Following the Fashion Show, which turned out to be a great success, BOSFAM returned to its normal activities of handicraft production and psycho-social support.  The Fashion Show was covered by several Bosnian news outlets and you can see some pictures at the following URL:
http://www.tip.ba/2009/08/10/%CB%9Dmuzika-i-moda-mladi-i-ljeto%CB%9D/.            It was a great evening and BOSFAM’s staff and members were very pleased by the turn-out.

My colleague Kelsey Bristow returned to Washington, DC shortly after the Fashion Show and I am now living alone in the BOSFAM apartment. Things are definitely much quieter – and lonlier – without Kelsey around, but she is busy completing her senior year at Georgetown University.  We both hope that she will be able to return to BOSFAM next summer.  Kelsey still plans on putting together some video from the Fashion Show and our daily activities which I will be sure to post as soon as I receive it.

My recent work at BOSFAM has focused on providing English translations for several sections of our new website – please check it out and comment at
www.bosfam.ba , writing grant proposals and researching funding opportunities for BOSFAM, and trying very hard to obtain a Bosnian visa.  After six hours at the hospital yesterday compiling all the necessary signatures for the health certificate (one of only many forms necessary for the visa application), I sincerely hope that this process will soon reach its conclusion.

Although I have yet to receive any definitive answers regarding several grant proposals, I have gotten some positive feedback and am feeling generally optimistic about my fundraising efforts.  In the eyes of international donors, Bosnia and Herzegovina is not nearly as trendy (for lack of a better word) as it was in the ’90s, which can make fundraising for a small organization like BOSFAM quite a challenging process.  However, Beba Hadžić’s (BOSFAM’s Director) motto is “We will survive,” and I am sure that she is right.

I am looking forward to a trip to Linz, Austria in a few weeks to promote BOSFAM’s work.  We have been invited by the Zentrum der zeitgemaessen Initiativen – Austria, a group which promotes intercultural friendship between Bosnians and Austrians.  I have been surprised by how useful my knowledge of German is here, and am certain it will come in handy while in Linz.  If you can read German or Bosnian, I would encourage you to check out ZZI’s website and all the creative and useful projects they support:
http://www.zzi.at.

That is all the news from BOSFAM for now, and I will do my best to become a productive blogger once again.  I look forward to your comments, questions, and suggestions concerning ongoing work in Tuzla and BOSFAM’s projects.  Veliki pozdrav iz Tuzle (Greetings from Tuzla)!

Selma Bajramovic, a colleague from BOSFAM, hangs Posters for the Fashion Show

In addition to the fashion show, the Tuzla University Singing Club and three different dance groups (Flamenco, Sandoval, and Valentino) will perform. The fashion show is a great chance for BOSFAM to promote its products among the local population and I would encourage anyone in Tuzla following my blog to attend.

Here at the details:

WHEN: Monday, August 10th at 8 PM
WHERE: Trg Slobode, Tuzla, BiH

For those who cannot attend, I will be sure to put up some video and photos following the event.

Majda’s son lives in Canada, and the only way she can earn money is by renting out rooms in her apartment to tourists. Before the war, she was employed as a mechanical engineer near Mostar, her son attended primary school, and her husband worked (also as an engineer) for the Yugoslav airline company.

I give Majda as an example to illustrate how the war completely destroyed the lives of so many people, including those who did not die as a result. What does Majda have now? She sees her son once a year and her husband is dead. She cannot put her intelligence and technical expertise to good use by renting out rooms in an apartment. Mostar remains ethnically divided by the Neretva River and Majda no longer has contact to her former friends who are ethnically Croat. This is the day to day reality Majda faces fourteen years after the war in BiH officially ended.

“Glupi rat,” Majda said to me as we sat on her lovely balcony overlooking Mostar, the Neretva, and the surrounding mountains. I nodded in agreement and tried to explain (in Bosnian) some of the projects BOSFAM is working on to her. She had heard of BOSFAM and made a comment about the lack of initiatives which exist for women victims of war. I could tell something was upsetting her and asked what was wrong. Majda, like many others in Bosnia, feels that the international community has more or less abandoned BiH now that the country no longer makes the news on a regular basis. “The war was bad everywhere,” she said, “and people are still trying to recover and we all still need help.”

Speaking with Majda reminded me not only of the war’s far-reaching consequences throughout the country, but also of the importance of vigorous and continued commitment to BiH on the part of the international community. While fourteen years may seem like a long time on one hand, it is not long enough to expect life to return to normal. Majda’s life, in fact, will never return to the way it was. Reconstructing a multi-ethnic BiH and healing the wounds of war will require several generations, if not longer. Majda’s life experiences mirror those of many of the women who currently work at BOSFAM, and in particular those of Beba Hadzic, BOSFAM’s director.

Beba is also highly educated and had a great job prior to the war (as the principal of Srebrenica’s elementary schools). Beba often says that she never believed war was possible in BiH, but it happened. The important question now is how Bosnians and the international community can best work together to rebuild what was lost. It will doubtless be a long and difficult process, but organizations like BOSFAM and people like Majda have the right principles at heart. With the appropriate support and long-term vision, Beba and Majda’s grandchildren may have the opportunity to enjoy the same quality of life their grandparents can only fondly remember.

Mars Mira is both a physical and mental challenge for the growing number of participants who partake each year. From July 8 – 10, 2009, over 4,000 individuals retraced the route which Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) used to flee from the Serb-besieged “UN Safe Area” of Srebrenica to Bosniak-controlled territory in Tuzla. On Mars Mira, participants begin in Nezuk, a small village located in the Federation, and walk to Potocari, where the Memorial Center for the victims of the genocide is located. The route is slightly over 110 kilometers (about 70 miles) long and is completed in 30-40 km per day stretches. As Kelsey and I boarded the bus for Nezuk at 6 AM in Tuzla, we really had no idea what we were in for.

But, as is typical of my experience in BiH, we quickly found incredibly kind companions who assisted us with everything from carrying our backpacks to making sure we had food and comfortable places to sleep at night. The generosity and helpfulness of the individuals I met along the Peace Route mirrors the behavior of almost everyone I have met in this country so far. 

Well-Wishers in Nezuk, BiH

Marchers on the Peace Route

2009 BOSFAM Fellow Alison Sluiter with new Friends on the Peace Route

The Podrinja is one of the most beautiful regions in BiH, but also where many of the worst war-time atrocities occurred. Littered among the gorgeous views are the red skull-and-cross-bones signs warning of leftover unexploded ordinances. For the three day march, organizers are allowed to erect small signs indicating the location of exhumed mass graves and the number of victims found within them. These sites deserve a permanent memorial rather than the flimsy paper which is tied to a plywood stake. Undoubtedly, these signs are quickly removed or demolished by the local Bosnian Serb population following Mars Mira. Large Serbian flags flew over every Orthodox church visible along the Peace Route, and on the second day, several Bosnian Serb villagers set a field of dry grass on fire in an attempt to deter the marchers.

I am happy to report that not a single participant on the Peace Route reacted in a violent or destructive manner despite obvious provocations. These actions clarified for me the extent of ethnic divisions in BiH and the apparent state of denial in which a significant proportion of the population continues to live.

A Beautiful View on Mars Mira

A Sign Marks the Site of an Exhumed Mass Grave Outside of Snagovo, BiH

Looking towards the Drina River, and Serbia in the Distance

I would imagine the Bosnian Serb reaction to Mars Mira is most offensive to those who participated in the original march, also known as the “Death March” from Srebrenica to Tuzla. Many of the men, even those who are very old, make the trip from Nezuk to Potocari each year to remember their deceased friends and relatives. They provide first-hand testimony along the march at the stations where breaks are taken. Hearing their stories is heart-wrenching – one young man who was 12 in 1995 described hiding behind bushes while watching his father and brother get shot point blank in the back of the head. Listening to the story was troubling enough and then the man motioned to the left with his hand. He could still identify the exact spot where his brother and father were murdered 14 years later. Both have yet to be identified and buried at Potocari.

A Man who survived the "Death March" Along the Peace Route

I would like to encourage everyone interested to consider attending the genocide commemoration in Potocari on July 11th, and participating in Mars Mira if possible. It was a very meaningful experience for me and the participation of internationals means a great deal to Bosnians. You can read more about the Peace Route at <marsmira.org>. 

Marchers on the 3rd -and Final- Morning of Mars Mira

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iihWM-RRdc

The remains of 534 individuals were buried this Saturday at the memorial center in Potocari, a village near Srebrenica in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). As coffin after coffin went by in what seemed like a never-ending procession, I struggled to think about what this meant to the families of victims who had come to Potocari that day to bury their loved ones. The individuals buried included boys as young as 14; children whose lives were cut short in the worst possible of ways. Others were old men who left behind entire families. How are their wives, sisters, and daughters expected to cope with this kind of loss?

Beba Hadzic, BOSFAM’s Director, introduced me to a 14-year-old girl who was at Potocari to bury a father she had never known. She was only six months old when the genocide occurred. I cannot personally grasp what she must have been feeling on Saturday. The only real memory of her father she will have for entire life will be the day that she watched the remnants of his body go into a hole in the ground.

While there may be comfort in searching for explanations, there is no logical reason why human beings would do such a thing to one another. It simply does not make sense. I am overwhelmed by the pain the survivors must deal with everyday, and hope that those who recently buried their friends and relatives are able to find closure. My wish, like that of the organization I have the privilege to currently work with, is that there will never be another Srebrenica anywhere, ever again.

A woman waits for the remains of her loved one to be delivered at Potocari

It is easy to spot the former front-lines of the conflict as you drive out of Tuzla. One moment, everything appears normal, but then you drive through a small tunnel and are once again faced with one bombed-out, burned-down house after another. It does not take long to get from Tuzla to the Federation/Republika Srpska (RS) border. As we passed the “Welcome to Republika Srpska” sign, Beba pointed out a small village on our left.

This was the first village to have minority returnees (Bosniaks) to the RS following the war’s end. Returning home was, and continues to be, a courageous thing to do, especially in this former no-man’s land. Beba told us that these women used to joke that their chickens could much more easily go back and forth between the Federation and RS than they could.

We were soon in Zvornik and could see Serbia on the other side of the Drina River. After having driven by countless ruined homes next to sparkling new, foreign-financed mosques and churches, I was surprised to see what appeared to be a very old minaret standing. This mosque was not destroyed because it is on the Serbian side of the Drina in Mali Zvornik. When Yugoslavia existed, Zvornik was connected to its sister-city across the river. Today, you need a passport, and sometimes even a visa, simply to cross the bridge to the other side.

A mosque in Serbia - across the Drina River from Zvornik, BiH

In Kravica we passed the agricultural cooperative warehouses where over one-thousand men and boys were killed on the afternoon of July 13th. Last year, when a group of women went to place flowers at the entrance to the warehouses, they were detained by RS police and prevented from doing so. The women will try once again to commemorate their deceased relatives this year, but whether or not they will be allowed by the police to enter the Kravica warehouses is unknown.

Potocari somehow snuck up on me. I thought we were still in Bratunac when all of sudden Beba told me to look to the right and not the left. I was looking to the left because I had spotted the old DutchBat UN barracks at the Potocari battery factory and figured we must be close. Thousands of white and green graves extended from only a few feet from the road all the way up the hillside. Over 500 more people whose remains have been identified will be buried at Potocari this July 11th.

A Monument at the Potocari-Srebrenica Memorial Center

A grave at Potocari for a 14 year-old victim of the genocide

It was easy to see that international attention focuses on Potocari on July 11th only – there were perhaps five other visitors at the memorial. We walked around for a bit reading the different names and birth years. In many places you could tell that a father and son were buried side by side. Sometimes there was a space between them and Beba told us this usually means that their is another family member, maybe another son, or a grandfather, whose remains have not yet been identified.

We left Srebrenica and went on to a much more pleasant activity – a visit to Magbula!

Magbula Divovic lives on the side of a lovely hill overlooking Potocari. I had heard many stories about her from Beba and Iain Guest (AP’s Executive Director) and was excited to meet her. What I did not know about Magbula was that she grows almost every kind of fruit I have ever seen in her garden. In addition to the normal coffee and some delicious cake, we were offered raspberries, blackberries, plums, and cherries!

From L to R: Magbula Divovic, Beba Hadzic, and Alison Sluiter

You can tell from the instant you meet Magbula that she’s a very energetic lady. She hardly sat the whole time as she animatedly told Beba about her relatives, a carpet for her granddaughter which she is working on, and a recent delegation of Croat women who came to visit Potocari. It was a pleasure for me to meet Magbula, and I hope that someday soon there will be a BOSFAM branch in Srebrenica so that she won’t be all alone while weaving.

It had begun to pour and so our tour of the town of Srebrenica was not as extensive as it normally would have been. Beba drove us around to the school where she used to the work and showed us the street she grew up on. As a former teacher, Beba remembers when Srebrenica was a lively place, full of children. As we drove up and down Srebrenica’s main street, the city appeared dead. This may have been mostly due to the weather, but when I think of the current differences between Tuzla and Srebrenica, it is easy for me to understand why so many IDPs would prefer not to return to their former homes.

Two houses in Srebrenica: 1 abandoned, 1 restored

We returned to Tuzla through the downpour. After hydroplaning at least three times, Beba told me not to worry – she used to drive a UN Land Rover around during the war. I told her that she could drive however she liked in a Land Rover, but that I would prefer not to end up in the Drina! Needless to say, we made it back to Tuzla alright. I am sure my next visit to Srebrenica – for the July 11th commemoration – will be very different. However, I think it was important to see Potocari, and the town of Srebrenica, as they are most days of the year – gray, empty, and I fear, forgotten.

My days so far have been spent finding my way around Tuzla, visiting Srebrenica, and helping Beba with a few of the many issues the BOSFAM website has. We are updating the webshop and increasing BOSFAM’s presence on World of Good, an ebay-administered site for entrepreneurs directly involved in social justice initiatives. I will be sure to post the link for BOSFAM on my blog as soon as this is complete.

Another thing I’ve been working on is increasing communication between all AP partner organizations in the Balkans. To this end, I have been in frequent contact with Donna Harati and Simran Sachdev (volunteering with Women in Black in Belgrade, Serbia) and Tiffany Ommundsen (volunteering with the Kosova Women’s Network in Pristina, Kosova).

Donna is arriving by bus this evening and will travel to Vogosca-Sarajevo with us tomorrow. BOSFAM is presenting the Srebrenica Memorial Quilt project in Vogosca as part of the “Our Manifest: We Will Not Forget Srebrenica” program organized by the Municipality of Srebrenica, Association Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves, and Women of the Podrinje. All six AP Peace Fellows in the Balkans will meet up on July 11th at the memorial service in Potocari for the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica.

I spent three lovely days in Vienna recovering from jet-lag and catching up with my friend Morgan who has been teaching English there for the past year. Morgan helped me lug my massive backpack across town and back, and by Thursday evening, I was on the 6 PM bus to Tuzla.

The Heldenplatz in Vienna, Austria

As the only female passenger, the bus driver helpfully escorted me to the front seat of the bus. This way I could enjoy the TV blasting what appeared to be Bosnian MTV and the myriad cigarette breaks my co-travelers came to the front of the bus to take. Apparently on a non-smoking bus, you can just come sit on the bus steps and smoke away.

The first few hours of the trip were gorgeous as the bus made its way through the Voralpen (the smaller mountains prior to the Alps) and we were soon at the Slovenian border. The Slovenes get to enjoy all the benefits of being in both the European Union (EU) and the Schengen Zone, while other countries of the former Yugoslavia continue to deal with frustrating visa requirements (more on this later!) and border crossings. Croatia has seen such a tourism boom in the past few years that the border guard there did not even feel the need to examine, let alone stamp, my passport.

The bus lights came on as we were crossing the Sava River and I was awake to see the “Welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina” sign, shortly followed by a second sign welcoming me to the Republika Srpska. The Bosnian border guards were so interested in my passport that the bus unfortunately began driving before I got it back! This situation, however, was quickly remedied when I started to have a mild panic attack in the front seat. Don’t worry Mom and Dad – I have my passport!

There are two easy ways to tell that you’re in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) instead of one of the other countries in the Western Balkans. The first is that the road conditions deteriorate very quickly. It took over two hours to go less than 100 kilometers. The houses are the second sign. In many towns we drove through, every second or third home was completely destroyed, and most of the rest are still undergoing the process of renovation almost 15 years post-war. Even though I’ve been to BiH before, the amount of destruction is overwhelming to see and offers a stark reality check on the slow progress back to normalcy in this country.

I wrote in my first blog that Beba would be on time at the bus station. This would have been true had the bus not arrived an hour the arrival time printed on my ticket. Thanks Eurolines! In any case, we eventually found each other and by 5 AM I was in my new home above the BOSFAM office. More from Tuzla to follow soon…

“Alison, I’m waiting you! Why you no pick up me?”

Beba Hadzic, BOSFAM’s founder and director had arrived in the United States for a speaking tour jointly sponsored by The Advocacy Project (AP), The Heinrich Boell Foundation, and The Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina. My train from DC was more than an hour late and I wasn’t at the airport in Newark to greet her.

As I now piece together my own travel plans, I am sure that my arrival in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina will be quite different. Beba has already assured me that she will be standing at the Tuzla bus station the moment I get there. BOSFAM’s motto, “Don’t promise, DO SOMETHING!” leaves me feeling confident that I will not need to leave her a desperate voicemail in my broken Bosnian.

Although I’m not flying until June 15th, reminiscing about Beba’s time in the US has gotten me really excited about heading off to Bosnia. I’ll be working with Beba, my AP counterpart Kelsey, and the women of BOSFAM on a number of important projects which seek to generate income and provide psycho-social support for women who were displaced from their homes and traumatized by the war which occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995.

Many of the women were directly impacted by the genocide which occurred in Srebrenica in July 1995, and now must struggle to provide for themselves and their families without the support of their husbands, sons, fathers and brothers. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to work with these women this summer and hope that my contribution will have a positive impact on the difficult day to day realities they are confronted with.

This year marks the 14th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, but the wounds remain fresh given the tense political situation in the country and an unemployment rate of approximately 35%. Perhaps most importantly, Ratko Mladic, the commander of the Bosnian Serb paramilitary forces during the war and one of the chief architects of the genocide, remains at large. As an Advocacy Project Fellow for Peace, I will be working to raise awareness about BOSFAM’s important work both in-country and abroad through this blog and other mediums. I welcome your comments and suggestions, and a special thanks to my e-mentors for their support!

Take a look at the AP-produced YouTube video below for more information on BOSFAM’s work.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFKi3W7B_js