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December 2007
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 A definite highlight of the trip has been all the wonderful Bosnian food and the warm Bosnian hospitality. Today, the second day of Bajram, we had a late lunch at Eldin and Almira’s home that was absolutely delicious. The lunch included Sarma (pickled cabbage leaves stuffed with meat), cheese pita, meat pita covered with a yogurt sauce, roasted potato and chicken, and a baklava type of dessert made with apples. Eldin and Ken shared some Sarajevo-made beer. It was a delightful afternoon! Here is the official Balihodžić Bajram family portrait: Zumra, Almira, Sejo with Haris in front of him, Lamija, Enisa, and Eldin (notice the Garrett College and Bucknell hoodies!). They have completely opened their homes and hearts to us, and we feel so welcomed and loved. We will be forever grateful!
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 We visited the Musej Sarajeva (Museum of Sarajevo) today. It has a wonderful collection of items from all eras of Sarajevan history. One that particularly touched us was an exhibit called Children of the Beseiged Sarajevo. From the exhibit’s brochure: "Buildings and historical sites are not what makes a city. A city, above all, is made of its people and their spirit because it is the people that build, live and create that spirit. Unfortunately, there are people who destroy the buildings and kill the spirit of cities and their people, even children. Fortunately, there are children in the cities -- those little people who neither build nor destroy, yet without them it is impossible to imagine any city." The exhibit include toys and crafts made by children during the seige, using whatever they could find: socks, piece of fabric, scraps of paper, even bullet casings. The above paper dolls were made by children in the hospital using syringe boxes. Notice the soldier.
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 As mentioned earlier, during the Bosnian war, Mostar became divided along ethnic and religious lines: the Bosniaks to the east and the Bosnian Croats to the west. By many accounts, it was the Bosniaks who suffered far worse with many of them expelled from their homes in the western part of Mostar, their homes in the eastern part destroyed, and the men of fighting age sent to concentration camps or massacred. Several years after the end of the war, even though it was illegal to construct anything on the top of the mountain, a large cross was constructed by the Bosnian Croats, who are predominantly Catholic, and lit at night. It is visible from all areas of the Muslim community, and several people told us that they view it as a sort of threat....that one day, the Muslims will be expelled (or worse) completely from Mostar. Note the minarets of Muslim mosques in the lower left hand corner.
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 The siege of Sarajevo came when the Yugoslav Army joined forces with the Serbs, who wanted to create a "Greater Serbia" by annexing territories in which Serbs lived and expelling or in other ways eliminating peoples who stood in their way. In the hills of Sarajevo, these conjoined forces attempted to occupy the city but were met with fierce opposition from make-shift, untrained Bosnian Muslim troops. They did, however, surround the city in a siege, keeping people in the city and food, water and other supplies out. In July 1992, the UN took control of the airport from the Serbs in order to airlift food to the Sarajevan people, in exchange for the agreement that the airport only be used for UN purposes and that no one else, including Sarajevans themselves, could make use or cross the airport. The airport, however, was of great strategic importance to the Bosnian army because it connected the besieged city with the free Bosnian territories. Without being able to cross the airport, the Bosnians could not survive nor defend themselves. It was decided that if they could not cross the airport, they would have to go under it. In January 1993, construction of a tunnel began. It was this tunnel that upon completion brought hope, arms, and sustenance to the people of Sarajevo. The Kolar family, upon whose land the entrance of the tunnel in the free territory existed, keeps their family home much the same as it was during the years the tunnel was operational. Today, it is a museum, one that allows visitors to experience part of the tunnel for themselves.
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