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Bosnian Coffee

Coffee is a national drink of Bosnians and Herzegovinians. The drink was introduced to Bosnia with the arrival of Ottomans. Traditional Bosnian coffee (kahva, kafa or kava), to the world outside of Bosnia also known as Turkish coffee, is made by boiling finely ground coffee beans with water. It is traditionally prepared in copper, coffee pots – džezva – or in other small cooking pots and served special minature coffee cups or fildžan.

The fact that Bosnians have a name for each coffee depending on the time of the day it is served, attests to the importance of this drink in Bosninan culture.

Some types of coffees served during the day are:

The first morning coffee is called razgalica. It is traditionally strong and thick and it intends to wake people up and cheer them up for the new day.

Razgovoruša (razgovarati – to talk) is the coffee that Bosnians drink later in the morning and usually with friends and work colleagues.

The afternoon coffee, called šutkuša (šutiti – to keep quite), is taken after lunch between 5 and 7 pm and it is supposed to be relaxing and calming.

Sikteruša (sikter – go away) coffee is served after a party or a gathering and it is a polite way of telling the guests that it is time to leave.

In 5 days I will be in Istanbul presenting the work of Youth Voices of Bosnia and Herzegovina to other YV from all over the ECA (Europe and Central Asia) region.

I spend my days doing presentations for health, civil engagement, youth policies and general activities the group has done for the past 3 years.

I have been a member of this group at the World Bank since July 2004 and have been through ups and downs with these 15 members. We are like a big family now, representing the Youth of Bosnia and Herzegovina, various NGOs, associations, minorities etc.

We are very diverse yet respect the gender balance, and come from different religious, national, educational backgrounds, representing both urban and rural parts of B&H and are all very active in our community lives.

So what do we do that’s so great?

We channel information from the field to the WB and try make them put the youth issues into their agendas and integrate tackling those issues into their projects and programs.

We basically promote the problems young people face on three levels: youth policy (including health), education and employment.

We are (apparently) the best case practice amongst all the YV groups in the region and are supposed to present our work and ideas, action plans, prior activities as well as future plans to the other groups in 5 days.

YVG is a cool activity I have been engaged in ever since my MCP term. After AIESEC I am settling for this kind of community work, consulting the people who can really make a difference on where the difference has to be made.

It’s a cool job.

PS I am still officially looking for a traineeship in AP.

10 THINGS WE CAN DO TO HELP OUR PLANET

I have been thinking a lot about what my parents taught me concerning environment protection. So, here are some things I felt like sharing.

1. Save energy by always turning off the lights in each room when we leave it. This also goes for turning off our laptops when we go to sleep and not leaving our chargers plugged when the phone is fully charged.
2. Save water by turning the tap off while we brush our teeth. Do not let the water run while you keep brushing your teeth or in the shower. Think of the people in the world who don’t have access to fresh water at all.
3. Control emissions. Do not use hairsprays, spray deodorants, pain in pressured cans they all contain the CFCs which damage our O-zone no matter how much the label states they don’t.
4. Save gas. Limit our car usage and save ourselves a trip to the gym by taking a walk instead of taking the car. Ride the bike or roller-blade instead!
5. Adopt an orphan. The same can go for animal orphans. By contributing to organisations such as Oxfam or UNICEF you can donate an insignificant amount to feed a child anywhere in the world.
6. Plant a tree. So many trees are taken down every single day, the least you can do is plant one. There is a saying that every person should leave behind them a child and a tree.
7. Re-use your plastic bags. Every time you go to the shop, make sure you bring your own bag so that you don’t have to take a new one each time. In some places in UK, you even get 1 penny for it.
8. Recycle paper/plastic/glass if possible. If you have the chance to separate old garbage to be recycled, do it! Some recycling companies even pay per pound of paper/plastic/copper.
9. Limit your usage of chemicals. At least when it comes down to cleaning detergents with a big X on them. Maybe they unclog the pipes but have you thought about what they do to the environment?
10. Do not litter your environment! This is one thing I kindly ask you to teach your children – not to littler the environment!
    

By doing the above you won’t stop global warming on the climate change but you will make your contribution and that is a start.