Holding onto Hope

In Pursuit of a Better Life

Ahmed* was part of a group traveling in pursuit of a better life for their families, far away from famine and war, a journey that eventually led them to Bosnia.

Somewhere in the Bosnian mountains, Ahmed and two other men found themselves caught in a surprise snowstorm in late November. For six days they were lost in the forest amid the heavy snowfall on the mountains. When conditions did not improve, one of the men had to be left behind while the other two sought help. Ten hours later, he was found, without shoes on. Having experienced varying degrees of frostbite and gangrene, their injuries were checked at the hospital and later progressed to amputations. All three men received double amputations from the knee down. Two of the men also lost their fingers.

One of them was my new friend Ahmed at Hope Community, our welcome center for people staying at the temporary camp in Sarajevo during their journey toward seeking asylum in Europe.

Holding onto Hope

Ahmed is really good at games, especially the games that I try to learn for the first time in another language. I needed help. After watching me struggle for a few minutes, Ahmed jumped in to assist. We became a team, Ahmed and I. He was the brains of the operation, and I held the cards for us.

Ahmed has been able to join us several times at Hope Community. This summer, the populations at the men’s temporary camp have been impacted by some of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. In Ahmed’s country, one in four people have been forced to flee due to a three-year ongoing civil war, compounded by a food and health care crisis in the country.

Nearly a year has passed, and the men are continuing to recover from their surgeries and entering into a new reality in their lives. Their country is at war. They have hopes of going elsewhere. For now they are in Bosnia—not their country, not their end goal of a safe place to rebuild their lives, and not where they thought they would be. But they have continued on.

Hope Community is a glimpse into what it looks like to continue.

At the center, we hear stories of war depicted through music and within conversations around our table together. But, mixed in, we also get to learn about popular foods in each other’s countries or new card games like the one Ahmed and I played. We might even hear about the international popularity of Justin Bieber’s music. Singing to JB's "Baby" at our center is a piece of levity that somehow feels right around a table that also shares stories of grief.

That day at Hope, we played games, chatted and ate together, and had empty spaces of time while people spoke with family on the phone. My card-partner and another friend taught us card tricks. Ahmed was the instructor again while his friend held the cards and practiced.

Other men from the camp watched. They happened to be from the same country and volunteered to help transfer wheelchairs inside and outside our center. Without them volunteering to help, it would not have been possible to extend welcome to Ahmed and the two other men. That day, they were a vital part in our ministry of welcome.

Carrying people, teaching games, holding cards—these simple acts all display the reciprocity, the giving and receiving, that is integral to our center and to fostering a sense of hope in the middle of the journey to safety and stability.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the work in Sarajevo

*Pseudonym