Friday 23 April 2010:
Since we arrived a day later than planned due to the delayed trains in Germany on our way to Bosnia, the program of Monday was cancelled. This day we should have visited the UNDP, the history- and Tito museum and the UNHCR. Of course we did not have time to catch up with this entire program, but the committee of the trip fortunately managed to squeeze in an appointment with the UNHCR into the program of Friday. So on Friday-morning we were warmly welcomed in the office of the UNHRC of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The lecture they gave was extremely interesting to us. This interest however, seemed to be likewise, since they were surprised by our preparation to the trip (and information we collected during the trip) and they were happy to answer all of our questions. The UNHCR is the United Nations refugee agency, which has been active in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1993. Their focus lays on seeking durable solutions for refugees and IDP’s with the government and to facilitate the return and reintegration of the refugees and IDP’s. The extreme difficulty of refugees returning to their homes, was emphasized by the UNHCR. Returning is such a problem because of the shifts of ethnic populations and therefore shifts of majorities and minorities in certain areas. Many refugees and IDP’s have ended up in collective centers and still live there, after fifteen years, under horrible conditions. The tasks of the UNHCR are further challenged by other problems like corruption, problems with authorities and the poor economic situation. The huge problems the UNHCR still deals with every day struck me and many of us. The people of the UNHCR admitted that their tasks were not to be completed anytime soon, but to see their optimism and devotion to work hard for a better future of the country was truly inspiring.
After this enlightening lecture, it was time for us to do some souvenir-shopping in the beautiful city centre of Sarajevo. In the meantime some of us were visiting the tunnel-museum, which was officially on the schedule for this day. However, this visit could also be exchanged for a city tour guided by Arijan, the son of the hosts of the hostel. His tour was both very interesting and amusing, showing a personal view of a Sarajevo citizen on the city. During the tour Arijan showed us, among others, the multiculturalism of Sarajevo the way he experiences it. Mosques, churches (both catholic and orthodox) and even synagogues all peacefully in the close proximity of the city centre of Sarajevo. As a contrast he showed us the ‘roses of Sarajevo’, which are red plastic drops in the streets of Sarajevo, as symbols for the blood of the people that died during the siege of the city. The red symbols should not only be seen as memorials, but also as warning signs for what has happened in the past. During the tour Arijen also told us some interesting things about the, unfortunately still way too many, broken and shattered buildings all across town and across the entire country. The reason why some buildings are rebuild and others are not, is, next to the lack of money, that the government cannot come to decisions and agreements to fix the government-buildings. This is why many privately-owned buildings in the city are repaired and the government-buildings are not, after fifteen years of peace. Personally, this sight of the destroyed buildings and the story behind it, really got to me. They stood there as references to the war and perhaps like symbols for the difficult situation in the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina today. On the other side there is the great optimism of some of the Bosnian people we met, like Arijan himself. The faith and devotion to build on a better future for the country of people like Arijan was just as beautiful as the city of Sarajevo and the country as a whole.
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Hello all,
Today took a day trip Mostar. On the about 3 hour busride there, I experienced some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The beautiful landscapes made the 3 hour trip go by a lot quicker than most 3 hour class trip bus rides go. The only parallel we could think of on the bus was the beautiful landscapes that are prevalent in the Lord of the Rings movies, but in my opinion the Bosnia countryside tops even the most beautiful of movie landscapes.
The first place we visited today was the Nansen Dialogue Centre. It is a NGO that encourages democratic practices and promotes dialogue among different ethnic, religious, political and interest groups,as a tool for prevention and resolution of conflict in Mostar and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We attended a lecture for a representative of the group who informed us to more in-depth details on the exact projects of the group and the problems of Mostar and the surrouding area. One of the most surprising stories that the presented told, in my opinion, was a story told about how football matches between rival Croat and Bosniack teams,in the post war climate, caused rifts in the still ethnically divided city. It was very shocking for me to hear that sports can have such an effect on seemingly much larger and way more serious problems. It really put the post-war climate in the region in very understandable terms.
After visiting the Nansen Dialogue Centre, we had some time to walk around the old town of Mostar. While visually, it was stunning to a new level that I have never experienced before in person, but it was kind of disappointing to see the wealth of tourist trap shops all around the old town of Mostar. It is understandable that the people of Mostar would want to capitalize on the tourist interest in their city, but at times it felt almost explotative with the selling of bullet casings and any other war memorabilia as souviners for tourists. At the same time around the city, there were multiple spray painted messages saying things like Dont Forget 1993. This odd juxtaposition made Mostar a very unique place to visit.
The final place we visited was the OSCE or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. There we attended a talk from one of the employees about the various projects that the OSCE had ongoing in the Mostar region. The projects included everything from education awareness to election help to municipality help. It was a very imformative talk after a long day of travelling.
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After the hard day at Sebrenica it was finally the time to meet the Bosian students of Sarajevo. We were very exited to meet the young and educated people of Bosnia. Nine o clock, early but all fresh. We were invited at the University by the centre for Human Rights and Democracy and the Bitish Council. Mariana Hadzijusufovic, the coordinater of the study centre for Human Rights and Democracy in South East Europe first told us about the very interesting masters of the University. It could be a nice possibility to return to this county for a hole year!
After this we had a warm welcome by the British Council, the cultural relations organisation of the UK who tries to achieve more mutual understanding and trust between the different cultural groups. With the Council we spent the rest of morning trying to understand the difficulties Bosnia and Herzegovina faces in conflict resolution. The contribution of theenthousiatic young students, like Yasmin from Bosnia and Danyiel from Serbia, was very helpful. It was time for coffee.
After a break filled with etremely sugared coffee and some genuine intermingling we headed for the second fase of the day at the university. ״We all know the Bosnian Serb Army perpatrated genocide״, with this firm statement Hasan Nuhanovic started his intresting plead for justice for the Sebrenica victims. Nuhanovic himself worked as a translater for Dutchbat during the genocide, saw his whole family being killed and is one of the few Bosniaks who lives to tell the story. His message was clear: there were very severe faults made by the UN and the Dutch are to blame. It was a hard and confronting story, not only he blamed us as predominantlty Dutch but also because he told us a new perspective with facts we cant deny.
Time for lunch. After lunch we had a panel of two students, two representitives of NGOs and a UN volunteer. With both the insight of Bosnians and these ׳inside outsiders׳- not raised in the country-, and our input of questions we gained a good impression of life in Bosnia both during and after war. With this last session we ended the really interesting workshops and left the building with many new insights and even more questions.
After this intense day we had time to relax: visit the city, talk with locals and enjoy Sarajavo. Dining in a restaurant with an amazing view over this beautiful city we ended another inspiring day.
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Today we visited the Potocari memorial for the victims of the Srebrenica genocide. It took us a few hours to get there by bus, and when we did I was faced in the other direction and still not quite awake. Looking around for signs of confirmation that this was Srebrenica, the 3749 clear white grave monuments really caught me off my guard. I was shocked, in spite of all I had read and heard about this place.
Hasan, our guide, let us wander around for a couple of minutes before starting the tour. In the middle there was an open mosque, in a circle around that there were white tabloids with the names of the victims sorted alphabetically by last name. Some surnames had suffered around 50 casualties in 1995. As a member of a large family I tried to imagine what it would mean if one of those surnames were mine. Luckily, I could ban that thought from my mind very quickly.
Outside those tabloids there were fields of white. It was hard to imagine that every one of the white square columns represented one person. Yet the sight of the empty, dandelion-covered fields reserved for those who have yet to be identified and buried were equally impressive.
Under the roof of the open mosque Hasan told us in more detail the story of Srebrenica, his survival, the process of identification and the development of the memorial centre. In the small exhibition hall we saw pictures of the excavation of mass graves, the identification of bodies and the mass funerals. Although I had heard the majority of the information in the preparing lectures, hearing it from a real person who had seen and lived this history lesson filled me with the same feelings I had had when I first started learning about Srebrenica: sorrow, disbelief and shame.
Crossing the road, we then entered the battery factory where the Dutch troops had allowed 5000-6000 wounded Bosniaks and women with babies to stay for two days and two nights before handing them over to the Serbs. The large room was predominantly empty, apart from one or two pieces of machinery from the battery era and two ‘black boxes’ in the centre. On the walls there were photos and information on the siege of Srebrenica. The photo showing Bosniaks looking for food in the UNPROFOR garbage filled me with shame. The Serbs had not allowed food transports into Srebrenica, but the Dutch troops had enough food to throw part of it away. In the first black box a documentary was shown, which we were to see later on. In the second there were personal effects on display, recovered from mass graves.
We visited the Dutch headquarters and inspected the graffiti the Dutch soldiers had left on the wall. I did not know what to think of this. On the one hand I understood the Bosnian frustration and disappointment with the Dutch actions. On the other hand I could not help but feel pity for this small group of young soldiers sent on an impossible mission and blamed by so many for crimes that they certainly not commit and could probably not have prevented. There where 450 Dutch soldiers to protect 25000 Bosniaks against an unknown number of Serbian troops, with no back-up, insufficient arms and a faulty mandate.
We ended the tour with a short documentary on the genocide. It included various eyewitness accounts, telling a story which was, and I can’t think of any other word to describe this, simply gut-wrenching.
All in all it was a very confronting day and a highly intense experience. I really hope the memorial will be able to achieve all the goals it has said for its future, and that Hasan was right in stating that by coming to Srebrenica, we had already done a great deal for the prevention of future genocides.
Alwine van Aarle
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Dear all,
After 54 hours of travelling, instead of the 30 hours that we anticipated we have finally arrived in Sarajevo. We are currently at a hostel that is run by most likely the nicest family in the whole of Sarajevo. The man is from Sarajevo (Bosniak), the woman is from Kosovo and they have the nicest son who is a first year tourism student. They picked us up from the station, kindly guided us to the hostel and we are currently in the living room talking about Bosnian, better yet, Balkan culture. However we have only just met the people, the war, and ethnic diversity are a leading topic. We were given war granades and bomb shells that were thrown close to their house. Also the bullet holes in the walls of the buildings are quite apparent. Instead of thinking that it might be very difficult to start this conversation on the war, and what has happened, I personally have the feeling it is coming right at me too fast. As I am typing this, we are engaged in a discussion about the war, I did not expect this to happen so fast, and go so easy. I think this trip will be a lot to take in, but if the hospitality of the rest of the country is already half as present as within this family, I think we will be fine!
Quote from the kind lady of the hostel:
«But we are one people and we come from one God»
Take care,
Marco Lambooij
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Dear all,
I bet many of you did not expect me to update this blog on a Saturday evening, the same way I did not expect to be in a hotel in Nuremberg.
We were well on our way to Frankfurt where we would have to change to get to Munich from which we would take the night train to Zagreb. However during our wonderful ride along the river Rhine we heard that all the tracks in Germany were terrible diverted and delayed. We would have a delayed train to Munich, but still able to get on the night train to Zagreb. At least, so we were told. During this long train ride it became clear that we would not be able to make it on time to Munich. It turned out we would not be going to Munich at all (by this time the train had a delay of 130 minutes), all traffic going in Munich was requested to unload the passengers at Nuremberg. Here we would receive a hotel and an alternative travel plan. Saying this is “unfortunate” would be a very soft description of what escaped our mouths. So we are going to Sarajevo via Budapest tomorrow.
It is very late now, many of us are already asleep. Corrine and I will go after the tickets tomorrow, while the rest of the group will most likely have an extra day in Nuremberg. The Monday-program has already been cancelled, because we will get to Sarajevo Monday evening. This has been quite an experience already and we have only crossed one boarder…
I am going to enjoy my 6 hours of sleep, will hopefully update again from Sarajevo Monday evening!
Take care,
Marco Lambooij
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Dear all,
We are by this time all hopefully packed and excited to go to Bosnia tomorrow by train! We will leave from Utrecht Centraal around 3 pm, and will arrive in Sarajevo around 9 pm the next day (Sunday). Be sure to follow us, as we start with some interesting visits to the UN and hopefully some wonderful first impressions of Sarajevo on Monday!
Take care,
Marco Lambooij
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