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
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
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