I want you to know that the people of Bosnia who have received help know that it comes from people of goodwill that give those donations through organizations like Church World Service. It is that money, from people like yourselves, which we use to implement our various
projects. veriasI would like to share briefly with you about the way that we, at Church World Service, work, to help you understand our current situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Of course during the war and right after the war ended most of our efforts focused on humanitarian aid. But now, six years after the war, we are working to move forward and help people restart their lives. Currently, our projects focus mostly on helping refugees and those people who are now returning to their pre-war homes.
Before the war, these people had beautiful lives. They had everything that they needed –a nice house, barn, animals, machinery, land, and so forth. They lived in harmony with their neighbors and respected each other regardless of their religion. They knew how to work and how to play and were a proud people. Unfortunately, a horrible war destroyed that beautiful life. More than 200.000 people were killed and more than one million were forced to leave their homes that were later destroyed by the aggressors. In the last two to three years, people have begun to return home and find their homes have been destroyed, their land is overgrown with weeds and all of their belongings –their furniture, their animals, their machinery- everything, is gone. Even their beautiful relationships with their neighbors were destroyed.
By themselves, most of these people are unable to rebuild their lives. They have no financial resources and no opportunities for employment to sustain themselves. They are dependant on the international community to help them. Some of largest international organizations work to reconstruct houses. But after the people return and their homes are rebuilt, they still need to find the means to live. That is when we, at Church World Service try to locate those people who are most in need of help. First and most importantly we spend time visiting with the people to determine what it is that they need the most. It is important to us that we meet them as human beings and find the way that we can help them the most.
Luce Papic and her family were forced from their home in 1993 and lived as refugees in an abandoned house in a nearby city for seven years. A little more than a year ago, she and her elderly husband returned to their village. The people of the village lived together in one house while they waited for their houses to be reconstructed. When we met Luce and the people of that village, their only possibility for a livelihood was through agriculture. Church World Service provided potato, bean, onion and other seeds, fertilizer and hand tools. With these, they were able to reap their first harvest and feed themselves from their own land. But it is very important to mention that this is not a free handout. Knowing that Bosnian people are proud people we provide a way for them to earn these goods through a pay back system. We always find that those
who have known poverty are only too eager to help others who are also in need. On the day this photo was taken, the villagers paid back six tons of vegetables, which were then given to the local parish priest who delivered them to a soup kitchen in the nearest city. These villagers, who, by the way, are Catholic, know that they are giving their produce to help poor Muslims and Serbs in the city. By creating this type of project, we are trying to help them rebuild their relationships, too. This is one way that we work at reconciliation.In the cities, people do not have the option of growing their food but they can return to the trades in which they worked before the war. Fatima Begic returned to her small city two years ago. As a Muslim living in the Serb Republic, it is nearly impossible for her to find employment. Church World Service provided sewing machines to employ women like Fatima, many of whom are now widows and have small children. These women who completed a sewing course, were given a sewing machine for one year. At the end of that year, they could either pay for the sewing machine or buy another sewing machine to give to another woman who would complete the sewing course. Now Fatima has her own income and can feed her family.
We’ve implemented many similar projects with these types of businesses –upholstery, metal and carpentry workshops, bakeries, etc.
These are examples of income generation projects to help people immediately after they return. But after 2 or 3 years, people still need some kind of assistance. Even after they begin to grow their own food or raise a few animals, they still need help improving their ability to sustain themselves. Marinko Colovic was the beneficiary of this kind of development project. Marinko is a young machine engineer who left his home village to avoid joining the Serb army. More than 3 years ago, he returned to his village, which CWS supported by providing seeds, hand tools and livestock. Marinko has worked very hard with what he was given and has been able to sustain himself and h
is family. However, he still needed assistance to obtain machinery to increase his output and develop his farming capacity. As part of the project, Marinko received a rototiller and implements –grass cutter, trailer and tiller- with the understanding that he will work not only his land, but also the land of his neighbors. In this way, with one donation we can help to improve the life of the whole village.These are only a few of hundreds of examples of the people that have been helped by your support. This money, which we received from you, which was collected in your churches, I call “blessed money”. Why do I call it blessed money? Because you have given it with your whole hearts and with the people of Bosnia in your minds. I know how much it means to you to know that your money has been given in the best possible way to the people who need it the most. In my country we use the word “halal” which means something given out of the goodness of one’s heart. With halal money we can do more with one dollar than some can do with 100 dollars.
The fighting has stopped and the war is over. People are returning home. But the fight for survival is just beginning. The media now reports more about other places in the world than about Bosnia. But believe me, Bosnia still needs a lot of help. I hope you will continue to support the people of Bosnia in the future as you have in the past.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.