The Future of Bosnia

Over the past few weeks I have been talking with a lot of people about the war and the future of Bosnia. Their is a huge difference in the perceptions of old and young people. Everyone here thinks that war is awful, but the older people in particular think that war is the greatest evil. Having lived through the war as adults and having lost so many people, they are desperate to keep war from happening again.

Younger people, on the other hand, seem to think that war will happen again within a few years. One of my friends said it was inevitable because of the hatred that still exists. He was very young during the war (he talks about playing a game in which he and his friends would run to see who could pick up shells the fastest after they exploded because he was too young to be afraid) but he says that people who lost their entire family during the war hate all people of other ethnic groups. The easiest way to tell which people are of which descent by their names, and he says that many of his friends will hate someone as soon as they hear his name. He asks how you can blame those people for judging people by their name and background, when name and background where the only reason their family members were killed.

Another friend tells me that it doesnt matter what people think - it is the government and authority figures that want another war. Ordinary people cannot prevent it. There is a lot of corruption in Bosnias government (I will talk about it in another post), so that attitude is understandable.

Living in Mostar makes the possibility of war seem very real. Mostar is essentially two cities in one - there is a Bosniak (Muslim) side and a Croatian (Catholic) side. It is very dangerous for males in particular from one side to go to the other. I have never even been to the other side. Aldin took us to the unofficial but very real border, but we did not go further. The other side is beautiful, so we are planning to go this week either with Alisa or with Aldin. If Aldin takes us he will only speak English (so they wont hear his accent) and we will call him Cory (his nickname, since his last name is Čoralić). I knew that both sides were divided, but not how rare it was for people to visit the other side.

The first day we were here, Velež, the football team from the Muslim side of town, was playing the team from the Croatian side of town in the Croatian stadium. One of the kids from the orphanage was the ballboy for the game. Someone threw a stick of dynamite onto the field (to try to hurt the Muslim players). Ilija (the boy from the orphanage) thought that it was a sparkler and picked it up to throw it away. It exploded as he was throwing it. He has serious burns all over his hand and he may lose part of his thumb and one finger. He is a really good goalie, and was counting on playing soccer as an adult, and the damage may prevent him from doing that.

Bosnians vary in their expectations of the future. Some are hopeful and some pessimistic. Despite the negatives I have seen, the positive change I have seen in the three years I have been coming here have made me hopeful. I think the work we do makes a difference, that young people are realizing that peoples names and ethnicities does not determine their worth as people.