CHILDREN’S EMBASSY MEGJASHI  – 20 years growing with the children

The children recognized us and entrust us with the need to protect and defend them. We spoke publicly for many problems they are facing and increased the public awareness about the importance and the necessity of respecting the rights of the child

The First Children's Embassy in the World - Megjashi marks the jubilee - 20 years since the establishment. In the past two decades it cares, helps and supports the children and fights for the protection of their rights.
- 20 years ago, when we gathered to help the refugee children from Bosnia and Herzegovina we did not know what we are getting in with all our hearts and what the challenges we will confront. But faced with them and we learned. It was not easy to trace the path of the new children's movement in Macedonia, called the First Children’s Embassy in the world – “Megjashi". However, the children recognized us and entrust us with the need to protect and defend them. We spoke publicly for many problems they are facing and increased the public awareness about the importance and the necessity of respecting the rights of the child- said MA. Dragi Zmijanac, founder and executive director of "Megjashi" at the ceremony on the occasion of the jubilee that was held in the Drama Theatre on April 27.
Megjashi’s ambasador," Kole Angelovski, hopes that in the next 20 years the First Children’s Embassy in the World – Megjashi will be the conscience of this society and this country in terms of the treatment and care for children.
- We got up to the 20th anniversary and we don’t know how because in all those urgent requests for assistance to children affected by the war, children who were abused, tortured, raped ... we didn’t think of numbers of jubilees, simply we did not have time for that. In order to avoid forgetting those important dates, The First Children’s Embassy in the World – Megjashi was sending press releases to the media and addressed the importance of working with and for the children. But when the year 2012 started being implied, we realized that something had to be done, the former children (members, volunteers and refugees) were expecting us to gather them, like when parents gather their children for their birthday. They started seeking each other on the social networks, especially the former refugee children and the volunteers and started asking about when they can meet. Is there a better moment for such gathering than the jubilee that is knocking at the door? Great feeling but a responsibility as well. – said Gordana Pirkovska – Zmijanac, the creator of this children’s movement.

She added that made many changes in society have been implemented regarding the treatment of children and the vast majority of credit for those changes belongs undoubtedly the work of the First Children's Embassy in the World – Megjashi.
- But unfortunately sometimes it seems like a drop in the sea, there is so much more to be done. We feel obligated by the children to continue the mission more than ever, despite the many slips and difficult moments of existence –said Gordana Zmijanac.
On the celebration, the documentary film "20 years of the First Children’s Embassy in the world – Megjashi” was presented, which despite the dramatic images and indicated information regards the conditions in which some members of the most vulnerable group in our society – the children live, ended with an optimistic message, "We continue ".
Since Dragi Zmijanac wished for the next big anniversary, the 30th anniversary, to mark only the good news in the lives of the children, the activities of the embassy continue in this direction.

In the lobby of the theater, the numerous guests from all fields of social life, friends of "Megjashi" were able to look at the exhibition of children's drawings, which was prepared by the students from elementary schools in the country, and everything was sweetened with a lovely cake with Megjashi’s logo
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What is Megjashi
It is a first children’s country, formed in 1991 by Dusko Tomic who founded the First Children’s Embassy in the World - Megjashi in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The basic goal was to help children in education, improvement, introducing the world by millions of children who live in it. With the claim that children are a separate nation, we come to the realization of the idea of children's country. At first it was a village Megjashi located in the treble border of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The war stopped the creation of the children's world in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the idea continued to live thanks to the founders Gordana and Dragi Zmijanac, the employees and the hundreds of volunteers that support the work of the embassy in various ways.
- The First Children's Embassy in the World -Megjashi is a civic organization in Macedonia on the Rights of the Child, established on April 29th 1992.We got together as a group of citizens in order to help the refugee children affected by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but with the continuing to work with other children, from Macedonia, unfortunately many other serious problems appeared that needed to be done. Those problems were never discussed before: people didn’t know that children have their rights, and the sexual abuse of children and pedophilia were taboo topics, child labor was considered non existing in these parts of the region - said Gordana Zmijanac.