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21.09.08
I feel so ignorant. I cannot believe I didn´t know any history about Bosnia. I can´t believe that the world does not understand what is going on this country. It has affected me in such a way that I feel I need to tell the world its sad story.
I will try to explain what I have learnt very briefly... It´s all fairly serious, hardkore stuff...
As you may know, Bosnia used to be part of the former Yugoslavia, a republic that encompassed not only Bosnia, but Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania. This is a republic that got along fairly well, the Catholic Croats, the Muslim Bosnians and all that´s in between living together peacefully. It was run peacefully until the president of Yugoslavia passed away leaving no successor to his position. This is when the Serbian Slobodan Milosevic took over Yugoslavia. However, he was not happy with the current state of Yugoslavia - he wanted to claim an area of Yugoslavia solely for the Serbian people, an area that would discriminate against all other nationalities of Yugoslavia (the Croats, Bosnias, Slovens, etc). This, and many other of his policies led to the break away of Croatia from Yugoslavia, which was then followed by Slovenia and a few years later, Bosnia broke away as well. Well, Slobodan Milosevic did not like this at all - after all, his empire was getting smaller! Why should he have less land that the former president of Yugoslavia?! The Yugoslavian army was made up of all races of Yugoslavia, but was primarily composed of 80% Serbians. So when Milosevic decided to invade Croatia to reclaim the land for the Serbian people, the Yugoslavian army was there to do his bidding. After about three months of attempted invasion, the Yugoslavian army pulled out of Croatia, defeated. They then attempted to invade Slovenia, but after a year of attempted invasion, they again pulled out defeated. Next on the list was Bosnia. Unlike Croatia or Slovenia, who had left Yugoslavia first and had created their own armies, Bosnia was pretty much defenseless - after all, it was their former army that was invading their country! Milosevic ´s Serbian army invaded Sarajevo (the capital of Bosnia) and much of Bosnia for four long years from 1991 to 1994, and eventually had partial success in claiming Bosnia for Serbia - the northern part of Bosnia is now unofficially known as the Republic of Serbsca, which was offered to the Serbs in order to get them to stop the war. The Serbian army tried their very best to destroy any history Bosnia had in order to try and break the people´s spirit and destroy their national identity. National libraries, museums, galleries, schools, and more were blown up and along with them went a large proportion of Bosnian history and culture. Before Serbia´s invasion on Sarajevo, Bosnia has a history of being invaded by other countries - Austria, Hungary, and Turkey have all at one point ruled Bosnia. There have only been brief periods in history where Bosnia was left to rule itself as an independent country.
After Serbia´s successfully invasion of Sarajevo, the Croats then decided to have a go! The city of Mostar had a high population of Croatians, and the Croats decided to try and claim Mostar and southern Bosnia as their own. Poor Mostar. Again, it was pretty much defenseless to the Croatian attacks. While Croatia was not as successful as the Serbs in claiming land for themselves, there is still a massive Croatian presence in Mostar, to the point where the Eastern side of the city is for the Croatians to live, and the Western side is for the Bosnians - call me crazy, but itsn´t this country called BOSNIA, not CROATIA or SERBIA???
So what is Bosnia like today? Bosnia is such a beautiful place. While I didn´t fall in love with the city of Mostar straight away (it still looks pretty rough), as soon as I started to learn the history of Bosnia, I fell in love. My heart goes out to this country. The Bosnia people have been stuck in the middle of this tug of war for their beautiful countryside, and yet they are some of the most beautiful, loving people I have ever met. While many of them were refugees of war or stuck it out in their homes for the duration of the war, they have still retained their Bosnian spirit - something which was described to me as similar to the ANZAC spirit. They are such forgiving people and hold very little resentment to what has happened. There are half destroyed buildings everywhere, architecture riddled with bullet holes all over the city, serving as a constant reminder of what they have all been through. But they don´t let it depress their spirit - they use it as a motivator to strive to make Bosnia the beautiful place that it once was and will once again be.
My introduction to Bosnia began in the formerly mentioned Mostar. I had arrived on an overnight bus at 2am in the morning - even at that very early hour the owner of my hostel Majda was insistent on picking me up to make sure I arrived safely! When we arrived at the hostel, Majda´s mum had made soup for us to have before we went to bed - how nice of her... but it was chicken soup... oh well. I ate it anyway, as she was being so lovely coming and picking me up, I didn´t want to just throw it back in her face. And it was surprisingly good! Desert was some traditional Turkish delight (drool).
Every time I told someone at a hostel I was going to Mostar, every single one of them said ´Stay at Majdas and do the day tour!´ - everyone raved about this tour, which was ran by Majda´s brother Bada. So on Sunday Bada, Andy (AUS), Louise (AUS), Michaela (AUS) and I set out on this famous tour, and had such an amazing time!
Bada is such an amazing guide! He´s about 30 years old, but he acts like he´s about eight. He loves bad 90´s dance music, and in true European responsible driving style, not only does he bang his head and flail his arms around to the music, but he swerves his car in time to the music as well - car dancing, he calls it! Even driving from destination to destination was amazing, just to see exactly how far across the middle line of the road he could ´car dance´ before we had car coming in the opposite direction baring down on us!
Bada was a refugee of war, about 19 years old when the war began in Mostar. Throughout the tour he shared with us his personal stories, but was always careful to say that it was only a Bosnian perspective, we should also try and hear what the Croatians and Serbians have to say about the war so we get the full picture. While relations between the Bosnians and Croats is not exactly ideal in Mostar, Bada was actually saved by Croatians and sent to Sweden during the war. A Croatian soldier was sent to his home (where Bada was hiding in the cupboard) to take him away from his family and possibly be killed. However, the soldier who was sent to his house actually went to school with Bada, and risked his life by telling his commanding officer that Bada was not at home when he had called. He was then escorted out of the country along with many other young Bosnian men in an Ambulance driven by Croatians, with a Catholic priest sitting in the front seat. When they approached the Bosnian border, the driver put on his lights and siren so they could get through the border check without any questions. Having the Catholic priest in the front seat was also a good plan - why would a Catholic Croatian priest help Muslim Bosnians escape the war? So, in actual fact, Bada owes his life to some Croatians.
Our first stop on the tour was this little abandoned village just outside of Mostar. It was built on the main road many centuries ago by the Turks centuries ago as a travelers guest house and retreat. But, they had not built it in goodwill - they used it as a way to spy on the Bosnias, and to listen in on their conversations regarding politics and other current affairs. They would allow travelers to stay there in a kind of hostel, and would give them coffee and food, and would encourage them to share their stories with each other, while the Turks listened in and used the information to their advantage. The village had been partly destroyed during the war (especially the Muslim mosque), and now only three families live there. We were lucky enough to share a home made lunch with one of these families, donating to them some money for their hospitality.
Next stop was Kravice waterfalls, which were described by Bada as ´The Niagara of Bosnia!´ - not quite, but still very beautiful. We had all bought our togs with us, but upon feeling the water we had decided that it was far to cold to swim (go to your freezer, put some ice cubes in a glass with some water and stick your finger in - that cold!). Bada, however, had other ideas. We had to swim. ´How many times will you have the opportunity to swim in Niagara falls?? Get in!´ - so we did. And I couldn´t feel my bottom afterwards (it felt like it had fallen off about ten metres ago...). There was a rope swing a little way down the river, and considering we were already numb from our first swim we thought, why the hell not, and jumped of that too (me squealing continuously from when my feet left the ground to when my non-existent butt hit the water). We than warmed ourselves up by playing a ´friendly´ game of soccer in the sun. My team won, of course, but Bada refused to acknowledge two of our goals, meaning that the score ended up five to four in favour of Bada´s team. Sore losers - HA! Michaela unfortunately injured her big toe, and we ended up in a Bosnian hospital later that night for X-rays (how exciting!).
The rest of the afternoon was spent driving around the countryside, stopping now and then for Bada to explain things to us and to share more stories. It was seriously the best and most informative tour I have ever taken part in. Bada took us to a beautiful restaurant for dinner that night, and afterwards we visited a traditional Muslim dervish house, where Muslims come for gatherings and prayer. Louise and I had to wear scarves to cover our heads before we were allowed in. Bada and I talked about the representation of women in Muslim culture, how it seems like they are considered lesser people than men. Bada told me that it is quite the opposite, that it may seem like that from the outside, but that women are so highly exalted in Muslim culture and are protected at all times. In Muslim mosques, the women are seated on a high platform above the general floor where the men sit, not because they are not worthy to sit with them, but that Muslim women are so beautiful they don´t want them distracting the men while they pray. Also, it is significant that the women are to pray on a raised platform, almost like they are queens of the mosque, raised high above the mere men. Bada also told me that there is a traditional saying that in a family the woman is three pillars, while the man is only one - you can take out the man´s pillar and be left with three, meaning that the family will still stand up strong. I feel like Western cultures are too quick to judge other cultures for their ways - it´s people like Bada that are helping to set the record straight.
The dervish house we visited was set almost inside this massive cave on the side of the mountain, meaning that it was well protected during the recent war. Which is such a great thing, because it would be a tragedy to lose such a beautiful and special place of worship (you have to see my photos to understand what I mean about the cave - unfortunately I couldn´t take any photos inside the actual dervish).
Afterwards we took Michaela to the hospital to get X-rays of her foot to make sure she hadn´t broken anything from playing soccer. Bada told us that a few years ago his uncle was very sick with what they suspected was cancer. They took him to a hospital in Mostar, where he had to fill out the usual paperwork to be admitted. Once the hospital administration saw what side of town his uncle lived on (the Muslim side), the hospital refused him treatment, knowing that this man would die without it. And he did die, as there were no other hospitals in Mostar that could help him. Today, Michaela got those X-rays taken so quickly (much quicker than the Royal Brisbane Hospital) and for free - we were in and out of there in about half an hour.
All over Mostar you can see buildings that are either half destroyed from bombs, or are absolutely littered with bullet holes from snipers. I asked Bada why those buildings still stood in their place, and didn´t it make him sad every time he looked at them? He said that firstly, the people of Mostar simply don´t have the money to tear down the buildings and build new ones - they are simply happy to have a home to live in, even if it is scattered with bullet holes. Secondly, he said that the buildings serve as a reminder to not get complacent about what has happened - while we all need to learn to forgive, it is important not to forget the bad things that have happened, so that they never happen again. I felt like crying every time I looked at these buildings, to think of the people who had fallen lifeless on from of them, victims of snipers and other artillery.
But don´t get me wrong - Mostar is still a beautiful place. Its rivers, its old town, its traditional buildings (those that have survived) and more importantly its people make it a very important place to visit.
Something else that really got to me is seeing the Croatian flag flying everywhere around Mostar - it´s like they´re marking their territory or something equally as stupid. This is BOSNIA, not CROATIA! It makes me sick to think I spent two weeks of my money in Croatia, a country that destroyed this beautiful town, and has inflicted so much pain and suffering on this country as recently as 15 years ago. While England still is the ruler of Australia, I would be pissed if they started flying the British flag everywhere, and I suppose technically they could! When will Bosnia be allowed to be its own country, and not be ruled by other countries who think they own the place? Did you know that Bosnia has three presidents elected at one time? One Bosnian, on Croatian and one Serb, and they all take it in turns of eight months each to rule the country. How ridiculous. It makes it so difficult to make any decisions or effect any lasting change before the next government takes it all away.
Before I left Mostar on my way to Sarajevo, I picked up a book on Bosnian history at the local bookshop. I am definitely a geography girl - I studied it for four years in high school instead of history. But Bosnia has just gotten to me. I need to understand why all of these horrible things keep happening to such a beautiful country.
So that was Mostar. I´m sorry this was such a serious blog, but I really needed to tell someone about what I learnt, because I think it is so important that people know and understand the situation in Bosnia. It is definitely a safe place to visit - foreigners are well looked after in Bosnia, and I have never felt more safe while traveling than when I was in Bosnia. It was also the least touristy place I have been to, something which made my experiences here so much more enjoyable.
Talk to you soon!
Love Hayley x
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