The sad and forgotten

I have only been here for a few days, but since coming to the small village of Sanski Most in Bosnia and Herzegovina I have experienced an array of emotions. Although the country has signed a peace treaty (the Dayton Accords) and violence has more or less ceased, tensions still remain very strong between the Serbian Republic and the Bosnian Federation. I have been told that the smallest act could easily reignite war.

Within the two federations, there are several “counties” that have individual leaders that act as heads of state for the counties. The international community drew these dividing lines up in an attempt to end the violence. However, these actions in fact ended up perpetuating the divisions. Furthermore, these divisions have not helped improve the state of democracy in the country. In the “county” where Sanski Most is located, there was only one candidate running in the election, which took place on Sunday. While voter turnout was around 67%, there is no party diversity.

Now a little bit about what I have been doing with Global Youth Connect:

Saturday and Sunday, the group took part in a peacebuilding workshop hosted by the GYC coordinator, Miki Jacevic, and a gentleman named Vahidin, founder of the Center for Peacebuilding located here in Sanski Most. The Center for Peacebuilding works to bring people from different sides together and help them work through their problems in order to prevent a repeat of the past war. It is truly remarkable that Vahidin is able to bring himself to work towards peace when he was once at a point where he wanted to kill a member from the other side.

In the workshop, the group participated in various activities. We explored stereotypes and generalizations, how they never apply to everyone within the categorization, and how even good stereotypes can sometimes be harmful.

We learned about retributive vs. restorative justice. Retributive justice occurs when the crime is committed against the states and occurs within the judicial system in a court with two lawyers conducting a due process trial. Meanwhile, restorative justice focuses on crimes committed against the individual. In restorative justice, the victim and the perpetrator remain at the center of the process as opposed to retributive justice where they remain on the periphery and lawyers do most of the talking.

We also played the “mafia” game. In the game, everyone is assigned a role as either citizen or a member of the mafia. The five members of the mafia know who is part of the mafia but the citizens have no idea. If the citizens cannot figure out who the mafia members are and send them away to be tried, the citizens risk their own lives and the lives of their families as the mafia members will attack them in the future. In our group, no one could agree on how to determine which of us belonged to the mafia. Some people were so frustrated that they left the room, some citizens volunteered themselves to be sent away even though they were not in fact members of the mafia, and some people completely decided that maybe there were in fact no mafia members and that the those who set the rules of the game were lying to instill these divisions in society and without due process, they refused to send people away. Ultimately, there was no answer. I’m sorry if that is confusing… I can also explain when I get home.

There were different verbal and non-verbal communication exercises. Something interesting that I took from the exercise was that in negotiations it is better to put two opposing sides next to each other as opposed to sitting across from each other. Sitting across from each other automatically sets up a non-verbally adversarial situation.

Last night, the group watched a film titled, “No Man’s Land” about two soldiers stuck in a trench together, one Serbian and the other Bosnian, during the Bosnian War. I highly recommend it for anyone interested. I guess the film was nominated for best foreign film at the academy awards in 2001. A powerful quote from the film, referring to the international community that chose to pursue neutrality and non-intervention during the war, states that you cannot not take sides in a situation where people are being slaughtered—non-intervening is in fact taking a side.

I also have a few comments on some of my initial reactions on the Bosnian people and the town of Sanski Most. It is not my intention to make any generalizations or stereotypes, but there are some observations I have noticed since arriving in Sanski Most on Friday evening. There is a sense that the people here have been forgotten and as I continue to learn how the international community has continually removed its aid to Bosnian organizations and how the international community was not present during the conflict, I understand why. There is also a sense of suppressed sadness. The people all want to move on with their lives, but they have been traumatized, almost irreparably. One of my groupmates is doing service work at an elderly home and there, a woman said that before the war, the Bosnian people lived to live and now they simply live to survive. While Bosnia is not a third world country, the people here are still very poor and there is an apparent struggle amongst them. As you walk through the village of Sanski Most, there is a heaviness and sense of loss within the community. I have never really experienced this sort of loss nor have I witnessed the effects. Little has been done to mend the wounds of postwar Bosnia and the world seems to have forgotten about the people here. Being here has truly made me appreciate the amazing life I have back at home.

That is pretty much all I have for now. I will try and post some pictures later tonight I am sorry this entry was so wordy and not as upbeat as I would hope. I guess I did not realize the heaviness that comes with visiting a postwar country with so much trauma and sadness.