On each day of the 2014 Sochi Camp, the blog will focus on one of the eight countries in attendance. Today’s focus? Bosnia and Herzegovina! We start the day with an interview with one of our eight Delegates from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Merima Celik.

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Prior to the Sochi Camp, Merima volunteered at several camps for children with Down Syndrome, and participated in numerous peace-building events at her university. When asked “what has been your most memorable volunteer experience to date?” Merima emphasised her passion for working with children. She believes that children are the future the and thus conducting workshops and sports activities for children has been incredibly fullfilling for her.

In addition to volunteering, Merima has been a sports instructor and football referee for a number of years. When asked about her favourite coaching experience, she spoke of her experience coaching children with Down Syndrome. In particular, she prepared these children for 25 metre swimming competitions. Merima sees sport a means of unifying people. For her, sport can bring different people together with ease: “Sometimes, all you have to do is throw a ball into a group and watch the change.”

She went on to say that, with the skills she gains from this Generations For Peace Camp, she would like to help the children in her city of Sarejevo. When asked to elaborate on this desire, she said, “I would like to make clubs for delinquent children – set up programmes that can help them speak to other people about their problems.”

The interview concluded with Merima answering the question, “If you could be anyone for the day, who would you be?” She responded by saying, “I would like to be the Mayor of my Sarajevo – I’m very patriotic – and I would like to develop the city’s infrastructure and to design some new sport facilities and parks for children so they can play sports.”

Thank you to our representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Merima Celik!

www.generationsforpeace.org