I will talk more about my personal experience afterwards, I just wanted to first mention what is currently happening in Bosnia and Serbia.
It's been raining a lot this week and in some areas it hasn't stopped even for a few minutes. Because Bosnia is home to many rivers, all this rain has caused serious flooding throughout the country. Homes have been destroyed, thousands of people have had to be evacuated, and most of them aren't exactly well off to begin with. The country has not experienced flooding this severe in over a hundred years and they certainly can't afford for things to get any worse. Here in GVU there is no flooding, so I have not been impacted it by it, but my thoughts and prayers are with those who have.

On a lighter note, I thought I would share a bit of my personal experience here. As I'm sure you all know by now, I am living with a host family. They have four children, 3 girls and a boy. I have not met the boy, Drago, who is 16 because he is away at school. The oldest daughter is 18, her name is Ivona and she has been really nice and friendly and we've quickly become friends. The second eldest daughter is Stjepana she is 17, she was here the first week that I was, but she had to go back to school which is near Mostar. The youngest is 14, her name is Daria. She has down syndrome, but she is full of life and love and always manages to put a smile on my face. My host parents are also very kind and welcoming. They have really started to become my second family.

We have not yet actually started volunteering in the Omladinski centar. We meet there every day and talk and meet new people, but there is no rush for us to actually start coordinating activities for the children mostly because they are still in school. The work done at the centar is really inspiring. It is a place where youth from different backgrounds can come together despite the divisions in the town. They also have activities for all sorts of social justice events throughout the year.

When I talk about divisions in the town, I literally mean that there is a road in this town that divides the Croatian/Catholic side from the Bosniak/Muslim side. And this road actually does divide people, because I live on the Croatian side of town, and I didn't go on the other side of town for the first week that I was here. It's kind of sad really, but it makes the work done at the centar all the more important.

I look forward to learning more about the centar and the country and being able to share that with all of you!! :)