Bosnian boy in Sarajevo, 12, sells tea to help earthquake victims

By Vesna Besic, Lejla Biogradlija

SARAJEVO (AA) - Benjamin Mehanovic, a 12-year-old boy living in Bosnia-Herzegovina’s capital Sarajevo is selling tea to help the Turkish and Syrian quake-hit victims.

He collected aid by selling tea in a small stand in the streets of the Dobrija district of the capital for the victims affected by the twin quakes that struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria early Monday.

When asked where the tea stand idea came from, he said, "When I saw the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria on television."

"Then I had the idea to set up a tea stand. I also invited my friends to join me and proposed to donate the money collected to the local aid organization Pomozi.ba or use it to buy the needed baby products”, told the eighth grader Mehanovic to Anadolu.

After starting his own aid campaign on Sunday, “I have collected 100 euros so far,” he said. “I bought baby products with the money I collected on the first day and on the second day I donated to Pomozi.ba,” he added.

Mehanovic said that he felt very sorry for the children and babies affected by the earthquake, and added, “Some people didn’t want to drink the tea, they just wanted to help.”

On Feb. 6, two massive earthquakes struck southern Türkiye.

The magnitude 7.6 and 7.7 tremors were centered in Kahramanmaras and hit nine other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

They also hit several countries and caused widespread destruction in northern Syria.

Nearly 32,000 people were killed in Türkiye, according to the latest official figures, while the death toll topped 3,600 in Syria.

*Writing by Anna Cecilia Canatan