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?