“The children of Bosnia-Herzegovina embody both the deeply broken heart of God and the fragile, strong love of the Prince of Peace,” Reed said. “You can’t hold a Friend- ship Camp in a school on the grounds of a concentration camp, with its torture chamber in the room next to the gym where you are playing games with the kids, without being staggered by the hurt. And you can’t laugh with the kids as they use their newspaper-puppets to practice peacemaking skills without being filled to overflowing with love. “Why do we return again and again? Because Jesus is there, drawing us to the further work and relationship- sharing to be done in this broken, beautiful land.” Immediately after the war, children didn’t have sports, music or arts in the country’s devastated towns. Summer camps were a way to restore a semblance of childhood, said Kovać, who helped bring the Lutherans to Šipovo in 2000 through the Organization of Serbian Sisters, a nongovernmental organization she founded to help the displaced. Even now, extracurricular activities are few, she said.
‘Kids keep coming’
Petar (last name not given), 16, back in June for his fifth camp, took charge in the gym and guided 25 students through an obstacle course. “It’s fun,” he said. “You guys are pretty good.”
The students had to cross a “river” by jumping between a limited number of platforms to avoid water hazards, (inflatable) animals and occasionally a chatty mermaid. Could they work together to get everyone across safely? Once mastered, how about crossing again with some teammates blindfolded?
“Kids keep coming back who didn’t seem that inter-
ested in the beginning,” said interpreter Ada Sultanović, 21, of Sarajevo. “There’s definitely a sense that they’re loved.” At the first Šipovo camp in 2000, Reed told Kovać the capacity would be 80 children. When three times as many showed up, the Lutherans welcomed everyone. “You come every year to do something our own gov- ernment won’t do for us: Accept the challenge of learning about us and helping the children learn about each other,” Sultanović said. She is studying international relations at International University of Sarajevo, in part, because of her five years working with the servant team. Sultanović was excited to lead a group of teens in this
year’s pilot leadership project, Camp New Hope. Work- shops included a discussion of religious symbols and trips to a mosque and an Eastern Orthodox church—a first for many participants.
Misunderstandings often arise out of ignorance, not
hatred, Sultanović said. She was heartened to hear kids sharing information about their traditions after the visits. Both American and Bosnian team members contrasted the openness of the children to attitudes of some adults. “While you do see hope and joy and love in the faces of the children, you see the opposite in the parents and teach- ers,” said Beth Haltmeier, a team musician from Faith Lutheran Church in Andover, Mass. “There’s a long battle ahead to change hearts and minds and convince them that peace is a better option.”
Finnila cited an example in Jajce, where Bosnian Muslims and Croatian Roman Catholics attend the same school but in ethnically segregated classrooms. At the team’s integrated Friendship Camp, a parent objected because his son was wearing a green bandana—the color associated with Muslims. The son replied, “I’ve been wearing it all day,” and resumed singing and talking with friends. “We’re breaking down the walls that keep these chil- dren separated, one child and smile at a time,” Finnila said.
In Mostar, an ethnically and religiously divided city in the country’s southern region, the team met Katarina (last name not given), who will start high school in the fall. Like many of the team’s interpreters, she honed her Eng- lish watching hours of the Cartoon Network. When Carlos Cuevas, 19, of Christus Lutheran Church, Camden, N.J., discovered their mutual love of hip-hop, he persuaded Katarina to help him lead a dance to close camp. Yet Katarina’s joy disappeared in talking about the future. She sees few job prospects in a country with 40 percent unemployment and hopes one day to emigrate to Canada, where she has family.
The economic despair is the latest challenge for a ministry that began in postwar rubble, grew in the hope of reconstruction, and now shares the disappointment of constant setback. But like Lutheran Disaster Response in Haiti or Indonesia, Reed said, the Bosnia mission made a long-term commitment to serve. Dakota Road band member Larry Olson, a team musi-
cian for 11 years, cites 1 Corinthians 12:26 when describ- ing the continuing bond between Lutherans and Bosnians: “We’re not whole when part of the body suffers. Because our Bosnian friends care about these children, we care about them. We trust their hearts. If they feel our presence can make a difference, we should be here.”
For more information, go to
www.servanttrips.org or search Facebook for BosniaIST.
October 2013 37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52