Humanitarian goods to Bosnia August 2014

[John Geerts]

In May 2014 Bosnia, and especially Doboj was hit by the most severe flooding ever, after very heavy rain in the region. ( http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1134808 ) 

The organisation PortAgora http://portagora.eu/ in Tilburg, were I do some voluntary work as truck driver and communication advisor, has a lot of contacts there, mainly via MFS - Emmaus  http://www.mfs-emmaus.ba/ Emmaus is the helporganisation in Bosnia and does a lot of social work there. The base was setup after the civil war. They organised the rescue-operations, took care of the thousands homeless, and still gave free meals in August 2014, as the situation was not normalised yet. In June the first aid-truck went to Doboj, and I was on the second one in 13 August 2014, mainly as driver but I also knew MFS Emmaus which I visited in December 2013).

We were accompanied by another organisation from Tilburg who made the trip in an DAF - (Dutch Army vehicle during the years of Srbenica-massacre) and donate a number of help goods.

- all photos were shot with D700   35mm 1.4 and 80-200 2.8 -


On 14th August, around 2 pm we were close to the Croatian/Bosnian Border



At the border we were stopped, and transported to another part of Gradiška as the transportpapers were not in order (they never are)
We had to wait from 16:00 till 23:00 before we could resume the transport, but with a promise to visit the local customs in Doboj the next day.



Next day, after customs, thus late in the afternoon, the goods were delivered in a kind of central warehouse, which Emmaus uses to distribute the goods to places in need.






The next day MFS Emmaus, based in Doboj Istok (east) showed the transportation group their main camp up the Hill, Camp Duje (http://www.mfs-emmaus.ba/) where they have a lot of facilities. It's a hospital also for people who are rejected from society, either based on religion or age.  Many of the older have diseases, related to the war, and other causes.  But there is also a school, dentist, a dairy factory, solar installations, own wells and green houses.


A guided tour by the doctor in charge









More photo's can be seen here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/fisherking/sets/72157656812839506

[Gary]

Thank you for sharing the images and keep up all your good work.

[Jakov Minić]

John, you are a wonderful person and humanitarian!

[John Geerts]

Thanks Gary and Jakov,

My part was really minor in this.

Just posted this as a travel diary were goods have to be delivered from point A to B and, more important to show there are numerous positive things going on.
For instance there are a lot of these kind of transports but they are never documented and hardly mentioned or published.

There was of course no specific role as a PJ but I felt I had to write and photograph about it. So wrote a few articles about the trip, but they were only published internally.

Organisations like Emmaus in Bosnia do a terrific noble task in very difficult complex political and religion situation, were child-abuse, homeless, disablement are not dealt with by a corrupted government.
On Camp Duje they allowed me to photograph everything except for some rigid departments and the child-school.

But there was a lot of fun too, the Bosnian people are very open, full of hospitality and friendly. Our local guide Kenan took us around on a saterday-evening, showing a football game, gathering place with his friends, a hardrock bikers concert, and some other local hotspots on the road from Doboj to Tuzla.

[Gary]

If I lived in Europe ... I'd go with you. 

[John Geerts]

The WK-football for the Homeless is now held in Amsterdam. Because of the warm relations with PortAgora,  the Bosnia and Herzegovina-team visited Tilburg this afternoon. The photo was taken in the warehouse of PortAgora were also the trucks were loaded (see above).                                   There was no time for staging, everybody was in a hurry 

[Jacques Pochoy]

Wow... I'm late on this quite extraordinary work. And th pictures and the story with the work that gets done behind ! Thank you for sharing... :-)

[elsa hoffmann]

great story and images!

[John Geerts]

Thank you Elsa and Jacques.

[Viv]

Well done! A counterweight to man's inhumanity to man.