A busy week

7/15/2007
Past week has been very busy for me. I’m in full swing of all my activities here in Tuzla. Classes are going very well here. This past week I have taught the students parts of the body along with “Simon Says.” The kids love that game. It is fun to watch them play. The first few days, they were not very confident giving commands to the other students in English, but in the past couple of days they have become excited when they win the game and get to be Simon.

I have been trying to get a feel for the roles of NGO’s here in Bosnia so I have been asking a lot of questions from people I meet about their organizations. I had been in contact with people at World Vision before I came to Tuzla, so I was finally able to meet up with them and learn more about their programs in the community. Like many organizations, World Vision came to BiH in 1995, the year the war ended. They have worked on my projects with refugee communities and now returnees. In addition to building houses for people, they have worked to encourage economic development through the creation of EKI Micro credit institution. Currently they are working on an area development project where they focus on the development of the entire community in one specific area. They work on everything from youth organizations, schools, improving employment opportunities, health programs, and other activities that help all members of the community become economically and educationally sound.

-*- Warning-*- The following two paragraphs may be viewed as graphic in nature. Please skip this paragraph if details about scientific tests on human remains found throughout Bosnia may be sensitive in nature.

Last Thursday I had a very unique experience. I went to drop something off for my friend Stephanie at her work, the Missing Persons Institute (MPI), and while I was there I was given a tour of the facility. The MPI does work to identify thousands of missing persons from the war in 1992-95. They do this by taking DNA samples from human remains that were found in mass graves. Some of the remains were found in “primary graves” but others were found in “secondary graves”. The fact that remains have been moved to secondary graves with front-end loaders and other heavy machinery makes the task of identification very difficult. Remains from the same person have been found in 3 different burial sites.

The MPI center takes the remains found and sorts them based on which bones provide a sample for DNA tests. The MPI does so many DNA tests they have developed a way to perform the test cheaper than any other place in the world running about $125 a sample. The fact that the remains are so mangled together means that the MPI must take samples from every bone large enough to collect a DNA sample from- in most cases this is 5 to insure that all individuals are accurately and appropriately accounted for. Once test results come back from the lab, they are uploaded into the database and compared with DNA samples collected from survivors’ family members both in BiH and other places where Bosnians live around the world. Often times this is just female family members because large numbers of men in many communities are those who are missing. Once a match is made, the families are contacted, and they can come to collect their family member and their belongings and have a proper burial. This is fascinating work when you think about it from a scientific standpoint, but then when you think about the real nature of the daunting task ahead ofo identifying thousands more cases you become sick. There are certain jobs in this world that people shouldn’t need to do, and I’m a firm believer that this is one of them.




On a lighter note, Friday I was interviewed by a journalist from “Tuzlanski List”, one of the daily papers in Tuzla. The interview view was long and drawn out, as most things are in Bosnia, lasting about 2 hours. We talked about many things from what was my educational background, to the work I was doing with the children, to what I thought of Bosnian coffee, to what I had learned in Bosnia. I was flattered that the journalist was interested in the work that I was doing and she said, “Bosnia needs many more people doing what you are doing.” When the paper came out today, my neighbor came to me and showed me my picture and tried to tell me that now she knows what I’m working on here. Don’t worry Mom, I’ve saved a copy for you.

Saturday was a great day for me. I received the box of books that I sent to myself via USPS Media Mail. In case you are wondering how long it takes to send a package via media mail to Bosnia, the answer is 3 months. I had written this box off as gone and it finally arrives with plenty of English reading material. As a side note, it only takes 7 days for a letter to get here; I don’t know what took the box so long. In addition to the joy of receiving a package, I also went to the lake so find refugee from the heat with my two friends from Bolivia, Stephanie, and Luis from Spain. Who would have thought that I would have met so many people from South America in my work in Bosnia?

Water Polo

Water polo is a big deal hear in Bosnia as it is in all of the former Yugoslavia. The other day, I was at my friends house flipping channels and came across an afternoon of water polo games. This was like ESPN classic for water-polo. I was absolutely amazed. I wish we had something like this in the states.

After playing two years of competitive water-polo in my life (senior year of high school and senior year of college), I really wanted to play on a team while I was here. Since both of my previous teams were in their infant stages of their development, I've never played very structured polo. I was really eager for the opportunity here. I asked a few friends if they knew of any leagues for adults. They said that they did, but none in Tuzla. We may be the 2nd largest city in the country, but without a swimming pool in town a water polo team is not possible. There is a pool similar to the one in Howard Hall on the University of Portland campus, but the water polo aficionados of the region have deemed this pool un acceptable to play the sport in.

So I have resigned myself to playing catch with some of the kids in the small, salt water lake in town. It is also very shallow, but you can tread water in it. The problem here is the huge numbers of people here. I guess it isn't a problem that everyone is trying to stay cool, it just makes it difficult to play water polo. I'm affraid that I'll hit one of the old ladies who is cooling themselves near the shore.

I suppose I'm just lusting for the water polo goal that I saw in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro a few weeks ago. When I saw this, I was blown away. I had to pull the car over immediately. What could be better than playing water polo?

Try playing water polo in the Adriatic Sea where 3,000 ft. high fjords drive into the bay in a 1,000 year old walled city. Why am I not volunteering in this town? When become rich and a donor to the University of Portland Water Polo Team, we will come here for pre-season training. Gibbs, you can be the coach for the training camp. Riley, Clay and Peter, we can play a little "Fatties vs. Skinnys" basketball too.

Finally, last week it cooled down and the kids have been allowed to leave their homes. The heat wave of two weeks ago kept many children inside and their parents would not let them go out. Not even to come to the center. Come to think of it, there weren’t many people outside at all during the day. The highs we certainly into the upper 90’s which made it difficult to function during the heat of the day. Now I know why someone invented air conditioning. I also may have an idea of why people in Europe take month long vacations during the summer. It is too hot to actually get any work done.

Last weekend, as I was beginning to prepare lesson plans for last week, I decided I wanted to work in a little bit of Independence Day flare into the class. Originally my plan was to have the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence translated into Bosnian so the children would know why I wanted to celebrate on the 4th of July. I certainly didn’t want to be seen as an Imperialistic instructor who wants to shove U.S. History and culture down their throats, but the more I read the document, the more I realize that the Declaration of Independence was an important document for human rights inspired by the English Humanist writers.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

These are certainly words that people all around the world can understand and appreciate.

Then I began looking at the timeline from when the Declaration of Independence was passed to when the Constitution of the United States was ratified. It took 12 years for the Constitution to be ratified. During that time there were significant victories and failures for the new government. We fought and won the War of Independence, signed the treaty of Paris, wrote and implemented the Articles of Confederacy, made the 3/5th’s compromise, decided the governing laws of the Articles of Confederacy were too weak so convened to write the Constitution of the United States. There could be some parallels drawn between this period of American history and the past 12 years in Bosnian history.

I guess what I’m tried to convey to the students, and I suppose all my Bosnian friends, is that it took a long time for United States government to begin functioning effectively. 12 years. It did not happen over night. It took many people, long hours of debating and compromise to establish a framework of government which would be representative to all people. I’m certainly thankful that those men, so long ago, took the their time and due diligence to work through conflicts and be precise enough to create a durable legal document giving it’s citizens rights based on their “unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

So with this in mind the past week was very busy for me here in Tuzla. In addition to my normal activities of teaching a few English classes, I was preparing for a few Independence Day parties. At the center, I decided that we would play games that many families and communities have as part of the barbecues and other celebrations. We played tag, had a water balloon toss which inevitably became a water fight. One thing is always true- there are never enough water balloons. I had made a little timeline about some of the events in early US history and shared them with the students and the animators. They were surprised to hear that it took so long for the US to become settled. I figured it would also be fun to have a water melon seed spitting contest.

The kids loved all the games. Arnell and I were the wettest ones after the water fight. We had put the watermelon in the refrigerator on Tuesday, so it was very cold. The kids were so excited to have the cold treat, but many had spit out a majority of their seeds before I could explain to them what we were going to be doing with the water melon and the seeds. Soon enough the kids found out what we were up to and were practicing the spitting for distance. Some of the parents who were there, watched on in disbelief as I taught their children how to spit the seeds. But sometimes kids have to be kids.


Some of the kids were really good in both accuracy and in distance.

Later that evening I had some of my co-workers over for a BBQ along with some American girls who are doing internships in Tuzla for the summer. We had potato salad, cole-slaw, chips, tomato and cheese salad, ice cream sundaes and of course, hot dogs. Bosnia doesn’t have any hot dog buns, or if they do, I couldn’t find any. So I went to 4 different bakeries in order to buy 40 kifle. Kifle are pieces of bread, like a bun that has a little bit of curvature in them. One thing I am thankful of this 4th of July is pre-sliced hot dog buns.

We had a great time at the BBQ. At the beginning we listened to some American rock and hip hop music but as the night progressed, we put in the Bosnian music. One of the guests was also nice enough to share his home made Rakija (40% plum brandy) with the guests. This just added to the merry making and soon people were singing along with all the songs. It was quite a festive evening.

I have also been conducting surveys with staff members and talking with Binasa regarding opportunities to improve services that Better Tomorrow offers the children. It is nice to work on the organizational development side of the program since I’m very interested in ways to improve service, evaluate programs, and identify best practices. I have been amazed at some of the insight the staff members have about the children.

I hope you all stay cool until next time,
Patrick

Bosnian Coffee

Congratulations Bosnia.

You win. I have successfully fought off coffee addiction for the past 23 years and 10 months of my life without much trouble. But after one month in this small nation known as “the heart of Europe”, I have an addiction to the dark warm beverage.

The early years were easy to avoid coffee. My parents aren’t coffee drinkers. I remember thinking it was weird when family members would come and visit our house and Mom would dig out the coffee pot from the garage. I recall a discussion about the quality of coffee my parents had. I didn’t understand why people were upset with the same coffee in the freezer they had had on their last visit to our home.

Then there was the early latte, mocha and frappe phase in Redmond, Oregon. Come to think of this, I don’t know how “early” this actually was since Redmond, as you may know is not on the cutting edge of trends. To this day their only Starbucks that I know of is in the Safeway. Anywho, in 8th grade and into high school, I remember going to the drive up coffee stand and ordering Snickers drinks and other fancy milkshakes and coffees. Even then I liked them more for the sweet factor than the actual coffee and I don’t even really crave sweets or desserts.

Then there was college in Portland. At this juncture in my life, my friends were definitely beginning to indulge their daily coffee craving. They said they needed it to get through the day and stay focused. I could see their point. College was draining. The late nights of studying and goofing around with your friends, the occasional long boring lecture, and short rainy days made Univ. of Portland a prime place for sipping coffee.

But I found my refresher during this portion in my life to be cat naps rather than the coffee drug. My favorite way to nap was to turn on PBS and listen to Bob Ross as he lulled me to a short little nap. Those were the days. I thought, Bob Ross is definitely better than coffee.

My junior year of college was the first time coffee was an expected part of culture. At the pensioni where I lived, coffee was served every morning. The staff didn’t like making hot chocolate for us non-coffee drinkers and there was always a little hesitation. Coffee seemed like it would be a useful substance since the weekend travels, studying, exploring the city and partying with friends left little time for sleep. I was still able to avoid drinking coffee on a basis of necessity. Every now and again I would have a cappuccino when meeting up with a friend. But I consider this coffee consumption casual rather than anything else.

Following college, I moved to Seattle- the US mecca of coffee. While Starbucks locations outnumbered fans in attendance to Mariners games during this period 2x1, I still did not find it difficult to function without coffee. I was able to get sufficient sleep and I didn’t feel the social pressure to have a coffee, espresso, or even a venti, non-fat, soy, peppermint mocha, room for cream during our bi-weekly team meetings at Starbucks.

Coffee is surely the national beverage of Bosnia. It is consumed morning, noon, and night by everyone 18 or and older. In the mornings you’ll see people sitting at café’s. At most offices people take coffee breaks just an hour or two into the work day to enjoy a cup of joe. They call these breaks staff meetings since everyone gathers together to talk, drink coffee and smoke. The same is true in the afternoons. Many people have a cup in the early evening before dinner with their friends, family, and neighbors back on their porch at home. On people’s after dinner stroll through the center of the city many people can be seen sipping the dark beverage.

Bosnian coffee is fairly similar to Turkish coffee I’m told. This makes sense since Bosnia was a territory of the Ottoman Empire for several hundred years and many of the cultural traditions from that era are still preserved in this region. The coffee is roasted and then ground into a fine powder. Then the powder is added to boiling water, often times while it is still on the stove. The pot the water is boiling in, traditionally was made out of copper with a long handle, but now they are made of all sorts of materials. The coffee then churns several times with the boiling water and then the pot is removed from heat.

The coffee is consumed out of small cups somewhere between espresso and tea cups. Many people take sugar with their coffee, but they don’t add it to the drink- they dip it in the coffee, take a little nibble off the sugar cube and then take a sip of coffee. The grounds have never been filtered out and their particles suspended in the rest the water for little while, so as you approach the bottom of the cup you’ll notice a thick layer of sludge that was once the grounds which flavored your drink. I avoid the last sip since it is a little bit too strong for me.

Drinking coffee is truly a social experience. It is for that reason alone that I began drinking the stuff. Wanting to adapt to the social situation here, I would accept a cup that was offered to me during one of our daily “staff meetings”, usually the afternoon one. I could get by with saying I had drank coffee at home in the morning before I came into work. After a week or two of enjoying a little Doncafe, the most popular brand of prepackaged coffee, in the afternoon I began noticing the benefits. Maybe it was because trying to keep up with so many children is challenging, maybe I was being mentally drained by trying to function in a language I don’t really know. But the fact is I enjoyed having the pick me up from the coffee in the afternoon to get me through the rest of the day.

So there you have it, I now need coffee to get myself through the day. I’m addicted. Congratulations Bosnia, you win. You’ve been able to convert me, something that Howard Schultz has never been able to accomplish.