More on my wife’s amazing trip to Bosnia to assist Women for Women…
Avid followers might be seeing a theme from this trip. The people are entirely gracious and helpful in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have volunteered places before, but never like this. I really didn’t know what to expect. We could not be having a more well-supported trip. What most impresses me about Women for Women and why they are so successful is how well their operations run. It has to be well run to coordinate 44,000 women in their programs. The week before we arrived, we had a full agenda of our trainings and other activities. That was just the beginning.
We were greeted at the airport by Amar, the logistics manager at Women for Women. In this job, Amar is taking care of a lot of things, including making sure this group of Americans get where we need to be. He has been so helpful, not only with logistics but with helping us understand the culture.
Ijla (pronounced eye-la) is our translator and much more. She has been with us most of the week, enabling us to connect with people and vice versa. Beyond language, Ijla has shared a lot of the rich history of the country. She was just 6 years old in 1992 when the war broke out. She talks about waiting in line for water and then carrying 2 full 5 gallon jugs home on a regular basis. I am not sure I could do that, much less my 6 year old daughter. It turns out Ijla is technically savvy as well. A Google user herself, she quickly came up to speed on the topics we have been training on. During the 3rd session, she took over instruction of the class so things could smoothly progress in the native tongue of the participants. During that same session, the videographer even started helping some people with navigation, small examples of the community coming together, unconcerned with roles or responsibilities. We need more of that in the world.
By now, we have had seven sessions of our core mission, training on Google Apps. Today was the day that we turned over the baton to the local IT staff, Edin and Enez, so they could be able to take over once we have gone. It went off without a hitch. They have done a fantastic job of cobbling together this makeshift training room with a collection of equipment they had on hand. They have also been very helpful to us, enabling us to take advantage of rare opportunities to connect with home. I always find it to be some sort of miracle when I can be so far from home and to feel so close thanks to technology.
Today in the training room, Dzemila (pronounced Ja-milia) brought us a rare treat called Hasura. It is made during the Muslim holy month of Muharrem. It is composed of 77 ingredients, including a wide variety of fruit, vegetables and nuts along with special herbs and spices, that are all cooked separately before there are combined together. It is in remembrance of the profit Noa who saved humanity by building an ark to survive a great flood (I know that story!). The ingredients are a symbol of unity and represent the diversity of the people and animals who were on the ark. Those of us in the training room were unified in our appreciation or this tasty treat.
People here love their country and have very close family ties. Multigenerational co-habitation is the norm. Historically, travel outside of the country has been challenging for Bosnians. Strict Visa requirements inhibit travel. But that changed in a big way this week. On December 15th travel restrictions with Europe officially lifted. Now, citizens can freely travel throughout the EU. Whether or not one might jump in their car tomorrow for that road trip to Paris, the fact is that now they can. It is difficult for Alexa and me to understand just what the restrictions might have felt like. We can’t imagine needing a visa to go to Nevada or Oregon, but that’s what it has been like here. One more small step in a good direction for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Alexa and I opted for a low key dinner tonight at a local pie shop called “Bosna”. They call them pies in English, but these savory pastries are made from something like phyllo dough filled with meat or cheese or spinach to make about a 1 inch tube that is then either served as is or wrapped into a spiral, like a cinnamon roll. This shop was recommended by Amar as the best in town. We each got a spinach and a cheese to try with a bottled water. Total for dinner? 8KM which is about $4.50. Very tasty way to end the day.
Our adventures continue tomorrow for our last day of volunteering. We will be training 2 groups in the Zenica office, about 90 minutes away from here. In the meantime, you can learn more about the program here.
What better gift for yourself or a loved one this holiday season that to sponsor a woman? Use this link.
