Today we walked to the US Embassy, which was like no other
embassy I’ve ever seen! It was this huge eye sore in the middle of Sarajevo!
I’m not really sure why the US Embassy is as large as it is but I’m sure
there’s a reason for it.
We met with Ambassador Moon who took lots of time to welcome
us to the Embassy and answer our many questions about the work that the Embassy
is doing in Sarajevo. He acknowledged that there is a human-trafficking problem
in Bosnia and that although the police and political parties have become more
involved in it, there are no formal laws against human-trafficking. He also
said that this past year was the worst in regards to arrests and added that
they had no prosecutions for human-trafficking.
Like Judge Wiener, he acknowledged the challenges faced
within the politics of the country and challenges with collaborating between
multiple ethnic groups. His assistant, whose name I can online remember as
Sunshine (which IS her real name), was able to speak more freely (and less
politically) than the Ambassador and was able to say that not much can be done
about change until the people are more invested in it and that many people are
afraid of another war, which may be one of the reasons why they are reluctant
to do or say anything.
Kristy and I walked back towards the hotel but found
ourselves stopping and walking into random buildings. We found ourselves
walking towards the most beautiful building and then realized is the University
building for Fine Art. It sits right along the river and we were able to walk
around the building and look at some of the student art and peer into an art
class. Then we walked a little closer towards our hotel and saw this HUGE
church. When walked in we noticed that it was an Orthodox church that was in
the middle of reconstruction in the inside. You could tell where parts of the
old church had been destroyed by the war. It was so beautiful with the tall
stone pillars and the stained glass windows.
Then back to our hotel where we had some time to relax
before we went out to meet some of the Social Work students from the University
of Sarajevo. What a great time we had! It was so interesting to talk to people
who are in the same profession and around the same age as us about what
graduate school is like for them. They said that they have 2 social work
professors in a school of 5,000 students! They spoke about how many students
will pay for good grades and that they have heard that trading sex for grades
has happened too but that they don’t know anyone who has done it. They also
spoke about how they hate the politics in Bosnia and are frustrated with the
system but feel that they have no power to enforce change.
We then went to a hookah bar where I smoke entirely WAY too
much hookah but it was so fun to sit around and talk with everyone and
participate in something that is typical for that age and culture. Grape hookah
might be my favorite!
To give you an idea of what else we are doing here, at the
end of each day we all gather as a group to process the things that we have
seen and talked about our reactions to the things we have seen. Tomorrow we are
going to Srebenica, which is the site of mass genocide that brought the Bosnian
War to the attention of the media and thus began the efforts to end it. I’m
thinking that it will be a very emotional day for everyone and maybe even
myself. Although I saw concentration camps during school trips, when I lived in
Belgium, I don’t think that will prepare me or desensitize me from what
tomorrow brings.
One our walk to the Embassy (which I could not get a photo of) we walked by a park that had a memorial to for those who were lost in the war.
Look at how weird these crows are!
Meeting with Ambassador Moon
After meeting with the Ambassador we went to lunch across the street. This artists work was displayed all over the restaurant. He is an art professor at the University and also has a lot of artwork displayed at the art museum (which is closed).
This was in the park on our way to have kaffa at Tito's cafe, which is one of the most interesting and bizarre places we've been so far. This sculpture represents what was air-dropped to help residents. Mystery meat?
These "Sarajevo Roses" are everywhere. They are concrete scares from mortar explosions that were filled with red resin after the war. They are all over the city.
One of the posters at Tito's cafe
We passed by this building so many times. Little did we know it was the fine arts building.
One of the students paintings in the school
A great way to end the night.... Hookah with some of the friends we made from the school of social work
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