Bosnia and Herzegovina Has A Heart for Animals!
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA HAS A HEART FOR ANIMALS-WORLD ANIMAL DAY CELEBRATION!
World Animal Day Celebration under the title “B&H Has A Heart For Animals” was held on Friday, October 4th, in the sports hall of the elementary school “25. novembar” Velika Kladuša, with over 200 pupils from four schools and numerous teachers and parents! The great joy lasted for several hours, with songs, dancing, drawing, acting, cinema with cartoons, sandwiches and juice, along with sweets provided by the animal friends Podravka d.o.o Sarajevo, Sweetshop “Krajišnik” Velika Kladuša and dear parents of our little ones! The World Animal Day Ambassador for Bosnia and Herzegovina Ilhana Škrgić presented our programme at the start of the show, in which we saw youngsters dancing a special dance to “Animal Song”, led by teachers Mirsada Džebić and Edina Dizdarević, who wrote the lyrics, and who were joined by the 1st grade pupils led by teacher Nermina Imerovska; acting in the play “Forgive Me, My Dear Pets”, led by teacher Veldina Alibegić, and recite and sing poems written by teacher Sanja Ljubijankić and pedagogue Miralem Hodžić about abandoned animals!
The pupils drew in the art group led by teacher Hasan Bekanović, danced and watched cartoons thanks to teacher Jasmin Vukalić and with all the attention and care of their teachers Zehida Husović, Jasminka Pajazetović, Jasminka Dizdarević and Nafa Veladžić. They created together and spent time together, melting their big child hearts into one even bigger, the one that Bosnia and Herzegovina has for animals! We offer our gratitude to all the schools that participated, to all the pupils, teachers, parents and school principals Zemina Hušidić (elementary school “Podzvizd”), Snježana Ćejvanović (elementary school “Prva osnovna škola”), Teufik Žalić (elementary school “Sead Ćehić” Grahovo) and Sakib Selimović (elementary school “25. novembar”) for the support and joint celebration! We also thank Hajrudin Muhamedagić, Head of the Society, Nafka Grahović and Hajrija Muhamedagić for making sandwiches and treats and decorating the hall for our little ones! The pupils of the VIIId class, led by teacher Mevlija Trgić, participated in the event by seeking donations to buy dog food for stray dogs near the school, and they successfully collected money for three food bags and helped in cleaning the hall.
Dear pupils, teachers, parents and all other animal lovers, see you next year!
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PLAN FOR OCTOBER 4TH-WORLD ANIMAL DAY CELEBRATION:
Last year, on October 4, 2012, Animal Protection Society „Warm Paw“ Velika Kladuša, under supervision of co-founders Ilhana Škrgić, Mevlija Trgić and Hajrudin Muhamedagić, organised an educational mission in primary and secondary schools in this city. Pupils and their teachers received accompanying brochures on World Animal Day and discussed animal rights on their forum class, wrote essays and even made wall nespapers on this important day.
This year, on October 4, 2013, „Warm Paw“ has a great goal to accomplish – an entire day dedicated to World Animal Day, with various content and with regional/statewide media coverage.
Since cooperation with primary and secondary schools proved to have a great scope and great impact on pupils, teaching staff, parents and school administration (sadly, we don’t have groups such as Scouts in our country), this year we decided to invite them all to participate in an event called „Bosna i Hercegovina ima srce za životinje“ („Bosnia and Herzegovina Has a Heart For Animals“), organised on October 4 in the sports hall of the elementary school „25. novembar“ Velika Kladuša. Here, pupils and their teachers and parents could participate in various activities – playrooms, storytelling activities, drawing, costume making, dancing and singing, all with a common theme – love for animals.
We’ve got a special programme planned in which our pupils will be the stars – since education and raising awareness about animal wefare is the core point of our activities, we’ve come to the idea to have a school play. In it, pupils will play animals who are owned by a man not aware of animal rights, who neglects them and doesn’t take good care of them (portrayed by a pupil with a black robe and a monster mask). When he’s out, the animals talk among themselves and wish the suffering and negligence would stop. One night, a thief enters the house and tries to rob and kill the owner. The animals stand together and stop him. The man falls on his knees, crushed from the sudden realisation of being a bad owner and causing pain to the animals, rips off the black robe and the mask and „becomes human/e“. Animals gather around him and put their paws on him (idea by Veldina Alibegić – more about her below).
Beside that, a promotional stand of the society will be available for everyone who would like to know more about the World Animal Day and animal rights – various brochures and other information for the citizens will be free to take, our volunteers will discuss animal topics with interested citizens, there would also be a food stand with vegetarian and vegan treats for the little ones (as well as with grown-ups) – everything from vegan gurabijas (traditional Bosnian cake) to cookies in the shape of paws will awake the taste buds of animal lovers and promote healthy food and ethical alternatives to gelatine and other products derived directly from animals. Moreover, prominent figures will be asked to participate and give their voice for animals – among them Veldina Alibegić, a young aspiring songstress from Velika Kladuša who is also a German teacher and a member of „Warm Paw“, as well as other regional stars who will be asked to participate as well.
Since one of the teachers and members of „Warm Paw“ Edina Dizdarević, who is a big supporter of animal rights, has a knack for creating children songs, she offered to write lyrics to a special song about animals and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will be recorded and sang by the „Animal Band Aid“ on that day. The song can be offered to the Ministry of Education as part of the future curriculum for the school subject Music for 3rd and 4th grade or primary schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will bring a further educational momentum to the event and be yet another way of raising awareness on animal welfare through constant education and learning.
All material, information, ideas and promotional activities (including the song!) will be free and available for use in other towns and cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through various animal societies and animal friend groups. Media coverage will be extensive – through radio, TV and new media, including social networks, where we plan to utilise „the word of mouth“ and all our animal friends online. We aim to make this an annual event in the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina!
- Contact Email: ilhana.skrgic@bih.net.ba
- Organised by: Ilhana Skrgic