My Journey to Sarajevo

Dear friends, colleagues and family members,

During the weekend of the 16 to 18 November, I decided to join the SOU organisation, an organisation for international students in Ljubljana, for a weekend trip to Sarajevo.  I needed to visit both the Bosnian and Croatian embassies, in order to establish if my Slovenian visa would allow me to visit their countries.  To my delight, with my national D Slovenian visa, I am able to stay in Bosnia for up to a week and in Croatia until the 31 December 2012, when visa regulations might possibly change. The trip consisted of 50 students from various parts of Europe and the bus departed at 1 am on Thursday morning, for the Bosnian-Croatian border.  Most of the students were asleep for the duration of the journey, and I remember is being extremely annoyed at being woken up by guards at the borders requesting my passport.

We arrived in Sarajevo around 10 am, on Friday morning, and met with a local tour guide, who immediately began the tour.  The guide first pointed out the area where the Ottomans held government activities, and the Emperors mosque which is the first single dome mosque in Bosnia. As we moved across to the Latin bridge, he explained that this was the site where Ferdinand and Sophia, from Austria were assassinated thereby leading to World War I.  There is a museum at the corner of the street, explaining this incident.  Near this museum, the guide pointed out the national library, a beautifully designed cream and orange building with oriental features, and where two million books were destroyed in the 1993 bomb attacks.  The library is still under construction, and there is hope that it will still be used for the purposes of a library.

Thereafter, we walked to the Bascarija (bash sha sha) area where we were taken to the Old Cathedral, Jesus's Hearth Cathedral (the only Cathedral to be named after Jesus) and the Ghazi Husrav Bey Mosque (one of the main mosques in the area built by the sultan). Here in the mosque yard, one can see the main fountain, originally built for ablution facilities, but now, separate facilities exist on the far right hand side.  This fountain has been rebuilt with wooden panels for support, and inside, poetic verses by Omar Khayyam can be seen.

Since it was around 11 am, I witnessed the Muezzin climbing to a balcony on the single minaret, and calling Muslims to the Friday prayer, and unfortunately that signalled an end to the visiting hours, so I was unable to enter the mosque.  Opposite the mosque, a library still exists which was built by this governor for the purposes of learning.  This governor, during the Ottoman Empire, invested money in art, literature, philosophy and buildings, and built certain buildings only for the purposes of rent collection.  Rents collected from these buildings are still being used towards the improvement in the community.  This corresponds with a saying of his, where he states that the best of charity deeds is that which is continuous. “Good deeds drive away evil, and one of the most worthy of good deeds is the act of charity, and the most worthy act of charity is one which lasts forever. Of all charitable deeds, the most beautiful is one that continually renews itself.”

Next to the mosque are 2 smaller hexagonal shaped buildings which house the tomb of Ghazi Hurev Bey and a smaller building with the tomb of Murad Beg.  According to literature, Ghazi met Murad Beg in a battle, helped him, and this resulted in him converting to Islam (a freed prisoner of war).  I returned to the centre later that day to tour the area, to taste the local cuisine of Burek and to experience the atmosphere.  In the mosque area, there is also tower with a clock, called the Sahat Kula, which is the only clock in the world that operates according to the lunar calendar.  Mosques in Bosnia are characterized by a single dome and one minaret, so when I saw a single minaret (pillar) and a dome, I knew that a mosque lay there.

The following day we travelled by bus to Mostar and the journey was 2.5 hours, and we were only allowed 90 minutes to tour the area.  The bus passed the Emerald River, lakes and picturesque Bosnian territory, and now I can understand why this is said to be one of the most scenic parts of Bosnia.  The mountains against the emerald waters along with tranquil reflections formed a little piece of heaven and I can only but envy the people that live there.   You also see lovely houses with upside down V roofs, for the snowfall, people tending to their sheep, goats, and gardens, and it is hard not to notice piles of logs next to houses and under verandas, in preparation for the upcoming winter. We passed smaller towns on the way to Mostar, and the guide pointed out certain bridges and buildings that were damaged in the world wars.

When we arrived in Mostar, we were met with beautiful buildings known to be schools, and we were allowed to explore the area of the bridge on our own.  The old bridge of Mostar, that is now known as a UNESCO World Heritage site was originally built by the Ottoman Empire, and purposefully bombed by Croatia in the 1993 war.  However, it has since been rebuilt to its original form, and on either side of the bridge you can find restaurants, museums and tourist shops. In the 90 minutes that we were allowed to wander off, I looked at the local mosques and bazaars, wandered into tourist offices, bought a few magnets, postcards and souvenirs.  Although we were advised to visit the local free museums, due to it being a Sunday, they were unfortunately closed.  The town came across to me as a simple and quaint community that thrived on its own farming and tourist activities.

  The next day, our final day, we were taken to the Tunnel Museum, where an 800 metre tunnel was built over 4 months, and which ran underneath the railway.  This tunnel was used to transport food and medicine during the 1992 war, and was only 1.6 m high and 1 metre wide. In this museum, we were allowed to walk through a passage similar to that of the tunnel and we were shown a video about the 1992 war.

Thereafter, we were taken to the valley of the snipers, from which point the snipers positioned themselves and attacked the city.  From this position, you could get a clear view of the city, and it is disturbing to note that snipers were paid for each person that was shot.  There are also reports that snipers simply shot at people for gaming purposes. We also passed very large cemeteries that reveal the community of Bosnia, Jews, Christians and Muslims, and one can help but feel the painful echoes of the 1992 war.

What struck me during this journey, is that as the tour guide spoke to us about the war and the tunnel, he also referred to himself and said that we, the people in Sarajevo, we talk about the 1993 war.  Yes, we talk about it every single day, as it has formed a part of our lives, a part that we will never forget.  He said that his neighbour had lost her aunt who was standing next to her waiting in a queue for bread when struck by a sniper.  He also said that she still has shrapnel in her leg, but that they choose to look at the good things that the war brought along with it.  He said that the war caused people to unite and to overlook each other’s differences.  Parents accepted their children regardless if they were homosexual or not, as long as they were still with them.  He explained that people grew more tolerant of each other, and that is what he exclaims they choose to remember about the war.  Yes, it was a painful time, and many people lost their lives and others, loved ones, and he added a verse from the Quran that says that people should not speak of people that they are dead, but that they are still alive, it’s just that we cannot see them.

Yes, so my trip to Sarajevo was a very touching experience, and as you walk through the streets, and see the Bosnian roses in the ground (marks left by bombs) and the sight of destructed buildings, you can't help but feel the echo and pain of the war.  But you also see human strength in the manner people have picked themselves up, harnessed strengths, learnt to work with and accept each other, and how religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism exist in harmony with each other. Moreover, I felt the values of simplicity and humility that accompanied these people. 

But before I end, I shared a story with the bus on "Bosnia's Romeo and Juliet" (Admira and Bosko).  Both were 25 year old lovers, Admira being Muslim and Bosko being Serbian, wanted to flee Sarajevo with dreams of a free life.  Now, I seem to have provided you a lot of information, so you can follow this link and read the rest of the story http://www.angelfire.com/il/fannster/story.html.  It was one of the most emotional stories that I have read in a while, and you can also see images on the web.

But for now, thank you for lending me your ears and eyes, and I hope that you have enjoyed my stories from abroad.

Regards

Rizwana

 Bosnia's Romeo and Juliet ~

 No two people have more exemplified the tragedy of the

civil war in Bosnia, than 25-year-old sweethearts

Bosko Brkic and Admira Ismic. The only impediment

to their love was living in a country who's people are

divided solely on the basis of ethnic heritage. For

Bosko, a Serb, and Admira, a Muslim, the love they once

expressed only for each other was forced to become a secret.

The couple, who had been dating for seven years, since

high school, were both chemistry students at the University

of Sarajevo. Bosko remained in the city to be with Admira

despite his families flight from the blood shed. Finally,in the

spring of 1993, Admira choose to reward Bosko for staying

behind by fleeing Sarajevo with him to Serb territory.

They knew their escape would be a dangerous one. To get to

the Serb side they had to cross the Vrbanja bridge, the front

line between Bosnian Serb and Muslim Forces. While most who

wished to flee the city dared not risk the sniper fire, some had

successfully crossed over. On the day of their planned escape,

carrying two bags, Bosko and Admira approached the

government soldiers on the Bosnian side of "no mans land".

They asked the soldiers to let them try an escape,

and the police snipers assented.

The young lovers began running as fast as they could across

the bridge. They had almost reached the Serb side when snipers

opened fire. The machine gun fire came so rapidly that the couple

had no chance to seek cover. Bosko was killed instantly, his body

laying twisted on the ground. Mortally wounded, Admira crawled the

few feet to her lover and wrapped her arm around him before she died.

An ironic twist to the story of two peoples love that transcended

a countries war, both the Serbs and Muslims staked claims to

the bodies. As the two sides argued about who would have them,

Bosko's and Admira's bodies lay intertwined on the bridge.

"The world must know about this", said Bosko's mother, Radmila,

from the Serb side. "This can not last forever, the Muslims

and the Serbs.They can not fight forever."

Radmila gave permission to Admira's father to bury her sons body

on the Muslim side. She had but one stipulation. "I don't want

them separated", she said

(graciously taken from Dini Von Mueffling's In Love and War)