Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Laura's Bosnia Blog-Part 10 - 9/17/09


Bosnia Blog-Thurs., 9/17/09, 9:30 am

Today began at 5:30 am, when my alarm startled me out of my slumber.  
We had an early breakfast of coffee, orange juice, bread, cheese, hard-

boiled eggs and delicious tomatoes from Remza, our greenhouse lady.  




The owners of the hotel are a very sweet, soft-spoken Bosnian couple  who are probably in their sixties.  The husband makes breakfast and  

serves us each morning.  Soon after eating, we were on the road, overnight bags loaded in the van, on our way to Zvornik.

We were driving along a beautiful mountainous country road, sharing  
stories of our families when we came around a bend in the road.   
Suddenly our driver, Kennan, slammed on his brakes. Ahead of us, in  
the middle of the road was a VERY LARGE COW!  There was a semi-truck  
to our left, going the opposite direction so Kennan had no choice but  
to hit her.  She went down, then quickly stood back up and continued  
on down the road.

We all got out of the van to survey the damage, which was minimal. It  
was necessary to phone the Bosnian police to file a report for  

insurance purposes.  They arrived within 20 minutes, but we are still  
here, one hour later, waiting for.....ummmmm.....I'm not really sure.   
Perhaps the insurance company?

We have not been short on entertainment during our wait. After a quick  
trip to the side of the road behind some bushes for a restroom break,  
Angela taught us a round to sing that had something to do with six old  
ladies stuck in a lavoratory for days....

Next, it was darling (yes, she really is a darling 24 year-old Bosnian  
woman) Maja's (our guide/interpreter/liaison for the week) turn to  
teach us the Rumba. There we were, standing on the side of the road,  
Barry Manilow playing the acoustic version of Copacabana on my iPhone  
(they asked for it!), learning the Rumba.  We were quite a sight to  
see. I can only imagine what the very serious police officers were  

thinking of us. I say serious because when they pulled up and got out  
of their car, several of us attempted to capture the event on camera.  
We received a stern shake of the head and hand....we were NOT allowed  
to photograph them!

10:00 am
Well, we are on our way again, police report properly filed. While  
waiting, we chatted with one of the officers and discovered that he is  
hoping to open a Bed & Breakfast in the coming year here in Bosnia. He  
has hope for the future of his country but becomes discouraged at the  

complacency of those around him. We ended up shaking hands and even  



getting a group photo with them before leaving.  What a difference an  
hour makes....


11:00 pm
We continued on our journey and arrived in Djulici around 12:30 pm. We  
were meeting with a women's group called "Anima" which means soul or  
spirit.  We met in Saaraba's home and sat at a long table for lunch.  
This group of 9 women had cooked a traditional Bosnian lunch for us.   

The table was set beautifully, with china, glassware and tablecloths.  
Angela told us that the women likely spent weeks preparing for us,  
gathering, amongst themselves, their very best. Bosnian women are very  
proud and they want us to see how strong they are and how well they  
are doing. It was quite moving.



We all sat at the table but some of the women, the Muslim women, didn't join us as it is Ramadan  



and they fast during the day. We had such wonderful food...meat pies,  

cheese pies, dolmas, soup, tomato salad, sausage, chicken, beef, and  

dolmas. For dessert they served baklava and it was amazing!

After lunch, they joined us at the table to tell us their stories.  These women live in a village that is made up of 90% women and 10% men.



Saarada, whose house we were at told us that on June 1st, 1992, seven hundred men, aged 15 - 80 were taken away. The Serbian Army came back and took the women and children  
in trucks toward Tuzla. They were beaten and stoned. 

Shaharizad said that the women and children were sorted into groups, and about 100 women without children  
were taken to a high school gymnasium where they were constantly  
beaten and abused.  She said that they were there day and night and  
that during that time, she just thought, "How can I die?  I just want  
to die."


Hira told us that the women and children who were not taken to the school were dropped off on the road, left to walk to Tuzla.  In Tuzla, they stayed in a  
building that the Serbian army had abandoned, but they had left it  
very dirty. They had been using the building as a toilet. This was  
"home" for the women and their children for two months.

Hira spoke of a terrible day in 1995 when they were being  
shot at with grenades....14 people were killed....some babies. She was  
shot that day but her children were not. She hates that her children had to live through that.  She wishes that her children had her childhood rather than the one they had to live through.

During all this time, the women held out hope that the men from their  
village were still alive.  In 2000, they returned to their village and  
this was when they began finding mass graves....and discovered that  

they had all been massacred. They have now identified 400 of the  
men....they are trying to find the other 300. Fata told us that  
her husband and two sons had been taken on that day in 1992. She has  
found her husband and one son but is still trying to find her other son.

In Tuzla, there were psychological workshops called Anima for the  
women and when they arrived back home in their village, Anima came to  
help them start their own group.  Many of them say that without the  

workshops, they still would not be able to speak of the war.  Their  
stories were so moving and the courage in that room was compelling.  
There was not a dry eye.

My heart feels so heavy....I cannot imagine the horrors they have  
lived through....the images that will never leave their minds.  They  
hold out such hope for the future, though. This hopefulness keeps  
shining through as we travel throughout Bosnia and meet with women.   
They have greenhouses that they are caring for together.

This amazing, brave group of women have worked so hard to rebuild their homes and
their lives.  80% of them are doing agriculture such as greenhouses, open fields,
animals (goats, chickens, sheep). 


 Everyone has chickens. They would all love to have a cow but the physical labor is hard.  Hira does have a cow from World Vision. They have hope that their children will have a bright future. They are all in school and their goal is for them to all graduate high school and continue on to college.  I am struck by how similar all women are...no matter the race, culture or religious affiliation....we all want the best for our children.

When asked what message they would like for us to take back to the  
States, they said that they wish that we and our children will never  
have to live through war.  These were such caring, compassionate and  
thoughtful women. Never before have I been so touched and inspired.



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