There are people who spend years creating safe spaces for others, without ever stopping to ask where they stand in all of it. People who do not know how to ask for help, because they are used to giving. One of them is Emira Hodžić.
For more than two decades, Emira has been there for persons with special needs in the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton. As a volunteer, as support, as someone others rely on. For the past ten years, also as the president of the association, someone who does not give up even when things are at their hardest – when the system fails, when there are no resources, and when her own health can no longer keep up. And the pain, she says, is constant. Only its intensity changes.
Still, she does not stop.
Life has not spared her – but neither has she given up
Emira is a woman who has gone through losses that are difficult even to put into words. She lost two brothers, one after the other. Five years ago, she also lost her sister-in-law, who, while battling a severe form of cancer, placed her greatest trust in Emira – the care of her three children.
Those children are with her today.
With her son.
With her daily struggle.
And with her heart, which always has room for one more person.
Despite everything, Emira has never asked for help. She is unemployed, has no health insurance, and lives from project to project – from the workshops she organizes for her members. And she will always say: “Someone else needs it more. I will manage.”
A new beginning – but without the essentials
After a long wait, Emira has finally received social housing. A small, one-room space – but enough for her to live there with her son, who has lived with a disability since birth, and, as always, for it to become a gathering place for family, children, and all those who come to her for warmth and understanding.
Her granddaughters can hardly wait to visit her more often and spend time with her.
And for the members of the association, whom she has gathered and supported for years, this apartment means much more than just space – it means closeness.
Until now, she lived in the village of Bogušići, far from Goražde, travelling long distances every day in order to be with her members.
Now, at last, they will be able to reach her much more easily.
She will be close. Available. There.
And that is exactly why, even though it is small, this apartment needs to have room for more people.
For conversations, for workshops, for visits, for staying over.
For everyone who finds support in Emira.
However, the apartment is currently empty.
Without basic furniture and appliances, without the things that turn a space into a home.
A call to do together what she would never ask for herself
Today, we are reaching out on her behalf.
Because there are people who need more than help – they need the chance to feel that they are not alone.
To furnish her apartment, the following is needed:
– corner sofa set (with two three-seaters)
– three-seater sofa
– electric stove
– refrigerator
– kitchen elements
– wardrobe
If you are able to donate any of these items or help with their purchase, your support will mean far more than material assistance.
It will mean that we have recognized years of quiet struggle.
It will mean that we have stood by someone who has always stood by others.
Because sometimes, very little is enough to make someone’s life easier.
And Emira deserves far more than that.
🤍
If you would like to support Emira with a financial donation:
📞 Call 17077 and donate 2 KM,
or make a donation to the account below:
💳 Foundation Second
Sarajevo – Nurije Pozderca 8
1413115320025053
🌍 For international donations:
IBAN: BA391413115310005729
SWIFT: BBIBBA22XXX
Bank: Bosna Bank International DD Sarajevo
💻 PayPal:
📌 Payment reference: For a new beginning for Emira Hodžić
Thank you for helping turn an empty apartment into a home.
