On February 8, at the invitation of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia, we visited Sarajevo together with representatives of other Slovenian associations in BiH.
The reason for our meeting was not only the presence at the celebration of the Slovenian cultural holiday Prešeren's Day, organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovenian Association Cankar, but also a two-hour successful conversation with representatives of all Slovenian associations in BiH. The Plenipotentiary Minister Danica Lakič and the Plenipotentiary Minister of the Consular Office of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Banja Luka Marjan Ristić were also present. Every association has problems, but fortunately they are not always the most difficult. All the problems that burden and sometimes prevent the successful work of the association are almost always solved by the will of the members of the association, understanding the environment in which they live and with the great help of the Embassy. In addition to these problems, each association has successful projects. There is a lot of desire for the implementation of projects. Despite the difficult epidemiological situation, the associations managed to implement the programmes with great effort. There has been a lot of innovation in recent years, thanks to young people who complement the work of the associations with their spirit. The conclusion of all of us who gathered on February 8 is that we meet several times to implement projects together, to meet compatriots who live around the world, not to forget our ancestors, our cultural wealth and mother tongue. The representatives of the Embassy followed the presentations of the representatives of the associations. They understood us. Their responses were full of support. The words "we are here to solve problems together" mean a lot to us. We who live all over the world are the ambassadors of Slovenia and we want that to remain the case.
After a successful meeting, the cultural programme continued to mark February 8, the Slovenian cultural holiday. Singing “The Toast” has been replaced by reading the verses of this song. Ambassador Damijan Sedar and President of the Cankar Association Verica Džindo greeted a large number of those present. It is customary for a ceremonial cultural programme to begin after the speech. This time, the creators of the programme gave priority to publishing the awarded photos of the "I Feel Slovenia" competition. At the initiative of the Embassy of Slovenia, the tram painted in Slovenian green travelled through Sarajevo from October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, as part of the 30th anniversary of Slovenian statehood and Slovenia's presidency of the EU Council. The tourist promotional logo "I Feel Slovenia" continued in Tuzla, Banja Luka and Mostar. On this occasion, the Embassy announced a photo competition in which photographers competed in capturing the best motif with a tram or city bus. The Embassy prepared an exhibition of 20 selected photographs for the occasion, and the voting for the best photographs was held on Facebook until February 6.
As part of the cultural programme, a recital dedicated to the Slovenian-Bosnian poet Josip Ostij followed. Many Slovenians know Ostij not only as a poet, he is also known as a literary critic, essayist, anthropologist, translator, prose writer and a great humanist and philanthropist. Verica Džindo and Dina Maksumić spoke about Ostij. Poems in Slovenian and Bosnian were read by Jelena Garić, a student at the Biotechnical Faculty in Ljubljana, and Matej Sloka, a third-grade student at the Sarajevo Grammar School.
At the end of, this time in a successful and different way, marked celebration of the Slovenian cultural holiday, Dina Maksumić read a wonderful poem by Ivan Minatti YOU MUST LOVE SOMEONE.
Nataša Kajmaković
Translation Ana Marjanović
