“Youth for Peace” Deliver Hope and Spiritual Resilience in Bosnia and Herzegovina during COVID-19

As the coronavirus pandemic transforms routines including prayer and worship, Youth for Peace (YfP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina launches a multi-religious project intended to bring hope to communities combatting the dire effects of the virus. The project consists of a series of video conversations with diverse religious representatives, discussing how they nurtured their spiritual lives as COVID-19 reshaped their realities. These conversations have reached more than 6,000 people, delivering testimonies of religious communities and leaders, via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YfP’s website, encouraging listeners to reflect on the shared nature of the pandemic. Thus far, Youth for Peace has released 10 of videos on these platforms, with several more to come.

Due to a disruption of several major religious holidays earlier this year as a result of the pandemic, YfP’s response to COVID-19 was inspired by spiritual and religious values of community. “Usually, we in YfP like to celebrate together and invite each other over to share cakes, Easter eggs etc. But this time, it was not possible,” shares Emina Frljak, Educational Programs Coordinator of Youth for Peace, who also serves on the International Youth Committee of Religions for Peace. “We knew that we were not alone in this situation,” she continues. “Other people were struggling with the same issues, so we wanted to reach out to them, talk to them, and share stories of hope.”

In fact, the pandemic presented a rare opportunity to virtually engender a sense of spiritual community to those struggling with the isolation of nationwide curfews and school closures. Emina recalls the testimony of a young Muslim theologian who transformed a “special place” in his room into a masjid or mosque. “That inspired me to have my own place that is dedicated to praying.”

The project itself provided a platform for women and youth of faith in Bosnia and Herzegovina to reach wide and diverse audiences. Through interviews with several faith communities, YfP shared their stories and efforts to remain spiritually connected to their constituents. As women and youth struggle with the pandemic, such efforts document their voices and lived experiences, as they build their resilience. “I was very grateful to speak to a diverse group of people and hear their stories. I think this project gave me the boost to keep going, to keep working,” says Emina, reflecting as a young woman of faith.

Building on multi-religious narratives, the testimonies of 25 religious leaders and representatives—including Muslim, Jewish, Baha’i, and Orthodox Christian—provided their constituencies with a shared means to overcome the crippling uncertainty of the pandemic through a virtual communal dialogue. “The accounts of [religious leaders] responding to new challenges and preparing their communities for the ‘new and different’ way of nurturing religious life and respecting the changed conditions, while simultaneously keeping communities united, showed how creative, responsible, and adaptable religious leaders have been,” says Emina. But this discourse did not only bring religious leaders and communities across faith traditions closer in spirit—it also presented tangible opportunities for future multi-religious collaboration between these communities in Bosnia andHerzegovina.

As religious leaders and communities seek to adjust (and even modify) traditional approaches to prayer and congregation, Youth for Peace is responding to the hunger for spiritual sustenance and community, with an intentionality to innovatively nurture the spirit and the soul. People across world may be confined to their homes, but the testimonies of women, young people, and religious leaders reverberate with messages of spiritual resilience and hope.