The Hastor Foundation can brag about the hard-working, ambitious and successful scholarship holders who achieve notable results in the field of education and science. The Foundation’s team consists of young volunteers who contribute to its work by improving it with their knowledge and skills. It is precisely such values and commitment to volunteer engagement within the Hastor Foundation that earn the scholarship holders the title of Scholarship holder of the Month. Below you can read about Nedžma Latić, the scholarship holder who took the title this month.
Reading and writing are like getting intensively acquainted with life, but are also a special kind of love. This is also revealed to us by our Nedžma, who expresses her love for the written form of words by writing prose and poetry.
Nedžma Latić is a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Management and Public Administration at the International University of Sarajevo, Department of International Relations. She was born in Gornji Vakuf, but spent most of her life in Gračanica, not far from Bugojno. She is 21 years old and this is the eighth year since she became a scholarship holder of the Hastor Foundation. Even before university, Nedžma was a diligent and hardworking student, and the fact that she was the best student of her generation of Elci Ibrahim Pasha’s madrasa in Travnik speaks for this. Also, as a student of international relations, she is very interested in the situation on the international political scene, which is why, as she says, she spends most of her free time reading foreign newspapers.
Nedžma is also a member of the editorial team of the Hastor Foundation, and she fulfills her tasks responsibly and with dedication, so her texts very often brighten up the pages of our Newsletter. She states that her activities in the editorial team of the Hastor Foundation greatly contribute to the development of her talent for writing. Throughout her high school education, she was also the winner of many awards at literary competitions. She very often writes poetry for the Hastor Foundation Newsletter, so if you haven’t already, we highly recommend you take a look at the pages at the end of the Newsletter and discover the magical world of Nedžma’s poetry.
Active volunteer work within the editorial team brought Nedžma the title of Scholarship Holder of the Month. This is the result of her commitment and effort when it comes to writing texts for the website of the Hastor Foundation, the Newsletter, but also, when necessary, many other texts for different purposes. It is often necessary to take on several tasks during one month, which, as she points out, suits her because she uses it to sharpen her creative spirit more and more in a unique way, but also to meet other valuable members of the Hastor Foundation.
We asked Nedžma about her experience volunteering within our Foundation, and she said the following: Since I have been volunteering within the Hastor Foundation for a long time, I must admit that I have felt a change in myself when it comes to my personal approach to volunteer activities, considering that in addition to the editorial team, I also volunteered in the field with younger scholarship holders, but also in the office of the Hastor Foundation. Over the years, my awareness has increased that, for all the good things the Foundation has given me, I should give back in the best way I can – by volunteering, which will help me and others. I still think that I am not contributing enough, but I hope that this last year of my undergraduate studies will be marked by many articles for the Foundation’s Newsletter and website, as well as other types of volunteer work. I believe that the administration of the Hastor Foundation noticed this and this title is a testimony that none of our activities and nothing that we give to the Foundation goes unreciprocated and unnoticed.
As we have already stated, throughout her high school and university education she was awarded multiple times. Nedžma particularly emphasizes the award she received a few years ago, more precisely after completing her high school education. Namely, the European Union, in cooperation with the Riyaset of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, organized a competition in which creators of various arts could participate, and the theme was „My place in the EU“. Thanks to her poetry, Nedžma won the category of written works and traveled to Brussels, where she and her colleagues had the opportunity to present their works.
This November, our Nedžma won first place in the competition organized by the „Bosniaks“ Fund on the topic „Homeland is where freedom is felt“. Since love for the homeland is the greatest inspiration for a person like Nedžma, she felt that she could present this theme through a beautiful prose text. In addition to thirty or more due papers, Nedžma’s work won first place, which makes us very proud.
In addition to these two awards, which are the most significant for Nedžma from her current perspective, many awards were woven through all her previous years of writing. She especially likes writing because she enjoys listening to various perceptions of what is said through poetry. It often happens that due to someone else’s analysis, she herself finds a new approach to her poems, which, as she points out, are waiting for us to grow up together and, God willing, one day leave a trace that we existed through a collection of poetry.
In the last elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nedžma had the opportunity to work for the first time in her future profession, more precisely, she was an „interpreter“ for observers from Europe in front of the OSCE. She said that she had the opportunity to see the election process from a closer angle and gain experience in something that is of great importance for the future of our country.
Nedžma says that the development of her personality and maturation was greatly influenced by the exchange of students, more precisely the Erasmus+ program. In her third year of university, she had the opportunity to stay in the city of Isparta, which is located in Turkey. She studied at Suleyman Demirel University. The five months she spent in another country taught her independence and readiness for different challenges. This experience also helped her improve her knowledge of the Turkish language.
Meeting people from different regions gave me knowledge about other cultures and helped me get to know the story of the people whose representatives were on the exchange, says Nedžma.
When it comes to the Hastor Foundation’s support in her education, Nedžma states:
The Hastor Foundation was with me on the exchange. Since then, as well as today, I volunteered as a member of the editorial team, I was able to carry out my volunteer duties unhindered. It’s nice to know that the Hastor Foundation supports our desire to learn something new and foreign. I had to grow up to understand the role of the Hastor Foundation in my education and life. It is the path in the middle that we need when we don’t know whether to go right or left. It is the hand that holds us through storms and hard times when we are surviving, sometimes tough student days, separated from our own home. It is the refuge we all found in Sarajevo and the friend who never turned its back. I’m sending a message to all scholarship holders to think carefully about how much good the Hastor Foundation gives us. We must all work together to build awareness of the importance of the Hastor Foundation’s role in our lives. Foundation, thank you for making growing up much easier and that I feel your love present in every segment of my life.
We wish that Nedžma, in the continuation of her development, will carry on to weave her life’s path bravely and confidently.
Prepared by: Amina Abaspahić
Translated by: Semra Islamović
