What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains immortal, said Albert Paine. This thought reminds us of the essence of volunteer engagement at the Hastor Foundation – selfless help that has become the fundamental principle of our joint mission. Every month, through the Scholarship Recipient of the Month column, we bring stories about young volunteers of the Hastor Foundation, whose activities and ideas deserve special attention and are a source of motivation for all of us. The story of our scholarship recipient Aida Suljić is just as inspiring, inspiring all the young individuals around her with her work, diligence and nobility. She demonstrates her exceptional communication and organizational skills through engagement in different teams at the Hastor Foundation.
Aida comes from Kalesija and has been a scholarship recipient of the Hastor Foundation for nine years. She became a scholarship recipient in elementary school when she had mentors who passed on their knowledge and skills to her. After enrolling in the faculty, she began to apply the transferred knowledge, becoming a mentor to younger high school scholarship students in the area of Kalesija and Zvornik.
Today, our Aida is a third-year student at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tuzla, Department of Economics. At the end of her high school education, Aida was declared the student of the generation, and she especially stood out in the field of literature due to the outstanding results she achieved; she also won third place in the literary competition of the Hastor Foundation. She shows her talent and love for the written word through her volunteer involvement in the editorial team of the Hastor Foundation, where she selflessly and diligently strives to bring the best and most beautiful stories month after month. Read below what volunteering in this team looks like from Aida’s perspective:
Volunteer hours in the editorial team are something challenging, different and, I would say, exactly what I needed. Writing has always been just a kind of hobby for me, but to be given the opportunity to take it further seemed incredible. It was difficult at the beginning, but I tried to do my best because I immediately liked the principle of volunteering at the Hastor Foundation. I tried to adopt every suggestion and comment immediately and tried to improve everything necessary in future texts. Of course, it is important to point out that all team members were always available to help and give some advice.
Aida fills her volunteer hours in the Education Club. As she states, volunteering in both teams is extremely demanding, especially in the months when the tasks increase and the volunteering becomes intense, but all this encourages her to properly balance her time and responsibilities. Volunteering in the Education Club is focused on working and communicating with children. Aida receives a certain number of information and workshops per month, which she needs to coordinate, informing younger scholarship recipients about the dates of the educational workshops and passing on the information to the mentors. Although this type of volunteering is relatively new for her, her previous experience in volunteering with students enabled her to effectively communicate and explain the purpose of the work. Aida tries to work equally intensively in both teams, aware that she is still young and that developing her own skills is crucial, and that working on herself should always be a priority:
I could not have guessed what role the Hastor Foundation would play in my life. From a thirteen-year-old girl to a soon-to-be twenty-two-year-old girl, the Foundation followed in my footsteps. In the letters I used to send, I shared with her all my successes, all my fond moments, but also my sadness. My self-confidence grew day by day, new friendships were born, and my knowledge rose to a new level. Today, I can only look back on all that and thank the Hastor Foundation for what I have and what they have given me. I will say that I will continue to achieve success to repay, at least in some way, for everything that has been given to me.
