Two weekends ago, our group traveled to the cities of Sarajevo and Mostar, which are in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I think Sarajevo has been my favorite city so far, outside of Budapest. It was such a diverse city in everything from religion to architecture. Sarajevo, well Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole, is predominately Muslim, with a large Christian population and a small Jewish population. I know that before the siege, the Sarajevans were known to be very peaceful, harmoniously living with neighbors and friends of other religious and ethnic groups. As an outsider, it feels that way now, nearly twenty years after the siege. I think we as humans, and as Americans, have a lot to learn from these people, especially about judgement, peace, and caring for one another.
Walking around Sarajevo and Mostar and learning about what happened in those cities and Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole was really eye-opening. We always here about the atrocities human beings do to each other, but learning about it and then seeing the direct effects is powerful. We learned and read books about the horror and brutality, about how the Serbians cut off electricity, water supply, and food from the Bosnians, about how no one was safe--men searching for clean water, kids playing outside, families in their own living rooms...all could be dead in an instant if they were unlucky enough to be chosen as a sniper's next target. We learned about the rest of the world turning their backs, pretending not to know enough so they wouldn't be blamed for letting this genocide continue. We then saw remains of shelled buildings, bullet holes in stores and on the streets, people missing limbs, and other physical and emotional scars. Walking through the cemetery you could see inhumanity of it all. The sheer number innocent lives snatched away. How can we do this to one another? We're all people, I pray that we never lose sight of that, of the sanctity of human life. Do we not see how precious each one of us is? Christ calls us to love one another, we cannot lose sight of God's love for us, and of the power love has.
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| Bullet holes in the street were filled with red cement after the siege in remembrance of those who lost their lives. |
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| Half of the city was built during the Ottoman Empire... |
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| ...and the other half during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. |
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| Just some old guys playing chess and smoking. |
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| THE BALKANS ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. |
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| THE bridge in Mostar...21m high and people jump off of it for money. Crazy! |
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| Delicious Bosnian coffee! |
