Hello to all blog-followers!  I have to apologize for a long delay in posting and wanted to let everyone know what I have been up to in Tuzla over the past few weeks.

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)!