{"id":785,"date":"1996-01-21T07:26:18","date_gmt":"1996-01-21T07:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/?p=785"},"modified":"2012-07-14T05:29:18","modified_gmt":"2012-07-14T05:29:18","slug":"please-help-me-to-help-the-children-of-bosnia-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/?p=785","title":{"rendered":"Please help me to help the children of Bosnia NOW."},"content":{"rendered":"

HOPE FOR HURMIJA<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

by WO2(SQMS) Vic Ferguson<\/p>\n

The war in Bosnia Herzegovina raged from April 1992, until the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed on the 14 December 1995.\u00a0 During those years thousands of people have lost their lives and thousands more will carry the horrors experienced and the injuries received for the rest of their lives.\u00a0 Many of the soldiers currently serving as part of the Implementation Force in Bosnia Herzegovina\u00a0 are shocked by the devastation they see around them, many want to do more to ease the suffering experienced by so many.\u00a0 I am one of those soldiers, like many of\u00a0 my comrades I have left a wife and family at home.\u00a0 I arrived in Sarajevo on 22 November 1995, having been given 48 hours to deploy as Staff Assistant to Colonel John Smedley, Commander ACE Rapid Reaction Corps\u2019 Liaison Officer to Commander United Nations Protection Force.\u00a0 The endless stream of haunted faces can be depressing, especially those of the children, you want to help but just don\u2019t know where to start.<\/p>\n

On 29 November 1995 I found my starting point.\u00a0 I met Hurmija Mijuc, a 12 year old girl from Srebrenica, who is paralysed from the waist down having been injured by shell fragments on 5 October 1994.\u00a0\u00a0 I have visited Hurmija almost every day since we first met.\u00a0 She is a normal young girl who has suffered more than enough for a whole life time in just 12 years.\u00a0 Her father and two of her older brothers were killed in Srebrenica.\u00a0 Her mother, twin sister and younger sister live here in Sarajevo in a refugee camp in appalling conditions.\u00a0 Her older brother and sister live in a refugee camp in Tuzla:\u00a0 Hurmija has not seen them since she was injured some 15 months ago.<\/p>\n

During the past 6 weeks I have raised about \u00a3 2,000 from soldiers\u00a0based here in Sarajevo, members of my own family, and friends in Germany.\u00a0 On 15 January 1996 The Sun newspaper agreed to publish a Nation-wide appeal for help.\u00a0 The aim, to raise \u00a3 20,000 to facilitate Hurmija\u2019s evacuation and subsequent treatment to achieve my dream;\u00a0 for Hurmija to walk again:\u00a0 or, at least, to improve her quality of life.<\/p>\n

On 17 January I recruited the help and advice of Sir Jimmy Saville.\u00a0 We discussed the possibility of evacuating Hurmija to the Stoke Mandeville hospital for admission into the Spinal Injuries Clinic, reputed to the be the best in the world.\u00a0 After discussing the fine detail I soon realised, to my horror, that I would in fact need to raise around\u00a0 \u00a3 150,000 if, after her initial assessment, Hurmija is eventually admitted for full rehabilitation treatment, which may take over 7 months:\u00a0 I can only pray that this will be the case.<\/p>\n

I still need:<\/p>\n

Air ambulance facilities from Sarajevo to UK<\/p>\n

A wheelchair<\/p>\n

Accommodation for myself and an interpreter for approximately \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 weeks at the end of \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 February\/beginning of March – the period \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of initial assessment (not yet firm)<\/p>\n

Around \u00a3 148,000!!<\/p>\n

If this story has touched your heart, let\u2019s hope it will also touch your wallet.\u00a0 One pound from each person reading this article may help a wonderful little girl walk again.\u00a0 If you have any ideas for fund-raising, please<\/span> put them into practice, contact me and let me know what you intend to do and I\u2019ll try to publicise it as widely as possible.\u00a0 Thank you for your attention.<\/p>\n

Cheques should be made payable to:<\/p>\n

WO2(SQMS) V A Ferguson<\/p>\n

and sent to:<\/p>\n

Supt Clerk<\/p>\n

CPIC Sarajevo<\/p>\n

HQ ARRC<\/p>\n

BFPO 543<\/p>\n

If you would like to help, Vic Ferguson can also be contacted in Sarajevo on:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (00387) 71 447-617 or<\/p>\n

Fax:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (00387) 71 447-600<\/p>\n

\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOPE FOR HURMIJA by WO2(SQMS) Vic Ferguson The war in Bosnia Herzegovina raged from April 1992, until the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed on the 14 December 1995.\u00a0 During those years thousands of people have lost their lives and thousands more will carry the horrors experienced and the injuries received for the rest of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=785"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":787,"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions\/787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vicferguson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}