Srebrenica, a scarred city
Trip Start
Apr 19, 2008
1
6
Trip End
May 03, 2008
Srebrenica,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
In Sarajevo I still had to find a room. Luckily I met the owner of Hostel Posillipo, Salem, one week earlier. So I knew where to go. His hostel is located almost right on Bascarsija's pigeon square, in the center of Sarajevo. He found me a nice guy and he really liked a girlfriend of mine who visited his hostel one year earlier. So I got a free night. Bosnia! :)
The next morning I got up really early to catch the bus to Srebrenica. There are three buses each day. One goes from the main bus station in Sarajevo. It departs at 7:10AM. There are also two buses which depart from the eastern bus station in the Serbian outskirts of Sarajevo
Sebrenica lays in a valley
. They depart at 8:40 and 15:30. It is about a 30min drive to get there. I didn't really want to look for it, so I just took tram line 1 from Bascarsija and ended up on the main bus/train station within 10 minutes.On the bus station I met some teenagers who told me they were born in Srebrenica. I got into a talk with them. As soon as I mentioned I was from Holland the first thing I heard... "They fucked us!" "The Dutch soldiers were cowards!" I tried to relative things a bit by saying that "I don't think it is the soldiers you should blame, but instead the government and NATO who have definitely failed." I told them about the work I was going to do in Srebrenica. "I will be fixing a school there and helping children. Together with 100 other Dutch people" They started to like me and in the end wished me good luck. I told them the same. Once again I heard the same stories. They were living a happy life in Srebrenica, but once war came everything got screwed. Nowadays they wander around on the streets of Sarajevo. No work, not much money and I had the impression they did not really have a 'home' as well....
The ticket to Srebrenica cost about 23KM, one way, which is about 12 Euro. Pretty expensive for Bosnia. The trip takes about four hours. I took a bus from Sarajevo to Travnik, costs 15KM. The bus trip from Travnik to Mostar cost about 25KM. All trips take up to 4 hours, but still.... Bus travels in Holland seem to be cheaper. I can buy a bus card for 7 Euro, which is valid for about two-three hours.
When Azra and the other people told me their monthly wage is about 300-400KM, (~200 euro) I start to wonder again how the Bosnian people can pay all this
Just at the top right you will see the old town
. Not much time to investigate. I conclude the prices seem to be the same as in Holland, but instead the Bosnian people have much less wage a month......I just love how the Bosnian bus system works. There seems to be a stop everywhere. In Holland we have fixed bus stops and if you are too late the bus driver will just move on. In the worst case he will pull his middle finger. If you see a Bosnian bus you can just wave 'Hey, I want to get on' and he will stop! COOL. :)
When I arrived in Srebrenica I immediately noticed things aren't really fixed up yet. After wandering around a bit I concluded "ok, this city looks like shit". The landscape and nature are absolutely fantastic. It is one of the nicest I have seen in Bosnia so far. The city is located in a valley and completely surrounded by mountains. Basically there is just one street, so it is easy to see the whole of Srebrenica in one walk. (will take you like two hours) On the top of the mountain you will have the stari grad (old part) of Srebrenica. What is left there are ruins of a castle and several old houses. A walk up takes about 20 minutes and is definitely recommended. It will also give you a nice view of a big part of Srebrenica. There are two churches in town. An orthodox one and a mosque. The orthodox church is again located on a hill and gives you a nice overview of the city center. Recommended. I walked around for about two hours. I haven't seen any house which was not damaged in some way
Polluted river
. Many were empty as well. Deserted by families who left the city or just not taken back by families who never returned. I have seen a seven story building, which used to be apartments and a hotel. It was was completely abandoned. There seem to be so many many (big) buildings which offered some sort of service in the past, but nowadays they are not in use. Desterted, abandoned, empty, people have completely vanished. Really scary when you think about it. Throughout the city runs a small river. I am not sure what happened with it, but instead of sparkling blue water it looked red and very dirty. Polluted all the way. Yes, this city looks really dead on surface in almost every way. Later I learned 60% of the city is used. 40% consists of empty buildings.
As I was walking around I met a few locals. I had my video camera in my hands and at one point an old man came to me and started talking... he took me to a building and told a whole story about it in Serbo-Croatian. I couldn't understand a word of it, but it was obvious he wanted to tell me something about it's history. Most of it is recorded on tape and still needs to be translated. Then he unfolded an official document, again in Serbo-Croatian, from the organization 'Transparency of Bosnia Herzegovina'. Later I learned it is an organization for peacebuilding and against corruption. It was a very interesting walk and I wish I could have been in contact with the locals more to record their stories, but 'unfortunately' I had to find the school and do my job.
I didn't know where to go, so I thought the best option was to just walk into an U.N
Destroyed houses. Hotel at the left.
. Building, which is located in the center of Srebrenica, to ask where I could find those damn Dutchmen. They were laughing when I walked in and said "No problem, it is very easy to find. Let me just call some friends from the local Youth center and they will tell you where to go!" I asked them what they were doing. One of them was helping gypsies in Srebrenica, another one was working on social project. I really forgot to ask what kind of other projects are going on and how well the European Union is still involved to help Srebrenica get back on its feet. Maybe next time. When I arrived at the youth center they let me store my luggage and I moved on to the school. I quickly found it and saw lots of Dutch students working and fixing. I prepared myself for this clash. My expectations were not proven wrong. Damn, some Western people are really annoying. Especially after I teamed up with a lot of Bosnian people the past week. The contrast was too visible for me. Their continues whining. Their arrogance, annoyance and ignorance. As I have written before, one of the downsides of these projects is that you don't get to see a lot of Bosnia and it's people. I wish some of them did. They would shut up for a long time. But it was a good experience. It really made me see the difference between Western and Eastern society.
I was going to work for three days. (This was for www.bosnianchild.nl again. Charity project) We did some great work at the school
7 story hotel and appartments. Abandoned
. From a boring gray interior most of it has become a really happy place for children. Painted walls, fixed lightning, toys, seats, other kind of entertainment. You name it, we did it. I didn't make any pictures here. Just some video footage from before and after. I will put a compilation online on this Blog later!As the days past I just didn't feel home. I noticed the stress and whining. It annoyed me so much!
The boss of the foundation who organized the project was kind enough to bring me to the Srebrenica memorial. It is located about five minutes outside the city, right in front of the old Dutchbat HQ. Well ,what can I say. The place is big. More than 8000 people have died in the massacre. Not all have been found, but what lays there consists of several football fields. The memorial looks something like a tomb with a small fountain. Around it lay stones which list all the current known names of the people who have died. Some of them are complete families. Horrible. I did not have time to enter the Dutchbat HQ as I got picked up not much later. I heard some of it is still open. There is also a movie being shown about 'the road to the Srebrenica massacre'.
However, most of the base is closed for public.
The memorial looked nice and peaceful. It is guarded 24hours by a watchtower. Guards are patrolling. I also saw some agrarians and other people walking around to make sure the grass and the garden stays in nice shape
People live here...
. It was the first place in Bosnia where I noticed people actively doing something about the environment. This place definitely means something to them....I stayed at the only hotel in Srebrenica, owned by Abdullah. The name of the hotel is different. But when you ask people about Abdullah they will point where you should go. Single rooms are 20 Euro for each night. But you can also book into a double and triple room. The triple room is 45 Euro. The hotel itself looks like a three-four star place. Pretty good.
The work at the school was finished within three days. Quite short, but we managed to do a lot of things. Unfortunately not many locals showed up to look at the result. It was a mixed muslim, orthodox school. Probably the reason why. The atmosphere is not really good in Srebrenica regarding this matter. In the past people used to fight with each other on the streets and stones were thrown at buses when there were muslims in them. This doesn't happen a lot anymore, but it is clear the heads of the people are still filled with mixed up feelings. People don't have much trust...
The director of the school (a Bosnian Serb) was being an ass in the beginning, complaining about what we should do and what not. Ironically a Serbian school was located next to it, so some people showed up to tell us we were working at the wrong school. "Those children are bad!" As soon as I saw them again I tried to start a discussion. The first thing which got thrown to my head: "Do you know Karadzic?" Followed by gestures of people who are getting shot
Abandoned house
. "He is great!" I decided to join the game and threw the ball back "Karadzic, you mean that asshole who....?" Oops. The others laughed a bit, but unfortunately we couldn't really start a discussion about it. I wish it happened. Most of them were teenagers and their English was not really good. But I am really interested in their parents and teachers who seem to be telling them these kinds of things. Why o why?Srebrenica has one building which looks good. It houses a supermarket and bank and is built and sponsored with funds from the European Union. It really looks out of place. Even the interior looked better than most of the supermarkets in my city. It consists of western products, many of which I did not see before in Bosnia. The walls and floor were sparkling new, the speakers were playing western music, the dresses of the personnel and well... the whole atmosphere. ****! What happened here. I got angry. Who did this and why haven't they spent the money to fix the buildings from the people!! What kind of use is a supermarket which looks like a palace when their own houses look like shit with no money on their bank accounts!!! I felt like screaming, but I quietly walked out.
I left Srebrenica at Friday morning May 2nd 3:00am to go back to Holland. I traveled with the bus from the Dutch people. It took about 24 hours in total, including short stops. Damn. No more bus trips for me. Too long and uncomfortable. Even the train trip was ten times more comfortable. Next time plane or train only.
And here comes an end to my trip in Bosnia. I haven't been able to visit Jajce, Neum, Tuzla and other places. I simply did not have time anymore. However, during my trip I got a very interesting offer. Seems like I can come back for a month. I definitely will when it is possible. I would like to record more in depth stories about Bosnia, get in contact with more locals and find out what else is going on.....
I should be updating this Blog with videos during the coming weeks. I think most photo's are here now. I haven't shot much photo's. But instead about five hours of video. I will also add more stories when some of them come back in my mind. I haven't been making much notes... all comes straight from the memory when I look at photo's. :) (still have to watch my videos)
