March 11, 2002

 

Greetings everyone,

 

As I sit down to write to all of you, I realize it's been almost three months since I last wrote.  Quite a bit has happened during that time, but I'll just give you the highlights and let you know what's coming up for us.

 

End of our MCC assignment in Bosnia-Herzegovina

 

It's so hard to believe but our time in Bosnia is coming to an end.  We have just over three months left in Sarajevo.  Our MCC replacement, Keziah Conrad from Tucson, AZ, will be arriving in Sarajevo on May 15 and we will have a one-month overlap before we leave on June 15.  We will fly to Switzerland to have end-of-term "debriefing" at our MCC Europe office before flying to South Dakota.

 

We plan to move back to Newton, KS and are currently in the midst of job searching.  If you hear of anything that you think might suit one of us, let us know!  We also welcome leads on good housing possibilities, furniture, etc, etc.

 

It's going to be very hard for us to leave Bosnia and we appreciate your prayers and support during this time of transition.  We are very grateful for the various kinds of support we've received throughout our whole term.  Special thanks to the Salem Mennonite Women in Mission and Sunday School for the recent financial support!

 

Most challenging for us at this time is to find a balance between preparing our hearts and minds to leave Bosnia and start a new chapter of life back in North America and being fully present and engaged with our life and work here in Bosnia in our remaining time. 

 

Work at Face to Face Interreligious Service

 

In the meantime, work continues at Face to Face.  It has been our goal since we arrived in Sarajevo to engage more local people in the work of the service and help the organization get a foundation in place to work for the long-term.  We are so happy to say that we feel like that is happening. 

 

When we first started working at Face to Face in April 1999, we were the only people in the office most of the time.  Now, there are many people engaged at the office and we rarely have the place to ourselves.  We have worked hard to help establish some organization -including organizational archives, financial records, a library, music archives, etc.  One young theologian, Entoni Seperic, has been slowly taking on more and more responsibility and will assume the position of program manager (along with Keziah Conrad, our MCC replacement) when we leave.  We are very excited about these developments.  The only major hurdle left is to find funding to help support 2-3 of the most engaged local staff.  In the current economic situation in Bosnia it is unrealistic and unfair to expect that they can continue to work as volunteers.  We would like to find funding to help them meet their basic needs.  This is something that we may not be able to secure before we leave, but are starting the process by compiling a comprehensive proposal and trying to locate potential charitable foundations, etc.  We believe so strongly in the work of Face to Face and hope it can continue for many years to come.  

 

In addition to the ongoing organizational development, we continue to work on our ongoing programs and special projects.

 

Anthony Brown and Mory Ortman visit Bosnia!

 

Tony Brown, sociology instructor and artist-in-residence at Hesston College, arrived in Sarajevo today on a 10-day visit to Bosnia!  Tony is a fabulous baritone singer of American songs and African-American spirituals.  My cousin, Mory Ortman, who is finishing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University, is arriving tomorrow and will accompany Tony on piano.  They will perform concerts in Sarajevo and nearby cities and Tony will also lecture about American music, spirituals and the use of music as a tool for healing.

 

The idea for the project came about while we were on home leave and speaking at New Creation Fellowship.  We met Tony after the service and he expressed interest in our choir (Pontanima) and his desire to come and sing with us and share in our musical mission.  When we returned to Sarajevo we wrote a proposal for the project and got the U.S. Embassy Office of Public Affairs to fund it!  We have been working with the OPA on the itinerary and program for their time in Bosnia.

 

We look forward to great opportunities for exchange and discussion surrounding the concerts and lectures.  Our choir members are very excited to sing with Tony and Mory on the final concert of the tour, which will be held in Sarajevo as part of the Sarajevo Winter Arts Festival  (see http://www.euroartcentre.com/sarajevowinter/program.htm for more on the festival).  We'll let you know how it goes!

 

Independence Day Celebrated on March 1, 2002

 

While it probably didn't make the news in North America, Bosnia-Herzegovina celebrated 10 years of independence on March 1st.  Unfortunately, the country continues to struggle with the legacy of the three-year war that followed the 1992 declaration of independence, deep economic crisis and dependency on international assistance. 

When Bosnians voted independence from Yugoslavia in 1992, 63 percent were in favor. Almost all eligible voters, 99 percent, went to the polls. However, those in favor of breaking away were mostly Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croats. Bosnian Serbs, the second most populous minority in Bosnia behind the Muslims, opposed independence. The ethnic split in the vote nicely complemented plans of Serb extremists for Greater Serbia and triggered Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.

More than 200,000 people were killed during the bloodshed, while more than a million of Bosnia's 4 million citizens were driven from their homes. The country's economy and infrastructure were nearly destroyed. The U.S.-brokered Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995 stopped the violence and divided the country into two separate administrative entities - the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Srpska Republic, administered by Bosnian Serbs. The Dayton Agreement has served as the constitution for Bosnia Herzegovina since 1995. The international community has become the guarantor against attempts to change the constitution by any of the Bosnian factions.

April 6, 2002 will commemorate 10 years since the start of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Pontanima has been asked to perform a concert on that day as a symbol of the multi-ethnic Bosnia which existed for centuries prior to the war and which is slowly reconciling to live together again.   

 

 

That is the update on our lives from this corner of the world.  Again, we thank you for all your support and prayers and we finish our term of service in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

 

Peace be with you,

Karin & John

 

P.S.  We received an e-mail message from our MCC partner, fra Ivo Markovic, while we were on home leave in South Dakota following the events of September 11.  We found Ivo's words to be comforting and powerful and shared them with many people in North America.  I have posted it on our website (https://www.angelfire.com/sd/jandk/Letter.htm) if you are interested.