The Woman to Woman project provides health services to women in Bosnia. It looks at women's lives in their entirety and runs health education programmes for young girls, mothers, the elderly and those with special needs. photo: Christian Aid/Eildon Dyer
'Today’s women are empowered, they have become lobbyists, peace activists - they are the movers and shakers of their communities.'

What makes the Woman to Woman project unique?
It’s a rural initiative and unique in that sense. And it works with returning refugees who are often ignored and can’t assert their rights.

The programme looks at women’s lives in their entirety - they run health education programmes for young girls, mothers, the elderly and those with special needs.

It also sends medical teams up into the hills to visit the women in their homes. Without this help many of them would have died.

How do you help the children?
There are hardly any extra-curricular activities for children so a few years ago, Woman to Woman started up a dance group for girls.

I remember going to visit them. It was the middle of winter and as I drove up, I heard Vivaldi coming from this bombed-out old building whose windows were still patched with polythene!

I walked in to this unheated building and saw a bunch of young girls twirling about in little white tutus, made from curtain material as it turned out, and beaming from ear to ear!

If ever there was a picture of hope for Bosnia, it was in that cold little room on that bleak winter’s day.

Has anyone been particularly inspirational?
Oh yes! Her name is Nusreta and she is a nurse with the Woman to Woman programme. She was married very young, to an alcoholic who beat her. Things were bad, hopeless.

She heard about a Woman to Woman meeting and her husband threatened to beat her if she attended, but she did anyway.

When she returned, she decided she was going finish her education, no matter what.

Soon she started working. Her husband became shamed by the fact that his wife was supporting him, and has almost stopped drinking.

What has Christian Aid’s support meant to you?
Like Christian Aid, EWSF works with local organisations. Christian Aid has always been completely involved in the development of these organisations, getting to know them and the communities in which they work.

For many of these tiny organisations, knowing that Christian Aid stood in solidarity with them has meant a great deal. Rural Bosnia, for example,is still very patriarchal and day in, day out these women face criticism.

Christian Aid has taken a great deal of care with them over the years and that friendship will leave a lasting mark.

What are your hopes for the future?
I am hopeful even though the situation is still difficult. Our partners have much more credibility now and we have supported them with training and technical support to stand strong on. We are also trying to find creative new ways to support their initiatives.

As for the women of Bosnia, they’re really tired. Bosnia is a difficult environment and their lives are an uphill struggle. But the ones I met ten years ago, and those that I meet now are like chalk and cheese.

Today’s women are empowered, they have become lobbyists, peace activists - they are the movers and shakers of their communities.

How else has EWSF dealt with the legacy of the conflict?
We have been working on bringing women together, especially across borders and faiths, to share their experiences, and to acknowledge each other’s pain.

For example, during the war, much of the destruction in Dubrovnik in Croatia was caused by Montenegrin troops.

In 2000, we helped a woman’s group in Montenegro offer a hand of friendship to a similar group in Dubrovnik, by writing a letter saying sorry.

The letter was so moving that it was broadcast on Dubrovnik Radio. The two groups later met. It was difficult, but many of the women formed personal friendships and promised to meet again.

The two governments were yet to make any peace moves, so it was quite revolutionary.