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The Christine
Witcutt Day-Care Centre in Sarajevo
(a day care centre for children with special needs)
Even in the richest countries really good facilities for children with disabilities are few and far between. Bosnia, with its war-traumatised people and ruined economy, does better than might be expected. Children’s homes are compassionate but heartbreakingly poor, ovrecrowded and understaffed. But for parents trying to care for a disabled child at home life is bitterly hard. Welfare payments, pensions and personal savings disappeared in the bonfire of war and governments. Coping with a child with special needs brings stress and strain everywhere, but it’s hard to exaggerate the struggle and pain of doing so in Bosnia.
The Christine Witcutt centre is bringing some light and happiness to the lives of the children of Sarajevo most needing help, and some respite to their hard-pressed parents.
The Christine Witcutt
Fund is a independent body closely linked to Edinburgh Direct Aid. Both charities are registered
in Scotland and in Bosnia. During the years of war and siege, Edinburgh Direct
Aid volunteers delivered thousands of tons of food and medical aid to desperate
people in many parts of Bosnia. Christine Witcutt was an EDA volunteer from
Wishaw who was killed by sniper fire in Sarajevo in July 1993. The Christine
Witcutt Fund was set up by EDA with the object of creating a living memorial to
Christine in Sarajevo - something that
would benefit the people of the city and also be a fitting tribute to the ideal
of selfless service to others which Christine embodied.
Alan Witcutt,
Christine's husband, and other Trustees of the Fund, agreed that this should take
the form of a day centre that enables seriously mentally or physically
disadvantaged children to receive professional care and education while
continuing to live in the love and warmth of their own family.
The Centre is located in the grounds of the Vladimir Nazor special needs school, an pre-existing school providing facilities to less severely disabled children, to a remarkably high standard. It is be housed in a building provided by a Turkish benefactor while the Turkish Battalion of the United Nations forces was in Bosnia. In January 2001 a tripartite agreement was signed by EDA, the Vladimir Nazor School and the municipality of New Sarajevo, under which the School will administer and run the Centre; Edinburgh Direct Aid will meet all running costs for a period of 5 years; and at the end of the five year period the Municipality of New Sarajevo will assume financial responsibility for running the centre in perpetuity.
In addition to the on-site facilities,
domiciliary visitors are being funded to provide specialist help to the
families of children who cannot be accomodated at the Centre. The management of
this aspect of the work of the Fund is entrusted to the ssociation of Parents
of Handicapped Children in Sarajevo, who know the urgency of the need only too
well.
The policy and finances of the Centre are monitored by a management committee comprising representatives of the parents’ association, the school, the Municipality and Edinburgh Direct Aid. Special needs experts from Moray House and other Scottish institutions visit periodically. Its intended that Christine's centre will be a beacon of good practice in care and advancement of children with disabilities due to accident of birth, or due to war, siege and ensuing poverty.
The link with Scotland is not solely managerial
and financial - volunteer workers spend periods at the
Centre, children's handicrafts
can be marketed in Edinburgh outlets, and EDA’s
volunteer drivers deliver aid in person to the families most in need.
The total cost of financing the Centre over
a 5 year period will be about £550,000, of which about half has been raised - and mostly used.
To gather in the balance we depend on sponsored events, churches , and schools. Because
Christine was a teacher in Wishaw, we hope especially that teachers’
organisations, local councils and businesses will recommend to their
members/employees that they nominate the Christine Witcutt Fund as one of their
supported charities, for Give as you Earn and other forms of donation. But
mainly, we depend on donations from individuals like those of you who are reading this page.