Bosnian Bulletin #25

June 13, 2001

Greetings from Bosnia -a country of contrasts!

From flat farming plains (in the Northwest) to rugged, snow-capped Olympic mountains (around Sarajevo).....from bitter cold winters with 6 feet of snow (December 1999) to oppressively hot summers (108 F, August 2000).....from modern, cosmopolitan urban areas (Sarajevo) to primitive, isolated villages.....from the manipulative, nationalist leaders who waged horrible war, to the most-amazing, loving peacemakers who work endlessly to bring reconciliation to their country.....Bosnia-Herzegovina has it all!!

Here is an update since the end of March:

Setbacks in the peace process

*On April 5th, international authorities ordered the takeover of the Mostar headquarters and several branches of the Hercegovacka Banka because it is thought to be channeling funds to the Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ) and their attempt to establish a separate Croat mini-state in Croat-dominated parts of Bosnia. Angry Bosnian Croats responded by stoning international officials, beating up employees of international organizations and ransacking a local office of international authorities. The crowd burned four cars and fired shots at international military (SFOR) helicopter patrols. A spokesman for the bank said the takeover was "an absolutely illegal act" and described it as an "armed robbery".

As luck would have it, we had arranged to meet a friend in Mostar that day about a block from the bank. We had no idea what was happening as we drove up and found cars overturned and crowds of people in the street. John went with our friend, Dzevad, and his brother-in-law, Gregg Waltner, into the demonstration area and took photos. One of the demonstrators threateningly approached John and asked, "Are you one of us?" to which John quickly replied, "Yes, I am!" Thank goodness the man did not detect an accent! When we heard shots being fired, we quickly left.

*On May 7th, thousands of Bosnian Serb nationalists attacked Muslims and international officials forcing the cancellation of a ceremony to mark the rebuilding of a mosque in the city of Banja Luka. The rioters, many of them drunk, threw stones and tear-gas grenades and set alight five buses used to transport Muslim refugees to the city for the ceremony. The demonstrators then desecrated the holy site by slaughtering a pig -which Muslims believe to be an unclean animal -on the premise, and hoisted a Serbian nationalist flag on the nearby Islamic center. Another demonstration in the Southern city of Trebinje (also in Republika Srpska) cancelled a similar ceremony two days earlier.

The good news is, these events have not destroyed the fragile peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On the contrary, voices of opposition to those kinds of separatist, xenophobic movements have spoken out for peace and reconciliation. Many local peacemakers interpret these events as "last ditch efforts" by the nationalist groups to maintain power. Clearly, there is a long road ahead in the peace process in Bosnia, but these backward steps will only slow the coming of long-term peace, not destroy it.

New signs of progress in the peace process

*A building in the center of Sarajevo is being reconstructed to house the Yugoslav embassy. This indication of diplomatic relations was unthinkable when the war in Bosnia and the siege of Sarajevo (held by Yugoslav forces) ended in November 1995.

*On June 10th, a train traveling from Zagreb, Croatia arrived in Sarajevo for the first time since the war stopped the regular route 9 years ago. The biggest obstacle to restoring the route was not damaged tracks (which were repaired some time ago) but political agreements between the governments involved. Trains, which will travel to Zagreb each morning and return to Sarajevo each afternoon, will increase freedom of movement between the two countries and improve connections between Bosnia and the rest of Europe.

*The United States government has just pledged an additional $25 million in its aid package for 2001, bringing the total to $73 million to aid in the return of Bosnian refugees to their pre-war homes. The money will primarily be spent on reconstruction of houses and restoring infrastructure systems such as electricity and water in areas where returnees represent an ethnic minority.

Our work with our interreligious choir, Pontanima

We've had a busy spring organizing the activities of Pontanima. In April, we performed a concert of Jewish music -the third concert in our 4-part concert series. The concert of Islamic music will likely need to be postponed until fall due to scheduling problems. We hope to begin recording our 3rd CD, with songs from this concert series, over the summer months.

You might remember from our last update, that the choir sang in Banja Luka in Republika Srpska for the first time in February. In light of the recent anti-Islamic protests, it seems even more remarkable that we were able to perform our interreligious program -including Islamic songs -there.

This "border-crossing" project continued in April with a weekend tour in neighboring Croatia. The choir performed evening concerts in Osijek and Zagreb and a morning mass in Vukovar -a city that was made famous when it was completely destroyed in 1991. The choir was very moved to sing during mass to some 400-500 people in the shell of a Franciscan church.

The most recent phase of the "border-crossing" project was a weekend tour to neighboring Yugoslavia. For many of our choir members, this was a difficult trip to make. In their eyes, traveling to Belgrade meant visiting the home city of the people who held them under siege for nearly four years. Many were anxious about how they and their message of interreligious understanding and peaceful coexistence would be received. The choir performed twice in Belgrade and once in the northern city of Novi Sad. At all concerts, the choir was surprised to find a full audience that was warm, welcoming and overwhelmingly appreciative of their music and their message.

These types of cross-border encounters restore human interaction and put a face on the "other" that is hidden by borders. While the concerts might seem like small pebbles dropped in a very large pond, we are already beginning to see the "ripple affect". Invitations have already been extended for a return visit, interest has been expressed in an exchange visit to Sarajevo, two composers from Yugoslavia have begun arranging traditional Islamic songs and sending their own works to be performed by Pontanima. We are always amazed at the impact the concerts see to have on people. Most touching for us is to see the healing and change that takes place within the members of our choir. For some it is very difficult to let go of their pain and bitterness and open themselves up to reconciliation. At the same time, many of them have been closed to all forms of religion through years of communism and the distortion of religions in the recent war. But, each encounter leads towards healing and opens to them, the possibility of God. In this way, we as Christians bring the face of Christ to people and wait patiently for God's transformation in their lives.

Additional MCC humanitarian aid projects

As I mentioned in previous bulletins, we have taken on some MCC humanitarian aid projects in Bosnia that are not directly related to our work at Face to Face Interreligious Service. John has taken the lead on this work with the help of our friend, Dzevad Avdagic, who works for Church World Service.

The first village, Lokve, near Mostar, received seeds, tools and small machinery at the end of January. We recently visited the village to find the fields full of potatoes, onions, beans, etc, all ready for harvest! In accordance with the program, they will be making their first "payment" of food goods to a soup kitchen in Mostar!

The second village, Brajkovici, (the home parish of fra Ivo Markovic) in central Bosnia, received seeds and tools at the end of March. We plan to visit them this week or next to see how things are growing.

John and Dzevad are also in the planning stages for a similar project in a third village in southern Bosnia, near Trebinje. They will again be submitting their project proposal to Canadian Food Grains Bank (who funded the second project). These projects have been a great "out-of-the-office" outlet for John and a source of joy for both of us.

Family members come to visit

This has been a month and a half of family visitors! As I sent the last bulletin which said "Tomorrow, John's sister and brother-in-law, Audrey and Gregg Waltner (who live in South Dakota) will arrive in Sarajevo to visit us!", they were waiting in the Sarajevo airport for us!! A little miscommunication about dates!! So, we had an "extra" day together!

Then at the beginning of May, we had a visit from my brother, Kenton and future-sister-in-law, Holly Streff. Unfortunately, they missed a flight connection, so we had one less day with them, but we made the most of our short time together.

Just last week, John's parents, his oldest sister and brother-in-law, Marjorie and Preston Hofer and their four children, Audra, Peyton, Mason and Adele came to visit! Luckily we were able to rent an apartment from a friend for the Hofer family to stay in. It was quite a different challenge to share our world with such a large group of people, but I think we managed quite well!

All of these visits have been very special for us. It means so much to us to be able to share our lives here with family in hopes that they will be better able to understand us, and our experience here in Bosnia. Our partner, fra Ivo Markovic, the director of Face to Face Interreligious Service, is very supportive in our hosting because he believes that through our friends and family awareness of Bosnia and larger issues of communication, diversity, understanding and reconciliation can be spread throughout the world (or at least to North America!).

Along those lines, I've made several additions to our website: https://www.angelfire.com/sd/jandk/ including more photos and some recipes for Bosnian foods!! The emphasis of the website is on the Bosnian people, the beauty of the country, the culture and our everyday lives here -not an academic resource on the conflict! So partake in a bit of Bosnia, and enjoy!

On a final note, we request your prayers for nearby Macedonia. It is so painful to watch that country be ripped apart by war as we work slowly to restore this one. We remember the words of fra Ivo after we visited a village of returned refugees, "Dear God, it is so hard to repair life after war."

This update has gotten too long, so I'll skip the Frequently Asked Questions (anyway, questions aren't so "frequent" anymore!) Send your questions our way!

Enjoy the summer months! Take shelter from the summer heat now and then...and write an e-mail!! :)

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


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