Bosnian Bulletin #13

January 7, 2000

Dear Friends and Family,

Let us begin this update by wishing all of you a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope this season of joy and new hope will bring peace to your lives and to our world!

Like the rest of the world, neither Y2K nor the end of the millennium disrupted our lives here in Bosnia. Instead, it was the biggest snowstorm in more than 40 years that began on the 15th of December. Within 48 hours we had received about 4 feet of snow! The streets were clogged with snow and cars stuck in the snow and people walking anywhere they could (since the sidewalks were buried). It was chaos for a city that has traffic problems even when the roads are clear and dry!! The snow fell straight down and piled up right where it landed, causing many trees to break and fall -including the one in our back yard which fell on and broke our power lines! After a very chilly night in our apartment that night, we moved into the office the next day! We were finally able to move back into our apartment on the 23rd. Unfortunately, two days later a huge chunk of snow slid off the roof on the other side of the house and broke our phone lines! We just got reconnected this week. So, we've been a bit uprooted and disconnected if you tried to contact us during the holidays!

The good news is, the snowstorm did not interfere with the Pontanima's performance of the "Bosnian Te Deum". The orchestra from Banja Luka arrived very late on the 17th after a very long bus ride, but the next morning we had our first rehearsal as scheduled. Pontanima was already seated in the rehearsal room when the orchestra entered the room. The choir members applauded. It was an immediate relief of what could have been a tense meeting -the first time of these two groups from "opposite sides" meeting. Rehearsals went smoothly and people began to mingle and visit during breaks. After the evening rehearsal we arranged for supper to be brought in for the whole group. As is common in Bosnia when there's food and drink at a gathering, one of our choir members pulled out a guitar to sing old Bosnian (and Yugoslav) folk songs. Before the first song was half over, a woman from Banja Luka went to get her violin to join in, and another choir member carried in the string bass! They played song after song while the rest sang and danced arm-in-arm -Sarajevan and Banjalukan. It was such a special evening. By the next morning when everyone gathered for our final rehearsal, it was like a group of old friends. The concert that evening (the 19th) was an amazing event. The concert hall was packed with people -no more room for standing. There was a positive, energetic spirit in the air. The concert went extremely well and people were visibly moved -after the encore of "Silent Night" in German, English and local language, there were many tears in the audience (and a few among the performers!) It was truly one of the most powerful moments of peacemaking that we have experienced here in Bosnia-Herzegovina -and we continue to here positive echoes from the concert via TV, radio, newspapers and word of mouth. We wish all of you could have been there.

The week of Christmas was a busy one for us. Our MCC colleagues Rod King (MCC Germany) and Holly McNamara (MCC Switzerland) arrived to spend Christmas and New Years with us. Unfortunately, the snow kept them from arriving in time for the Te Deum concert. But, we were still busy with Pontanima -singing for the British embassy's Christmas carol service, SFOR (international military force in BiH) ecumenical Christmas service and St. Anthony's Christmas Eve midnight mass. It was very festive and we had made lots of goodies which we shared with our friends Dzevad and Lida until 4:30am!! By Christmas Day we were ready to rest!! We sat by our Christmas tree and opened a few gifts and ate more goodies. A relaxing Christmas after a very stressful number of weeks.

On the 27th we went with Rod and Holly to Dubrovnik, Croatia on the coast to spend a few days resting and enjoying the sun and sea air. The weather was beautiful and the old city is a wonderful, romantic city to walk around in. We spent several hours walking around the city on the old fortress wall -taking in views of the crashing waves of the sea on one side and the old tile roofs, stone buildings and church towers of the city on the other. Just what we needed.

We came back to Sarajevo on the 30th and spent New Year's Eve in the old market area (Bas Carsija) in Sarajevo -our favorite place in the city. There were fireworks and many people out by the National Theatre where an open air stage was set up with popular musicians performing. It was the first time since the war that city officials organized a New Years Eve event. We have noticed that it is very important here to greet everyone you see with kisses on the cheek and a personal greeting "Sretna Nova Godina!" (Happy New Year!) and a well wish for healthy, happiness and love. I seem to remember that in the States you could walk into a room of people and give say a general "Happy New Year, everybody!" and that would suffice. Here you must be intentional to greet each person in the room with kisses and a well wish -almost like a blessing. We like that tradition.

The beginning of 1999 was a very difficult time for us and we marvel at all of the changes that have taken place in our lives throughout that past year. At the beginning of the year we felt so empty and lonely and lacking in purpose and now we experience an abundance of goodness -in our location, our work, our new friends here in Bosnia and the support of our friends and family at home.

The year 2000 is already full of exciting plans! The first major event will that we will be working on, is a U.S. tour for our interreligious choir, Pontanima. This is something that has been in the works for quite sometime but is only now becoming a reality. We are very excited to take this group of people to the U.S. -not only to sing the songs of their various religious traditions, but to spread their message of tolerance and understand in our diverse world. We are aiming to tour from March 29-April 15 and our itinerary will likely include: Boston, New York City, Washington DC, Harrisonburg, VA (Eastern Mennonite University), Kent, OH, Bluffton, OH (Bluffton College), Goshen, IN (Goshen College) and Chicago. John and I will be traveling with the group (we sing with the group) and hope to see some of you along the way. After the tour, John and I plan to spend about 3 weeks vacation in South Dakota and Kansas. There is a lot of work to do before this tour can happen, but we are optimistic and very excited about the possibility -also excited to reconnect with many of you! We will keep you posted.

In case you are interested in understanding our work at Face to Face Interreligious Service a little more, please check out our brand new web site!! It's far from finished and still has quite a few mistakes on it, but you'll get the idea and will be able to see the changes and updates in the future. You can also hear short clips of Pontanima's CD!: "http://progressive-bih.com/ociuoci"

And just in case anyone's keeping track, yes, next week does mark 1 1/2 years of our 3-year term here in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It's gone by so fast -especially our time here in Sarajevo. It seems like we've just gotten started.

So, as we bring a close to this e-mail, we want to acknowledge the close of the holiday season. It began here in Sarajevo with the holy month of Ramadan (Islamic Community) in early December, then Hanukkah (Jewish Community), then Christmas (Catholic and Protestant Christian Communities), then yesterday was Christmas again (Orthodox Christian Community) and today begins Bajram (or "Id-al-Fitr" -the Feast of Fast Breaking- in the Islamic Community). Tomorrow we will celebrate with some of our Muslim friends and then declare this holiday season over!

So, thank you for your e-mails and letters! We appreciate every one!! Please keep in touch in the coming year. We wish all of God's blessings to you and those around you in 2000.

In Peace and Love,

Karin & John

John & Karin Kaufman Wall
Interreligious Service
Splitska 39
71000 Sarajevo
Bosnia-Herzegovina
387 71 207 860 (home)
387 71 442 468 (office)
jandk@bih.net.ba (personal)
ociuoci@bih.net.ba (office)


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