Almir Sends Us Some Sarajevo Greetings

John --

I will send you one very funny video clip by some musicions band call "Broken house"
funny already,  which performing song Sweet home Sarajevo in stead
Sweet home Alabama, on english ofcourse.
I am sure you will like it!

if is funny enough for you put it on your blog!

your friend Almir

[Fwd: Mars Mira]

Hi family!

 

Here are some photos and impressions from the march. I’m in Zenica staying with Mejra and Erma and all is well and I trust all is well at home. (It’s hot, but thankfully was not too hot during the march!)

 

About the march:

Dzile (in photo) was an escapee – along with about 5000 others who made it from Srebrenica during the massacre to Tuzla, an area controlled by the Bosnian army. The photo is in front of the house he was born in, also where his father was shot in the head, and where he now lives with his wife and three children.  It was when he was a refugee in Switzerland that he and a Swiss man first had the idea for the march, with the first march being in 2005 (following four previous, small marches in Switzerland).  His mother lives in Tuzla and rarely returns because of the memories.

 

The ‘Mars Mira’ or ‘Peace March’ commemorates the massacre of approximately 8.000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995, which was supposedly a UN safe haven being protected by Dutch UN forces.  The entire walk was in the Republika Srbska (sp?), that is, the Serbian half of BiH. The other half of the country is the Federation which consists of mostly Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and Bosnian Croats.  This is how the country was divided after the war with the Dayton Accord, actually awarding the aggressors, the Bosnian Serbs, with what they wanted and to this day continues to create an impossible situation regarding creating a unified society in the country.

 

The scenery was often breathtaking and always rural or in the forest, 110 kilometers total.  Parts of the march were difficult and on the first day I was not sure I could make it, but after that a rhythm developed and all was fine, although frequently challenging since it was mostly up or down.  Along the way there were several returnee houses offering kafa to marchers – as it turned out, the woman adjusting her sunglasses in the coffee photo was my traveling companion. She is the director of an intern/study abroad program for grad students from Colorado.  The photo of students includes her and Alison (with white scarf), who developed the Bosnian side of the program and arranged transport and accommodations for us. And so we did not stay in the overnight camps, but rather in homes along the way. Alison also helped Peter and I with the quilt project, having formerly worked for Bosfam.

 

There were few Americans on the walk. I met people from Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, UK, Canada and France, but mostly it was men, many of them young, from Bosnia. 

 

776 ‘bodies’ were buried this year; their remains being identified through DNA (60% of the remains must be identified before they can be buried, and some parts come from more than one grave since the bodies were moved to hide the evidence).  Hatidzah, my friend in Seattle and Abdullah’s wife, the Imam of the Seattle Bosniak community, found her father, brother, and brother-in-law this way, after DNA samples were taken from her and her mother. These are the most remains buried to date, with all victims identified during the year being buried at this annual commemoration. It was also the 15^th anniversary of the massacre.

 

The Prime Minister of Turkey, who has been doing a lot to smooth relations between Serbia and Bosnia, spoke at the memorial ceremony, as was Boris Tadic, the prime minister of Serbia (the parliament of Serbia officially apologized for the genocide recently). But what is important for the Bosniaks is that Ratko Mladic, who was the Bosnian Serb general responsible for this crime, be arrested. It is widely believed that he lives in Serbia.  Radovan Karadzidic, also a Bosnian Serb and who is largely responsible for planning the massacre, is currently on trial in the Hague. Some dignitaries arrived by helicopter. The US ambassador spoke. The Serb Republic sent a small delegation, but they still deny or completely downplay the entire affair. The media reported 50,000 people attended the memorial and I heard varying estimates on how many participated in the march –  one rumor was that 2,500 were officially registered with another 2,500 or so participating but not registered. (You can barely see the column of marchers in the one photo labeled as such.)

 

The walk and ceremony must certainly help the surviving families and Bosniaks in general to have closure, but any reconciliation will take generations. I feel fortunate that I was able to participate in this event – and that it went so well.

 

That’s enough for now – gotta get back to work!!

 

Love and hugs,

Julia/mom

 

ps -  including one last photo taken on the way to the airport!

 

Julia Tie-In

Julia just called from Sarajevo.  It was 1 in the morning and she had just arrived by van from the memorial in Srebrenica. She walked 110 kilometers through the mountains of Bosnia: 10 hours a day for  three days!  It was challenging she said but the aches were gone by end of the second day, although her backpack ended up making the journey by truck instead of by back.   Now she can relax a bit, regroup and visit with friends.

Lynne Says: Srebrenica Links

Lynne has been researching the Srebrenica commemorative march that Julia has been on the last 4 days.  Here's a couple of informative links that she has found and shared:

http://www.bim.ba/en/226/10/29348/

http://www.bim.ba/en/226/10/29352/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/10589614.stm

Julia: Bosnia

I arrived last night and got a good night's sleep! Almost all w/o incident - just one teeny baggage challenge that was resolved. Will go for a walk, do some shopping, phone calls, and work today, then off to Tuzla tomorrow. Erma got a scholarship - I'll tell you about it later. It's really great. Ermis and his girlfriend are planning to come to the film festival in Sarajevo...! Love, Julia

Sibila and Soon-to-be Hubby

(Note:  Sibila, Amir's cousin and our friend in Bosnia, has decided to specialize in pediatrics.)

"Paediatrics is something I never get tired of.. I enjoy being around children, I even enjoy in communication with parents and that is part which most people find very tiring because they get so overwhelmed with worry and can be really hard to calm them but I somehow manage to do it.

Your grandson is so cute!! :) and so are your son and daughter in law :)

Me and Nudžejm, my soon-to-be hubby :) ,  also like to walk in the mountains but unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share, we also like to ride bicycles in the mountains  which I enjoy even more though it is bit hard . . .

Please say hello to all members of your family and give Eason a kiss from me :)"

Julia Helps Remember Srebenica

This month and next Julia is helping display the "Srebrenica Quilt" here in Skagit County and down in Seattle.  The quilt was made by Bosnian women in remembrance of the 8,000 men and boys murdered in Srebenica by Serbian forces during the recent war.  You can see more about it here.  Julia will also be participating in the annual 4-day memorial march in Bosnia this July.

Annual Get-Together

Almir (our friend in Sarajevo) looking good with his daughter, Katrina on their annual get together in Pula this year. 

Almir Says: Ask Sarajevo

I hope that you have a grandson who is sweet and healthy, what means that you have a big reason
to celebrate.

Ermis Writes from Turkey

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It's cold here in Izmir now, it was about time for winter to show its
true face. But it's still very nice, clear and sunny, and I'd rather
spend all day outside with Senada, then stay at home and work.

Work is fine, although demanding. I can surely say that I learned
nothing at school (well, maybe just the basics of basics) that I can
put to full use in my work.  :)  I don't think I ever explained anything
- my job's title is systems administrator. The company I work for has hundreds of servers (database, video, web pages,
e-mail) that need to be constantly monitored and kept alive.

I work up to 12 hours a day. Although I work from home, it's not very
fun sitting at the computer for 5 straight hours. But I like what I
do, and I'm learning so much, so time passes by fairly quickly. My
boss expects me to participate as much as possible, since I need to
pick things up as fast as I can. Some of the guys that I work with,
who have been working together for over 5-6 years, stay online and
work for up to 15 hours. Don't want to ask about their social life.  :) 

Anyway, things are going pretty good. Me and my girlfriend Senada are
moving to a place of our own (still renting, but apartment should be
much nicer) right after New Year's. We're really looking forward to
it.

Julia's Apartment in Sarajevo

Saturday it's a hike with Zana and this other guy that speaks some English.
Sunday it's Visegrad with Mersiha and her cousin will drive - hooray! And
Peter will go - then Peter and I will go to Gorazde for the day on Monday.
Tuesday I have dinner with Amir - there's a veg restaurant somewhere. Then
Wed I get ready to go to Belgrade for the weekend, then Monday and Tues
nights before I leave I'll stay in Zagreb, as I mentioned.  Whew.

Oh - tonight it's dinner with Hatidiza's mom and sister and afterwards I'll
meet 'Irvan' - Almir's counsin that stayed in our place.

Happy Dan nezavisnosti

March 1, 1992. Bosnia-Herzegovina Independence Day.

Balkan Cabaret

Seattle's Balkan Cabaret with Mary Sherhart!

Gorgeous Bosnia Photos

Julia has posted some of her wonderful photographs of Bosnia, complete with descriptions. Find them here.

EVENING OF SEVDAH

Saturday night Julia had a large display of photographs at the First Annual 'Evening of Sevdah' in Seattle. This 'stecak' was one of them.

A review said: "What was readily apparent was the affection and commitment to this music from the excellent singers and instrumentalists . . ." (Click here for review)

And here's an example of Sevdah.

Leaving Sarajevo

. . .and just in time

Julia says

Here 's a photo from this absolutely amazing drive we made today – from Banja Luka to Jajce to Zenica and then to Sarajevo. It was so completely beautiful and inspiring….

Julia Says

Here are some photos from a walk today. Went with a woman from the Czech Embassy. That pinpoint on the hill in the first photo is that round tower on a hill above Sarajevo. (Slept all day yesterday!)

Julia Says

I was in a photo exhibit at the Bosnian Institute taking photos and backed into one of the displays and almost knocked it over – everyone looked at me, I practically yelled ‘’zao mi je” and then everyone ignored me like I was crazy. The next morning at breakfast I picked up a full pitcher of jogurt and the top wasn’t scewed on properly and the entire ‘jar’ or whatever you’d call it dropped and smashed on the floor spilling yogurt everywhere….

Julia says

Here a photo of ‘Kandilj’ where I’m staying in Sarajevo . . .