The Christine Witcutt
Day-Care
Centre in Sarajevo
With a total breakdown in the social care network of the old Yugoslavia, with much housing still war-wrecked, with wages at rock bottom and a huge percentage of unemployment, it’s hard to exaggerate the hardship and pain of caring for a disabled child in present day conditions in Sarajevo.
During the years of war and siege in Bosnia,
Edinburgh Direct Aid’s volunteers delivered thousands of tons of food and
medical aid to the desperate people of Bosnia. Christine Witcutt was an EDA
volunteer from Wishaw who was killed by sniper fire in Sarajevo in July 1993.
The Day-Care centre has been set up as a living memorial to Christine, as a
benefit to the people of Sarajevo and a tribute to Christine’s ideals of
selfless service to others.
The Christine Witcutt Centre is a special wing to
the Vladimir Nazor special needs school in Sarajevo which caters for a more
severe disagree of disability than is the norm for the School. The Centre is wholly funded by Edinburgh
Direct Aid’s Christine Witcutt Fund, and its policy and finances are monitored by a management
committee comprising representatives of the parents of handicapped children,
the school, the Municipality and Edinburgh Direct Aid. Special needs experts
from Moray House and other Scottish institutions visit periodically.
We aim that Christine's centre will be a beacon of
good practice in care and advancement of children with disabilities in the
Balkans: it offers music therapy, physiotherapy, handicrafts, basic training in
self-care, and education to the limits
of the ability of each child. Above all it benefits from staff who, in spite
of low levels of pay in Sarajevo, are
warm and loving as well as expert.
It costs ₤1000 to keep one child at
the centre for one term – this is a lot of money, but the sum required is about
1/5 of that which would be needed to maintain a child in a similar centre in
the UK. But the real value is in the evident happiness of the children in the
surroundings of the Centre, and the relief brought to their hard-pressed and
loving families.
Sponsoring a child for a term, or longer, is an
ideal way for churches/ schools/ clubs/ companies to help.
With the consent of the families, the sponsors will
receive further information about the child concerned, and reports of his/her
progress. Children sponsored in this way for one term, will not be discontinued
at the end of the term! – other sponsors will be found, or the reserves of the
Fund used, to ensure continuous attendance.
Please contact Edinburgh Direct Aid, 29 Starbank Road, Edinburgh EH5 3BY
(0131 552 1545) for more information, to arrange speakers, or to discuss projects/ donations/ Give As You Earn
. A SHORT VIDEO FILM ABOUT THE CENTRE IS
AVAILABLE ON LOAN
£1000
pays for a child with profound special needs to receive a terms-worth of care, training, help and
love at
the Christine Witcutt Day-Care Centre in Sarajevo