Belonging

In 2016, Sanela Ljumanovic, a teacher in a typical Sarajevo grade school was approached by the mother of six-year-old Zejd Coralic with a question: would Sanela be willing to allow Zejd, who is deaf, to be included in the class. Though the Bosnian government has adopted laws around integrating special-needs children into schools, they have done little in the way of providing the resources and basic conditions needed to put them into practice. In spite of that, Sanela agreed without hesitation. Fortunately for Zejd, the other parents, primarily the mothers and the teacher were very sensitive to his problem, and worked together to find a solution. They self-financed the hiring of a sign-language-teacher who taught not only Zejd, but the entire class as well.