By Ninja Taprogge, Media and Communications Officer, CARE Germany, 13 August 2014
Safeta stands in the largest room of her small farm in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is warm. Dim light casts a cloud over her bright face. She smiles as she listens to a familiar sound, a huddle of chirping and tweeting. “I am so happy. We managed to save our chickens”, she says. The floor is swarmed with little chicks. They run around, prick each other or cavort in front of numerous watering and feeding dishes.
Almost 20 years ago, Safeta built the chicken breed together with her sister Efita. It was the time when the Balkans had just emerged from years of war; the two women had lost their husbands and returned to their home town of Bratunac. It was not easy, but the sisters worked hard and built up a farm with 6,000 chickens in the following years. This success was something they wanted to share with their community. So in 2003, Safeta and Efita founded one of the first women's organizations in the region. Since then, with CARE’s support, they share their knowledge of animal breeding with around 84 members of the organization and promote women-headed farms.
But in mid-May, the women suffered a serious setback. Heavy rain in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia resulted in the worst flooding in 120 years. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, more than 1.5 million people are affected. The water masses flooded Safeta’s and Efita’s farm and the small office of the women's organization completely. Besides the chickens they were only able to save a few devices for chicken farming and some household items. “Shortly after the floods I was totally confused”, says Efita today and continues with a surprising laughter. “I started to clean the computers. Everyone said I was crazy. But my mind was caught up with cleaning. I could only think of fixing the computers so that we could get back to work.”
The two women have an admirable sense of humor despite their hardships: This was the second time they had lost their belongings to a flood. In 2012, several days of rain caused the river behind their farm to break its banks. Now, in 2014, life challenged them again. An old Bosnian proverb says that every human being has to deal with three major challenges in life. “Fate met us more often. This is unfair, but we will not give up. And we don’t want to give up our laughter. We go out, we live, that is the most important thing”, explains Safeta, the younger sister.
Despite their own loss, the women remain committed to their community. Together with CARE they organized food distributions for hundreds of people in the region. A few days ago, CARE packages with flour, sugar, powdered milk, tuna and other food items reached more than 39 households in Bratunac. “We support families, no matter what ethnic group they belong to. We are always active to support women in our community so that they can play an active part”, says Efita.
Before the floods, the two women had big plans. They wanted to expand the cultivation of raspberries in the region. Their ambition was to build a production facility for raspberry juice or syrup to create more jobs for women. But now they need to recover themselves and rebuild their own businesses. The chickens need food and continuous electricity for the infrared lamps, they need a new office for their organization and new computers to continue to work as they used to before.
“I am a born optimist. Fate plays with us, but I will not give up. I firmly believe that we and many other women in our hometown will live a life in dignity one day”, underlines Safeta. With the rescue of the chickens, hope of a quick recovery remains. Hope not only for themselves to get back on their feet, but also to continue to assist hundreds of families in their community.