Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Laura's Bosnia Blog-Part 8 - 9/15/09


Laura's Bosnia Blog-Tuesday, September  15, 2009, 11:00 pm

I think that my body just might adjust to the time change by next  
Tuesday....when it's time to go home....fortunately, I seem to be  
feeling quite well during the day. Perhaps it's all the Turkish coffee  
I've been drinking.

We're staying at a very small hotel called Hotel Kavaci, right in the  

heart of Sarajevo. It's a quaint little hotel with only 8 rooms, 6 of  

which we are staying in. The rooms are nice-sized, clean and bright.  

We have breakfast in the lobby area and the bread and rolls they serve  
are just delicious.

We traveled about an hour this morning to a town called Visko where we  
met with the women who run the Roma Association called "Be My Friend".  
Roma (Gypsy) women are very vulnerable to being exploited and abused  
but, at the same time are very strong.

The World Vision staff do everything they can to help the girls to get  
an education. There are so many obstacles for these families.  
Sometimes it is something as simple as having only one pair of shoes  

that two children need to share. Only one child is then able to go to  
school and of course, if there is a boy and a girl in the family, the  
boy will be the one chosen to be educated. If the girls are placed in  
school, they are frequently pulled out at age 11 or 12 for marriage.  
One of the reasons that it is so important for the girls to receive a  
diploma is that it is the first legal document that they receive with  
their name on it. Since 80% of Roma babies are born at home, they  
don't have birth certificates.

There are a lot of single young Roma women. Very often, their fathers  
were killed and their husbands have left them. The families push their  
pregnant teenage daughters out of their homes and the girls try to  
live with the father of their children, regardless of the cost.  There  
is so much abuse and rape that these women are subjected to. When they  
find themselves without a man to provide for them, they will sometimes  
leave their children in orphanages because they have no means to care  
for them.

This project exists to empower Roma girls and women in Bosnia....to  
teach them ways to provide for themselves and their families because  
women better understand the need for inclusion than Bosnian men. The  
men are very old-fashioned, living in old tradition, not understanding  
their families needs.

One of the businesses the women are taught is sewing and/or tailoring.  
The loan provides them with a sewing machine, table and instruction.  
After sewing for about six months, Women of Vision sets up an  
exhibition for them to sell their goods.


Another business the women have started are greenhouses. World Vision  
sets up a beautiful greenhouse on a woman's property. She agrees to  
provide the land, the irrigation and the seeds for a period of 5  
years. There is a group of women who share the workload of one  

greenhouse. We were treated to a visit to Remza's home where we saw  
her greenhouse. She and the 9 other women in her group had planted  
tomatoes and peppers which were about ready to be harvested. They had  
recently planted spinach which provides a very good source of income.  

She was a wonderful  
woman who was clearly a hard-worker. When asked who did the digging to  
prepare the soil, she flexed her arm muscles, slapped her hand to her  
chest and said in Bosnian, "Me!". We asked what her biggest challenge  
is and she said that "life is a battle.". I'm sure she knows more  
about that than any of us ever will. She indulged us by picking 9  
tomatoes off the vine and sending them home with us.

Next we were off to visit Jasmina (not our interpreter), who is a  


single mother raising chickens for the eggs. She had fixed up the  
bottom floor of her home but the 2nd floor was left unfinished,  

windows blown out. Her daughter is 18, in school working toward her  
diploma and hoping to go to University. The biggest obstacle will, of  
course be finances.









We then headed to the home of a Roma family living high on the side of  
a mountain. They have 4 children who are in school and 12 others who  

were at the house.  They were an example of a family that have not  

received any aid or help. They are living in deep poverty. There were  
3 women living there, ranging in age from approximately 23-29 years  
old (we think).  They are married to brothers who were off collecting  
tin, paper & iron. One of the women told us that she was married at 12  
and had her first child at 13. They do not have a stove to heat the  

home, so they don't know how they'll survive the winter.  The rest of  
the school age children were likely still at home because they didn't  
have clothes or shoes to wear to school. The children were so happy  
and loved the candy we gave them and LOVED having their picture taken  

and then looking at it!  The girls were separated from their parents  

10 years ago and they have no idea where they are now. It was so sad  
to see how poor, dirty and hopeless they were.





Finally we went to Jasmina's home. I was so looking forward to doing  
this. No wonder Angela thinks so much of her....she is an amazing,  
brilliant, kind and resourceful woman. She has been through the  
unimaginable....after the war broke out, she and her family stayed in  

their home for six months until they were forced to leave. During that  
time, they would hide in a hole that they'd dug on the side of their  
house (photo above from the war) and then at night, would crawl along a ditch to get food or go  

to neighbor's homes. The snipers were up in the hills, just watching  
for them....ready to shoot at all times.  One day she went out on her  
porch to get an item of clothing that she'd hung on the line the night  
before and she was shot at twice (photo above from that day during the war.)

Her entire family was there-her husband, 3 kids, their spouses and her  
grandchildren. They were a beautiful family, full of laughter, yet  
there was underlying sadness, after all they've been through and the  

stress of future.

They prepared a delicious traditional Bosnian lunch for us. We had  
soup, dolmas, cheese and meat pie, salad (tomatoes, onions, goat  

cheese), chicken, potatoes, and homemade bread.  It was so  
incredible....sitting in her very safe, happy home....knowing what had  
gone on there only 16 years ago.

We stayed the entire afternoon, heading back to the hotel at around  
6:30 pm. What an emotional day this was.  I'll never forget all that I  
saw and heard.

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