This is written in the visitors’ book at Operation Mercy’s Hope and Health project:
"Two years ago I heard about this humanitarian group. For the service that you do, I am very thankful. Thank you for your hospitality and your service to us to improve our health.
“This clinic is filled with positive energy because of your warm behaviour and your golden hands, which are achieving the impossible.
“All the women of this group go home happy after the therapy. They have been helped to relax. I hope that more women will come to improve their life situations and their health.
“We have become like an inseparable family, who thank you from our heart. We will never forget you.”
Hope and Health is a fitness centre for women with degenerative back conditions. The program has medical oversight and also offers psycho-social support, particularly for many who have internalised stress in a way which exacerbates their physical situation.
The centre is situated in the heart of the economically depressed down-town area on the north side of the city where few are able to access or afford adequate physical therapy.
The staff of Hope and Health reflect an ethnic mix to welcome all who come in, be they Albanian, Macedonian, Bosnian, Turk or Roma.
Since early 2017, hundreds of women have gone through a full program of fitness exercises, strengthening their muscle platforms, and they have found a place to be welcomed and listened to in a safe environment.
