An observation from my husband who visited in late November: ” I remember the bullet holes all over the place. .. Yet look what we saw going to split….it’s all like a dream….it’s incredible. I’ve sat in gigantic buildings with a spoonful of coffee….It’s like the Roman/Ottoman empire never smoothed out the ruffles….”
This sums up my conversation with my students yesterday.
I asked about their version of a safety net. They told me that there is no help for mothers, or poor people. And if you don’t have a job, then you have to count on a soup kitchen for one meal a day or your parents for a place to live.
They didn’t think there was any chance for change except…
that the country divide up and Herzegovina join Croatia, and the RS join Serbia. I asked what happens to the Bosniaks. They shrugged.
” Most of Herzegovina is Croatian.”
I asked if they thought the EU or America would agree to this. But they shrugged again, and said that there will certainly be a war. ( i have heard this from other students as well.)
They are convinced, these 20- 24 year old young women. They are resigned. They see the politicians around them accepting bribes. They don’t see any future. I hear this over and over.
Amy in Mostar 