Bosnian Bulletin #19
September 16, 2000
Greetings Friends and Family,
As promised, this update will be a little "lighter" and
hopefully a little bit shorter! It's hard to believe
another month has passed since our last bulletin. Our time here
in Sarajevo seems to be flying by. It doesn't seem possible
that this is our 3rd September in Bosnia!!
Fall came suddenly to Bosnia. It's a welcome relief
from the extreme heat we had this summer. It's nice to be able to
walk around the city again without fear of heat exhaustion!
My (Karin's) parents' visit was great! They arrived on the
23rd of August to temperatures of 104F!! (On the day they
left it was 60F!) We had a wonderful time showing them
Sarajevo, taking some day trips around Bosnia and a 3-day trip to
Dubrovnik, Croatia. (Dad really loved floating -quite
literally "floating"! -in the Adriatic.) We did
our best to show them the beauty of the country and the help them
to understand the conflict. John and I were amazed at their
genuine interest in the history, the people, the current
dynamics, etc. They actually did some "homework"
before coming by watching the BBC documentary "Yugoslavia:
Death of a Nation" (all 6 parts!!) We applaud them for
opening hearts and minds to learn while they were here.
(Perhaps we are biased!)
I asked them to write a bit about their impressions that I could
include in this Bulletin, so I don't put words in their
mouths. They wrote: "One of the highlights for us was
visiting with the people-- (through capable interpreting by
Karin and John)-- an elderly refugee couple without a home, a
young Muslim couple who survived the war while living in
Sarajevo, ...and many other local people (some of the Pontanima
choir members). We were impressed with the warm
hospitality, friendliness, bitterness, resourcefulness, and sheer
stamina of the people who were able to endure and survive 3 1/2
years of war!! Besides that, the beauty of the country (as
well as the tragic scars of war) made this a very memorable
learning vacation. Understanding a bit of the history of
Bosnia and of the problems involving the different ethnic groups
was an eye-opener for us!"
We also had a lot of relaxed time together to talk and enjoy each
other's company. Mom and Dad were incredibly flexible and
even slept in when we were tired!! It was very special for
us to be able to share our lives here with them and for them to
have a better understanding of the situation we live
in. Now they'll understand more when we write about people,
places and events of Bosnia!
I guess we could say a lot more about their visit, but I'll let
you talk to them directly (gvkaufman@dtgnet.com) and maybe even see their
photos! We're ready for more visitors!!
Our partner (director of Face to Face Interreligious Service),
fra Ivo Markovic, is back from a trip to Colombia (as part of a
Rome-appointed interreligious commission) and his annual stay in
Germany. We've started planning for the upcoming year and
it looks like we'll be very busy! Pontanima (our
interreligious choir) has started rehearsing. We hope to
perform a series of four concerts -one for each of the religious
communities here in Bosnia. The first for
Catholic/Protestant Christmas (December), the second for Orthodox
Christmas (January), the third for the Islamic Community's Kurban
Bajram (March) and finally for Jewish Passover (April).
That's a lot of new music to learn!
This weekend, we will meet Mike and Val Smith -new MCC workers in
Prijedor, Bosnia (in the Serb-majority entity). They will
work with the humanitarian organization, Bread of Life, whose
head office is in Belgrade and satellite office is in
Prijedor. They have arrived in Europe and have visas to
study language in Belgrade for 3 months before moving to
Bosnia. On Wednesday, we will travel to Budapest to apply
for visas to Yugoslavia, so we could accompany them into Belgrade
and help them get settled there. It is still doubtful that
we will be able to get visas, but it sounds like Budapest is our
best chance.
They had originally planned to go to Belgrade on Sept.
24th, but as that is the first day of the national elections
there, we will certainly wait a bit to see
what will happen there. It is expected
that Slobodan Milosevic will win again -whether legally
or not! It is possible that there could be a lot of
civil unrest if he does. Please remember the people of
Serbia, Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro during these
elections. We are hoping that there might be changes
for the better. (Note: Elections will be held in
Bosnia in November. More on that in our next update.)
If all goes as we hope, we will travel from Sarajevo to Budapest
to Prijedor to Belgrade and back to Sarajevo. We could be
gone up to 2 weeks.
A couple positive more positive signs to add to last months'
update:
Serbs, Muslims and Croats will compete in a countrywide
Bosnia-Herzegovinan team at the Sydney Olympics for the first
time since the former Yugoslav republic declared independence and
erupted into war. Bosnia-Herzegovina sent teams in 1992
(Sarajevan athletes left their beseiged city through an
underground tunnel) and in 1996, but with no athletes from the
Serbian entity.
The new mayor of Sarajevo Center, Ljubisa Markovic, is winning
high marks among city residents for his responsiveness to the
needs of ordinary citizens. It is said that he has brought a
service-oriented style of government unheard of in the Balkans,
known for sluggish bureaucracy, corruption and indifference. This
includes "liberal visiting hours" and a Web page that
invites residents to send e-mail with questions or
problems. A member of the multi-ethnic Social Democratic
Party, Markovic heads a city that spent four horrific years under
siege by Serb nationalist forces, with a population that is now
about 80 percent Muslim. He is a Serb.
Fra Ivo (our director) was recently in a little car accident in
an area of the Serb Republic that is known to be hard-line
nationalist. Though he was unhurt, his car (brand new!!)
was damaged and he had to deal with the police for insurance
purposes, etc. Being a Croat Catholic he was concerned
about how he would be treated, but was pleasantly surprised that
they treated him very fairly and with respect. He felt that
was a great sign of increased toleration and respect.
Now to answer a Frequently Asked Question:
Is there really any chance for peace in the Balkans or will they
just go on hating each other like they have for centuries?
We disagree with those who write off the possibility for
peace in the Balkans on the basis of "ethnic
hatred that has lasted for centuries". That is
not an entirely accurate view of the picture here. Remember
that these different ethnic/religious groups have lived together
here for the last 500 years or so. Only now are
nationalist groups presenting the idea that it is impossible for
them to live together. I think the easiest way for North
Americans to understand this, is to draw a parallel. (As
with all parallels it is not without its flaws, but it can
represent the idea.) Most people would not describe
the United States as a place of ethnic or racial hatred that
has existed for centuries. Nor would most people declare
that it is impossible for people of different ethnicities or
races to live together there. But, if someday in the future
war broke out in the United States along racial or ethnic
lines, (and that is probably as difficult to imagine as it was
for the people of Bosnia) history could be read in a very
different way. In order to explain why such a
war could break out, people would look back at history
and point to different events in American history -the
displacement, extermination and settlement of the Native
Americans, slavery, the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during
World War II, the segregation of black and white, the L.A.
riots, etc, and draw the conclusion that racial/ethnic war
in the United States was "inevitable".
Perhaps a case could even be made that these different
peoples could not live together. After a terrible war, it
is likely that we would look at each other differently -that we
would prove that analysis true. Certainly racism is
alive and well in North America, but many of us hope to
develop greater understanding, tolerance and equality to be able
to live together in peace. Is it worth working for that
peace in North America? Or, should we write it off
as hopeless? Likewise, we believe that there is hope
for peace here in the Balkans. Here in Bosnia there has
been so much bloodshed, so many lives destroyed, so much physical
damage. History is being rewritten, spiritually has
been distorted and trauma runs deep. It will take
a long time, abundant resources and endless hope.
The situation is, of course, more complex that that, but maybe
it is an example that is easier to understand. Perhaps
it even brings the lesson of Bosnia closer to your own
life.
Please feel free to ask more questions or make your own
comments. We love to hear from you.
In God's Love and Peace,
Karin & John
Face to Face Interreligious Service
Splitska 39
71000 Sarajevo
Bosnia-Herzegovina
home tel: 387 33 207 860
office tel/fax: 387 33 442 468
home: jandk@bih.net.ba
office: ociuoci@bih.net.ba
http://www.progressive-bih.com/ociuoci
P.S. Please note change of
phone number. Sarajevo's city code, 71, has changed to
33. Feel free to call us! :)
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