Birds of a feather...

I was enjoying my city view last night which was the usual east-west expanse of sparkling lights with strands and pockets of ebony forests or steep slopes mixed into the urban glow. Last night became a little more special as I realized the stadium lights were on in Grbavica and I heard the churning roar and applause of Zelio's fans (Zelio is one of Sarajevo's two main soccer teams and their name is related to the railroad...you should here this one cheer when the whole crowd whistles like a wheezing, piercing train whistle!). Added to this mix was the evening ezan, call to prayer, which started "there" and then was followed by mosques within and around the valley..."here" and "right there" and faintly from somewhere. The whole scene was sincerely pleasant but also telling as well...



Sarajevo has always been an exotic city known for it's diversity and flare which punctuated every spiritual and secular institution and tradition here. This can be understood numerically when you see the statistics in which the town-city was represented equally by muslim, catholic, orthodox and jewish populations just a century ago. Today, Sarajevo proper is nearing a 90% muslim majority as croats and serbs left during the war and in their respective parts of Bosnia with larger populations, their authorities and ethnic gravitional pull are encouraging young students and professionals to "go home", seeking better fortunes in Zagreb or Belgrade instead of Sarejevo. Over time, heightened by the ethnic frenzy of the last war and continuing persuasion of "soft" nationalism, Sarajevo is becoming solely "muslim" and is quickly loosing the identifiable traces of diversity...except for the sacred edifices and facades of church and state which merely inhabit photographs anyway.

Last night, as I was sipping coffee and willing thought, I realized that soon, "diversity" as a symbol and reality, will only be marked by those who "worship" at the stadium or mosque; board room or bar. I am not bemoaning the fact that Bosnia is becoming more western and modern, ever so slowly and painfully, but the suggested fact stands that the city is loosing its soul. Citizens know this and foreigners can sense it and helpless is the best word to describe the apprehension regarding the future. For me, the point is clear. As people, all of us, emotionally and programatically choose to surround ourselves with people just like us...to be comfortable and part of the club...we suddenly find ourselves cheated of meaning and the dynamic inspiration to exist beyond our limited understanding. The frustrated engagement of those "different" gives the tension that pulls our hearts and minds forward out of the damp, cold shadows into a sunnier arena of diversity and potential to truly love our neighbor.

Back in Town...

Ramazan is a month long celebration of fasting (postic) and feasting (iftar) observed by many devout and nominal muslims here in Sarajevo. Every day at sunset, right around 8 o'clock, the lights in the mosques' minarets turn on in unison to a single rocket shot from a fortification above the city, signalling the time to join family and friends for the iftar feast. Yesterday, I was at that fortification, the zuta tabija, and among others, had a count-down anticipation of the rocket's explosion as striking sun-set colors and clouds bejeweled Sarajevo below us. In those prolonged moments, I welcomed myself back home to Sarajevo and promised myself that I don't have to leave anytime soon!

Yeah, I am back in Bosnia. I have been here for the better part of 10 days; getting back into the flow of things with relation to home, work and play. It is summer here; first time seeing so much sun and feeling the heat in this city that I have come to know as cool, cloudy and wet. You could say that I am going slowly, polako, as always some things change, friends have left and my own set of expectations and understanding have changed and flexed, requiring a new inventory of life.


Many of you knew that I left home in a flurry of activity near the end of July heading towards Europe. During that time, from July through August, I seized the opportunity to realize a dream I've had of doing a pilgrimage in northern Spain called the Camino de Santiago. A few years ago I heard about this pilgrimage in a travel writing essay and then just last year in a newspaper article from Louisville, Kentucky and since then I had been wondering when I could find the time to do this journey that takes weeks, involving walking hundreds of miles across pastoral Spain.

This pilgrimage dates back hundreds of years when medieval pilgrims began traveling across Europe to Santiago, Spain where the body of St. James is mysteriously buried. We are talking about the third largest christian pilgrimage sight after Jerusalem and Rome and interesting it is how the pilgrimage has retained popularity and meaning even today; now days the journey has gained more of a backyard travel feel for anybody and everybody, religious and non, who have the will to lace up their walking shoes every day and rough it a bit. Personally, I chose to do the pilgrimage because I wanted the time, the pace and labored time, to think and envision my upcoming adventure in Bosnia and that is also why I did the Camino backwards, starting in Santiago and literally walking east towards Bosnia. All in all, accompanied by great friend, Stevo Schanely from Boyertown, we walked clear across northern Spain accumulating 725 kilometers worth of stories, pain and shared memories. Even more specially, as the path continued after 1,2 and 3 weeks, I could sense my heart being opened to God and a growing sense of calm and purpose in my return to Bosnia: exactly what I was hoping to happen!

A highlight portraying this was my last day alone on the Camino, atop the very last mountain, Jaizkebal, that I had just summited. It was quite cool and cloudy and rain drops were coming and going with the strong breeze. I climbed up this little tower dedicated to Santa Barbera and stood high, arms outstretched to the heavens and in both confidence and fragility I welcomed my life, my destiny, my purpose and asked God for the strength to continue. And then I yelled; twice and very loudly for as long as I could. It was liberating and after that I put back on my hiking bag and ran down the mountain.

And all this to say, that I am back home in Sarajevo. I so much enjoyed being back home with family and friends in Bechtelsville and I didn't want it to end because I know, somehow know, that the coming months will be spent so far away from Pennsylvania. I feel blessed for all of the conversations and encouragement from many of you I was able to spend quality time with and I look forward to a continuation of that through emails and the like. I hope to also invest more time with the blog to continue to tell the story of this place, not neccessarily my story but the bigger story of the realization of light and beauty here!


And so, this is what I got for today. Blessings upon you all and once again I welcome your thoughts, questions and prayers.

much love,
Luka

How the story ends...continues.

Dear Friends i Dragi Prijatelji-

It's been a long time since March when I last posted and my Bosnian life evolved, climaxed and transitioned as I returned home just last week. So much happened and the intensity of it all partially explains why I was not my blogging self. It is not a dramatic story to be told but I would like to share the nuts and bolts of my spring in Sarajevo and where I am at today.

As most of you know I am a landscape architect trying to work within the community development sector in Bosnia and the way to do that has developed through Fondacija Mozaik which is a community development foundation based in Sarajevo. I was volunteering with them last winter where I started developing one of their projects involving an Ethno Restaurant and I was able to jump back on board that project to bring architectural plans of renovation through the conceptual and design development stages. To help the foundation get this project into the fundraising stage, it was decided a model displaying what the restaurant could and would look like would be most helpful in "selling" the project so I decided to tackle that need. And thus I became a model maker and sold me soul to hundreds of hours of sometimes frustrating, other times groovy detail work over my last two months in Sarajevo. It was worth it and the model developed well as I left Mozaik with an almost finished product. The idea is that they can introduce potential donors and partners to the Ethno Restaurant project when they visit the office and see the model on display or we can take it to a presentation and plop it on the board table and say, "This is it!" Additionally, in taking charge of this project and it's development, I was able to explore my architectural design capabilities and show to the foundation what I can do and how I can assist them in the future. Here's the model!


And so, some other thoughts about the last months in Bosnia. Overall, life was normalized and routine as there was a mix of work and play. Some friendships kind of dissolved while others gained strength due to increased shared experiences and a looking ahead to the future. I was also able to interact with the city with more background knowledge and appreciate it as part of the daily grind. My ability to speak was increased and with that I felt more comfortable in the office and more inclined to deeper conversations with friends and entertaining encounters with strangers.

These thoughts were kind of chaotic and mismatched. I would love to get together with many/any of you and tell you more about Bosnia and I. Also, over the next few weeks I would like to reveal some of my journaled thoughts and gut feelings about Bosnia and potential development there. So...stay tuned.

Feel free to give me a call or send an email so that we can get in personal touch!
luke.kasitz@gmail.com 484 941 2450

much love
Luka

Lab coat for Mirsad

Dear Friends,

Let me tell you a story. Last year I became friends with Selma who is a Veterinarian student here in Sarajevo. Before I left in December she told me about a Pathology professor in the department who was an amazing professor and in love with Cornell University which has a world renowned Veterinary faculty. Even though Dr. Mirsad Kadrić had no physical ties to Cornell, I sensed it's importance to him and felt compelled to get him a gift from the university.

So, after the New Year I made first contacts with Cornell and right away I knew it was going to be a battle as the gift I desired to get was no small thing; a veterinarian lab coat with the official Cornell insignia. Fortunately, I met the "right" person, the Dean's secretary, Patricia, and she committed herself to finding a coat and finally we got some luck- she found one last lab coat that was meant for upper level veterinary students when they transition up. So we found ourselves a lab coat for Mirsad!

Now, just to make it more official, I wanted to embroider his name on this lab coat and I knew the right place to go- the Firestore in Gap, PA. It is an amazing place thanks to the owners, the Witmer family, and because of their embroidering department, they were willing and able to help. So, we were able to put Mirsad's full name in cornell red across from the faculty's insignia. Cool!

You can imagine how excited I was to come back to Sarajevo with this snazzy gift. I had to curb that enthusiasm a bit as the university starts later in the year and my friend Selma was all kinds of busy and she was our connection. But, last Wednesday I was able to meet Mirsad and exchange this gift...

Obviously, he was totally surprised and maybe unsure of the why's and how's. I tried communicating to him that I understand he is a very accomplished and talented professor whose commitment to his students and integrity as a professor (not so easy here in Bosnia) are shaping the lives of his students. He confessed, that he is not sure of his impact within the department but assured me that he is happy and committed and I could sense that he has purpose and passion.

In closing, let me explain the significance of this gift...how I feel about it. First of all it is a pure extension of friendship and goodwill from one place to another- between strangers and among "peers" in the veterinarian world. To feel the kindness of a stranger is a great thing! Also, I believe this gift could inspire Dr. Mirsad to keep on, keeping on! Please imagine a scenario where you give your life for something (maybe educating generations of veterinarian students) and all you see is complacency within the overall educational, political, social and economic structures of your society and you have to "entrust" these students to this society; to sink or swim. I feel this gift could encourage Mirsad in this journey and maybe even impact his students to see the Cornell insignia and dream of realizing any and every dreamlike goal.

So, this was my story about a lab coat for Mirsad. Hope you enjoyed it and I would just like to warmly thank Cornell University and the Firestore. Go team!

Much Love
Luka

Introducing the April Baseball project

My colleague, Eldar, and I are beginning Little League Baseball teams here in Sarajevo. Maybe you could help? Thanks

March...ing On

Dear Friends-

That was an extremely cheesy blog title so please forgive me. An early March snowstorm here in Sarajevo is blanketing my creative spirit with that lulling sense of sleepiness and quietness. Overall, I have not felt too inspired to write anything on the blog (hence, not doing so for two weeks) but please give this update a chance to materialize. Wow, that was a pitiful introduction!

I can say that life has not been overly dramatic recently and maybe that is why I feel I have nothing to say. And in that vein, maybe this is why I need to write; to express the necessary normalicy of living with resolve and purpose in "foreign" places that can become so casually familiar. And so it is that I am getting used to life here in Sarajevo and I will say that it is a confetti mix of day to day happenings and a deeper realization of opportunity here. Let me explain...


As you know, I was working on one of Mozaik's projects regarding efforts to create an EthnoRestoraunt here in Sarajevo's historic center. I am in the middle of these efforts as I am developing plans for reconstruction of an Ottoman period house that will be the restaurants home. So, from conceptualization to diagrams to model-making, I am wearing the "hat" of architect and designer and...I freaking love it. I told my sister yesterday that it feels so good to be designing again; working with layers and layers of trace paper and letting the house come to life at my finger tips. Of course, I am not an architect, but the opportunity Mozaik has given me to bring this project forward into fund raising has given me the courage to be creative and expressive, digging into this awkwardly new design world. All in all, the project is going well and next week I will begin making a scaled model that will fully express the houses potential character.

Earlier I spoke of my life lacking drama so I would like to tell you about my recent trip to Srebrenica. Most people have heard of Srebrenica, even if they know nothing about Bosnia or the Balkans. Srebrenica is synonomous with genocide, war and failed international peace-keeping. Srebrenica was a tiny city kilometers from the Serbian border and home to about 6,000 people of which 70% were Bosniak/Muslim while a similiar Muslim majority was intact throughout the entire Srebrenica municiaplity with around 35,000 inhabitants. One of the most ravaged cities in the war, Srebrenica also realized unspeakable atrocities with the most notorious crime happening on July 11th, 1995 when thousands of men were systematically killed. An area called Potocari, pictured below, is final home to the 8,300 persons and counting murdered in Srebrenica during the war.


Today, Srebrenica is meagerly inhabited with Bosnian Serbs and Muslims trying to scrape together a meaningful life. I was in Srebrenica with my friend Selma, as her families guest and I was introduced to "life as normal" in post war Bosnia. A few quick observations:

I am sick of seeing bombed and burned out houses and buildings strewn about the beleagured landscape. Literally 60% of the buildings you see are not lived in and are either mere shells or charred and ruined. It's sort of like driving in a pristine natural area and then coming upon hundreds of acres of forest ravaged by wildfire. Each desolate house represents a family devastated.

Optimism is ruined hearing story after story of people, lovely people, unable to make significant steps in positive directions- economically, emotionally, relationally, educationally; To see them stuck.

My heart breaks to be around young adults my age who have lost fathers and brothers and uncles; having to live in refugee camps and locked in cells of depression and frustrating futures. To look them in the eye and remember every blessing I take foregranted. Talking to my friend Selma as we were driving and she was fighting back quiet tears in retelling the loss of her father; any attempts to comfort through words were hushed by the lyrics of a Fleet Foxes song playing on the stereo...
"There's nothing I can do
There's nothing I can do
There's nothing I can say
There's nothing I can say"

I guess Srebrenica is a kind of cruel drama we all wish would never happen.


As I look out of my apartment, as newly pictured to the right, I see freshly painted houses and a clean coating of sodium white snow. I guess life is as dramatic or as boring as we allow it to be. Soon I will step back into the confusing world outside this nucleus of comfort. I trust some of my expressed words touched home and made sense. Thanks for listening and richest greetings from Sarejevo.

From my Journal

October 27th, 2009

As I wander these crowded and desolate streets, impossibility makes me linger and wonder. Even though I've been here before, in reality or deja vu, I must have missed the compositioned warmth now demanding my respectful attention. At the crossroads of moving forward or away, my emotions sway on those chords of what could be, if I simply go. If I dismiss today's moment I will cripple the intentions of my creative spirit. And if I fail myself today, will not the plague of fear inherit those childlike dreams of tomorrow and every next year? So it is that this moments choice is not about deciphering the best direction towards the best destination, but knowing that each step and pause voices my feelings of belonging, and not hopeless abandonement.

My best guess is Sarajevo. Tomorrow's back alley will lead me farther east then the comforts existing over here. Nickels and dimes will be hard to come by and my identity will often be mute or comically basic as I learn Bosnian and adopt/marry into culture. In this journey I do have allies and friends who understand, but known it is the coming moments of gripping solitude. I trust I will cling to that threadbare vision and better known words of truth and affirmation coming from above and around. I can sense a growing quiet; a resilient calm regarding this coming season. I sense vision and revelation becoming friends in darkening Sarajevo.

To the Women of Mozaik, with exceptional traits rubbing off on their male colleagues!

Because you need to know, Sarajevo lies along the same latitudinal line as Syracuse, NY which is 43degrees. So, maybe you can better imagine the environment and climate here…and then…know that Sarajevo is nestled among Bosnia’s Olympic mountains so there is an intensity of uncertain, wintry weather. So many people from here and home ask me about the general weather conditions so now you all know.



I am committing this blog update to the women of Fondacija Mozaik. As demanded by one colleague, I have to write a biography and include a chapter celebrating the amazing group of women that constitute Mozaik. Overall, 73% of Mozaik’s team of fifteen are women. Besides making this place a home, as only women can, they are ferocious negotiators and leaders and have each played a role in placing this NGO on Bosnia’s development map. Specifically regarding my coming into the Mozaik family, they have made me feel at home since day one and I can best describe this through discussing my recent search for an apartment.

As hopefully you know, my beautiful time spent with Haso and Sadeta in Blazuj needed to transition into a life spent in an apartment closer to Mozaik and downtown Sarajevo. I was excited for this transition and only hesitant leaving the comfort of my Blazuj home and increased financial need due to living on my own. So, all of last week I was patiently and painstakingly looking for suitable apartments, which included making frustrating calls in Bosnian and running into dead ends with too expensive or inaccessible apartments. This reached a crescendo on Friday afternoon when I came back to the Mozaik office, frustrated by the unfruitful journey. In response to this, everyone in the office started calling family and friends, looking online and in the newspaper for possible places; pursuing leads with just enough charm and determined negotiation needed in Bosnian affairs. It was quite a scene and I just went with the flow.

Just before leaving the office to check out a seemingly decent prospect, the women were all together chatting and one of Mozaik’s board members, Medina, was with the group and she flat out suggested that I live in her flat. Medina who lives in Raleigh, NC, is visiting family here in Bosnia and consulting with Mozaik and offered to let me stay there indefinitely. Amazingly, her apartment is within walking distance of our office and the city center and she is only asking for minimal rent! It also has an amazing view of Sarajevo from it’s elevated location.

Her offer was met by enthusiastic confirmation from all of our colleagues who were all guaranteeing their help in getting anything I need for Medina’s mostly unfurnished flat. For now I have an air mattress and a water-pot to make coffee and that is enough! Already, our secretary dropped off for me some sheets and a Santa mug and all else will come, in time…

I cannot explain too well how I felt leaving Medina’s, I mean “my”, apartment. I walked into town and just sighed and breathed in the air of blessing and welcomed the rest from a worried mind. This is just one more instance in my Bosnian journey when something good has come so richly and in timely fashion. Once again I can just point to the friendship and hospitality of these people here in Sarajevo. I thank God for each of them and especially these women of Mozaik who treat me so well. I hope in time I can give back even more of myself to these people and this city. For today: “Thanks”

From Bosnian Muslim religious leader, Mustafa Ceric

"The truth is that Muslims in this country do not understand Islam...They do not practice Islam, they have only their names which are Muslim, and that is a tradition. Some of them do not even know they are Muslim. And yet, as Muslims in this country, we live in a paradox all the time. On the one hand we are European, on the other we don't know what to do about Europe. We cannot at the moment love it, we cannot trust it, we cannot hate it, we cannot deny it, for we are part of it. We are in the similiar position in relation to the Serbs and the Croats, with whom we share this country, and who disagree between themselves over everything except one thing: their relationship to the Muslims, and their common need to destroy us. We simply do not know what to do, or where to place our faith.

We are "Muslims" now, because they did not allow us to be Bosnians. And now that we are Muslims, they all say "that is a religious category, not a nationality, it doesn't count." And so we say then can we please be Bosnians after all, and they, Europe included say no, because there is no Bosnia any more. I feel like screaming to the Serbs and Croats: Why are you so scared of us? Whey are you so obsessed by us? Why are you incapable of leaving us along? Why do you need to exterminate us and our culture? Why does our culture offend you so much that you need to do these things to us"?


Dear Friends,
I feel excited to learn about the history, culture and moral traditions of Bosnia and the Balkans region. In particular, I think aspects of the Muslim story should be shared with you back home so that their can be mutual understanding of Islam in the european and global arena. This excerpt is a passionate appeal from an Islamic teacher, resonating with me as I live life within this Muslim community. Feel free to ask questions or relay comments. Thank ya
Luka

First Days back in Sarajevo

Well, I am back in Sarajevo or maybe back “home” is a better statement. It was wonderful being back home with loved family and friends for a month and not easy to leave again, but there was a lot of internal, churning emotion driving me back here. Arriving to a snowy Sarajevo on Sunday night I felt totally at peace and ready to make life happen again: continue learning Bosnian and interning with Fondaciju Mozaik and give/receive blessing from old and new friends alike. I never did finish the rundown of Top Ten Sarajevo sentiments so I would like to wrap them up with returning impressions of Bosnia.


8. There is something uniquely and discreetly magical about Sarajevo and the people here. Something you have to believe in and discover or else you might miss it. I have keenly felt the hospitality and the helpful guidance of so many people here who moments ago were perfect strangers. And overall, these people suffer the weight of historical and present-day prejudice that is most absurd.

In a previous Top Tenner, I shared a brief story about Aid who I met on the tram and ended up taking a coffee together. We were not able to meet up again before I left in December even though he was most earnest in seeing each other so I assured him I would see him at the end of January. Answering my first text message he excitedly told me about his amazing new job and insisted on meeting for coffee as soon as possible. I have a hard time believing this myself, but Aid is committed to helping me because…he believes in me and wants me to succeed here and thinks I could help tell the world that the people of Sarajevo are good people. Sitting in the café with Aid, I just settle into the vinyl bench, feeling lucky and loved. I need to be here!


9. Coming from the states, I arrived in Budapest and made travel arrangements from there to get to Sarajevo with time for a brief rest weekend in the Hungarian capital. While there I met up with an Italian volunteer working in Bosnia who was attending a conference on forced migration. Spending two evenings together, I was invited into her new network of conference friends, all volunteers, and a few of them had lived in Bosnia. It was very encouraging to hear their stories of life there and sense how jealous they were that I was returning to Sarajevo while they dispersed to places like Libya and Spain. What strikes me is the impression Bosnia leaves upon souls and the shared nostalgia of life here.


10. Life is real here. Not to say that life in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania is a mirage or dull but I can say that it is different. I sense daily that knife’s edge reality of emotional darkness and light, success and disaster, love and hate, joy and suffering. In most conversations the dialogue will range among these reflecting this distressed normalcy. In talking to Aid yesterday, he readily confessed animal urges to react ferociously to insults and injury and in the next sentence made it clear his commitment to peace and forgiveness. In accepting and wearing these most basic of human tendencies, there is the freedom to express and reach out towards the light and I wish I could aptly communicate how often I have been warmed by that light.
Life is real here. Contradictory and every rough edge softened by snow and mist.


I hope these thoughts are helpful. It’s hard to explain feelings and observations sometimes but I am trying. Beyond these dynamic aspects of life there are the daily nuts and bolts activities like commuting, staying warm and committing to language learning that is an aggravating daily battle. A routine is going to develop as I find and settle into my new apartment and live within the boundaries of the daily grind. Overall, we must all find the glory and possibility of meaningful work and play within our own schedules and I am quite happy about mine here. Blessings upon you all and thanks for reading!

Back to Bosnia!

I AM GOING BACK... JANUARY 27TH!!!
Please contact me if you would like to connect before I head back to Sarajevo!

Home for the Holidays

Dear Friends-

After a long process of travel from Sarajevo, through Europe, to home, I arrived safely in the States last week- just a few days before Christmas. I have to admit it was kind of nice arriving so close to Christmas day and seemingly bypassing a lot of the holiday frenzy and hellabaloo that goes with it. Christmas came and Christmas went along with the residual snow then nasty rain then balmy Sunday and now bitter cold- I do thank God for blue December skies and clear winter nights.

What I also thank God for was the amazing life he gifted me with in Sarajevo. I could not have asked for a better realization of my time there as I learned and lived well. Not knowing what to expect across the board, I was able to make incredible progress with the Bosnian language, make a "home" complete with many friends and sense of community, and I was able to define my future volunteering and professional opportunities.

All of that, I believe, is leading me back to a round 2 return trip to Bosnia at the end of January with a potential three month stay in mind. I am excited for this stepping stone period to continue language learning and develop my relationship with Fondaciju Mozaik as I finish the existing design project, seeing where that leads, and jump into other ongoing projects. Also, daily life will be similar and different as I continue teaching English and visiting old friends but will also have an apartment in town and more opportunities to spend time with friends and colleagues.

In a real sense I believe many of you have shared this adventure with me. I thank you for your kind notes of encouragement and interest and I trust I will be able to spend quality moments with you as I am home this January. I have a story to tell and so do you and we can learn from each other. Needing a break, the blog will be on the "down-low" for a while but I promise to revamp it when I return to Bosnia.

Feel free to contact me whenever by phone- 484 941 2450- or by email at
luke.kasitz@gmail.com
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and blessings upon you.
Luka

More Top 10 Sarajevo Sentiments (#4-7)

Not much of an introduction is needed. I can see the day coming when I will be leaving Sarajevo and truly my heart aches a great deal concerning this temporary departure. Beyond just saying that I love it here, I want to give you some concrete, albeit abstracted, reasons why? I trust that you understand.

4. When you travel or live away from home, so much can cling to your name as a clear reference to where you come from and who you are. I have chosen to “wear” the abstracted name of Luka both abroad and at home as I like its ring and enjoy the resulting conversations. Well, I have gotten another name over here and it is also story worthy. My newest name is Amer, which is obviously short for American but is also a traditional Bosnian/Turkish name so it stretches. Members from the hiking club “Lisin” gave me the name and really adopted me as a son. Then my host father Haso, got such a kick out of it that he now calls me Amer, as do my co-workers at Mozaik. When saying Amer, try giving it either an extra “rolled r…ihhh” or “rolled r…ay” at the end and you might get it right!



5. There is an evident rhythm to life here. Dramatically, the “ezan,” Islamic call to prayer, resonates throughout the city five times a day. For me, it is a powerful experience to hear it punctuating the landscape as dusk is befalling the city- first one mosque and then another in a harmonious give and take. Married to the ezan is the churning commotion of traffic that is something in between NYC and small town USA. As an observer I can simply breathe and hum along to the melody that is.



6. In Sarajevo I can bend the rules. With the preliminary schooling as a Landscape Architect (I think I am a pretty good one?) I am here working with Mozaik on a mostly architectural project; developing plans to rebuild a historic Ottoman house that is a marriage of purely traditional and appropriate contemporary artistic/functional elements. In the states I could never touch a project like this and I have been making the most of this unique chance.

Another oddity is my opportunity to sit in on grammar classes and help teach some English classes in the Hadzici middle high school. In America I would be screened, processed and preened (it rhymed) before I could step foot back in middle school but here I am blessed with friendly and trusting connections and a looser system.



7. Friendship is interesting. I think our western tradition promotes an initial bond of trust; until that trust is broken, and, you can become “best friends” or brothers after one drink or experience. (Please note that I am not naïve about the depth of our momentary, western friendships but the moral legacy of trust is meaningful!) From this part of the world, the reality of trusting friendship is a longer process forged over shared time, committed communication and acts of compassion and respect. However, there is spacious room here for outstanding measures of friendship in-the- moment among strangers.

For example, on the tram yesterday I had the briefest of conversations with an older guy relating to irresponsible youth and when he exited he invited me to go out for coffee- “dali ti zelis izaci na pitce?” Saying “no” due to my schedule, I thought about it, got off the tram and went along with the invite so that maybe, Aid and I can someday be better friends.

More about Mozaik

Mozaik is a team of fifteen talented employees and volunteers, a dynamic combination of non-profit and for-profit enterprises and is located in the Skenderija neighborhood overlooking center city Sarajevo. It has been a pleasure to get to know the Mozaik staff and feel at home at their office and as I begin volunteering with them, I am more comfortable aligning my goals and talents with theirs.

I shared with you a few blog episodes ago that I was in the “getting to know you” phase and there was the basic opportunity to casually volunteer with Mozaik leading to possible future employment. This positive embrace from Mozaik, and specifically its directors, was for me a solid step towards establishing a life in Sarajevo. Since that beginning time, I have been able to jump on board with s specific project regarding the renovation of an Ottoman period house complex into a ethno-cultural restaurant highlighting one of Mozaik’s for-profit companies: EthnoMozaik.


Let me give you a quick glimpse of what Mozaik is doing. Since its beginning back in 2000, Mozaik has developed a strong profile of successful program implementation in the non-profit sector including work with youth empowerment and rural community development, special needs inclusion and social justice, cultural heritage and related tourism development. Building upon these successes, Mozaik has emerged as a community development foundation positioned to start new innovative development programs, including for-profit companies; expanding the scope of their existing and future programs.

Mozaik’s for-profit companies demand a brief introduction. Currently, Mozaik is launching a PR agency that promotes and manages events geared towards positive social responsibility for businesses operating throughout Bosnia and the region. Thus, MaSta Ltd, is developing a social responsibility consciousness in Bosnia both programmatically and as a for-profit company.

Another for-profit company is EkoMozaik which is currently engaged in a heavily invested agri-business that is developing honey production, medicinal and aromatic herb management and beehive construction. This launched project has successfully created thirty out of a projected fifty jobs and could reach its goal of organic honey production next year, 100 tons, that would make it the biggest honey producer in the country and region; meeting a specific market need and developing Bosnia’s agricultural sector and creating more resources for Mozaik to use in the community development sector.

Lastly, the previously mentioned EthnoMozaik, is a natural next step for Mozaik as it realizes success with MaSta and EkoMozaik, expanding its work directly into Sarajevo. Tourism has suffered greatly due to Yugoslavian war of the 90’s and general ignorance and lack of tourism services throughout the country. Mozaik wants to address this market opportunity through developing an ethno-cultural restaurant highlighting Bosnia’s diverse cultural and historic identity through an educational dining and entertainment experience right in Sarajevo where tourism is strongest. The restaurant will also be a natural outlet for consistent sales of organic products coming from rural communities. While making a strong profit to further Mozaiks community development projects, the restaurant will most importantly be a concentrated effort to celebrate everything Bosnia is from border to border.


And so, I am currently investing time in this EthnoMozaik project. With any old house, this one being around 200 years old, there are no original documents and plans so I am creating “original” plans. The house must be totally rebuilt so there is an amazing opportunity to redesign the interior and courtyard of the house (in an appropriate Ottoman with modern and sustainable methodology) while returning the exterior facades to their exact original appearance. So, as a landscape architect, I am happy to get started working on this project and let the house come to life detail by detail.

Top Ten Sarajevo Sentiments...

I wrote these personal observations in response to a friend's email asking me to simply tell her about Sarajevo and how I feel here. It was fun thinking through it and I promised her and you that I will continue to 10. This is kind of silly, the stuff that blogging is made from, but I also think it is important that all of us could describe 10 things about where each of us live that we enjoy and adore, making us such willing citizens. So, I hope that this run-down of thoughts will give you a little more insight into my life over here and once again feel free to say hello and we can stay in touch.


1. Sarajevo has such a strong sense of story. It certainly is not a merry-go-round happy one, but is so beautiful and eloquent and so rich with all the colors and sounds of a multi-cultural intersection; since this fusion happened hundreds of years ago, east meeting west and european merging with the oriental, their is a uniquely singular voice. For me, I want to write and live my story into this one.



2. Their are three different words for intersection in Bosnian. Simply, their is a male form of the word and female form barely differential (raskršće vs. raskrsnica) and their is a classic lit form that is romantically historic (sredokraća). For me, this language is insanely hard and proses many problems to the learner but, in so much, lies the challenge that surely will involve a few chapters of my Sarajevo story.



3. I love Bosnian coffee. I usually get a velika kafa sa miljekom- longer pulled shot with steamed or cold milk- and it is growing on me as I have only ordered only one cappucino since Ive been here. In Sarajevo you have a great mix of posh and historic Austro/Oriental heritaged cafes and then, all of the little Mom and Pop places around the periphery of the city center that are usually filled with smoke and old men reading their papers, counting teeth and playing chess. I don't fit in but the exercise of feeling awkward and then comfortable and then going back to show that I wasn't a lost tourist is great. All the neighborhood patrons are miffed the next time I enter when the bar-man knows what the stranger wants.

From my Journal (past and present)

Dec. 11, 2008

Why is Bosnia rejecting me and Boyertown reluctantly claiming me as it's own?

My army coat becomes heavy as my boots spring a leak testifying to the nature of this night. No starlit sky or waxing moon to illumine the crescented minaret. Just angular rain stiffly annointing this sorrowing head. As I walk, enjoining my senses to this hour of discomfort, grabbing ahold and letting go of my vision is expressive and experiential. Following the lead of Lenape lane, I cannot help but wonder if my now leafless outstretched form will survive the fall of winter to realize passion's rebirth. What I know is failure and talk and my words alone are dry tonight.

Words won't save me or change Bosnia.

Do I really want it? Will I embrace this suffering, these trials of the storm? My ego prefers a sonnet but my soul assures me of the power immanent in this broken free-verse.

The storm cannot kill me or keep me from Bosnia.


Nov. 12, 2009

Time is understood today by the passing of the clouds, exchanging minutes for moments, a cooler now sunnier appreciation of her presence. Sarajevo's before me, along with bridged river, rocky and woody chasms and gracefully proportioned and situated gardens of sacred memories. I realize again what this city means to me as a friend appreciates another. She has everything and yet almost nothing. Her intamacy felt; otherness cultivating that flame of discovery. Playgrounds next to cemetaries and places of worship married in space to the devil's brewhouse. A transient cloud now dwarfs a cosmic sun as I feel November once more.

Student and Teacher

Once more in the position of student at the junior high school in Hadžići, I can now teach my own young students in a more sensitive manner. I know the value of slow and exagerative conversation and the communicative clues of hand and body language. I think most importantly that I realize that the teacher and learned material must be presented as a friend and ally and not as a military outpost to be taken. For, as you are learning a foreign language, you are weak and humble and laughter is the best tutor.
In our first class on Friday and again last night, I made it clear through dramatic explanation that learning a new language, with it's new sounds and persona, will cause the most unnatural contortions of the lips, tongue, cheeks and eyes and we all must have fun and laugh at each other, together. And so, I begin teaching English to a small group of neighborhood kids in Blažuj three times a week. For me this is a way to give back to these new friends and say thanks to all the folks around me who have been so patient and guiding in my own language study.

A Lighter and Darker side of Life

I follow the professor into the classroom. Like any classroom, this one is minimally furnished with desks for two, proportionately small chairs and attentive students in rows. Actually, the class is bursting with chatter belonging to hormone and insecurity driven teen-agers so amused and curious as to my strange presence. After a two sentence intro and proper understanding that I am from PA and not Virginia, the class is assigned overhead notes and me, an overly simplistic intro to Bosnian vowels and consonants. I try to look intelligient (the insecure teenager in me) and the class tries to avoid scolding. The professor concludes our awkward lesson and the entire class, myself included, enter into a lecture about Stari Grčka (Ancient Greece) and it's intellectual fathers- Platom, Herodot and Homer among the rest and I have the notes to prove I was following along. So began a unique opportunity for me to learn the Bosnian language through listening in on a normal junior high class in nearby Hadžiči, Bosnia. I'm just a kid again.

~

Mirsad and I met on the always crowded tramway earlier during the week. Then I didn't notice that he is missing his right-hand thumb but one enthusiastic handshake this weekend proved his loss. Mirsad is 26 and a first year Journalism student at Sarajevo University. Mirsad is also from Srebrenica, a place where Tragedy happened. On Saturday night I heard one of Tragedy's many stories.

We met that night to hang out and help me learn Bosnian through normal conversation. 'It' came up rather quickly that Mirsad has lost a lot. His father and grandfather were murdered during the siege and overthrow of Srebrenica in 1995 during the Bosnian conflict. Mirsad was just ten years old when neighbors, I think he said his father and grandfather, were shot before his eyes and his thumb was shot off by a malicious Serb bullet. His family is broken and his story has charred pages. My heart broke for Mirsad as he simplistically told me his story as I was able to understand it. I truly thank him for befriending me and being open to hang out and help me with his language and moreso his vulnerability so that I can see into a Bosnian heart.

First Visit with Mozaik

OKay. I came to Bosnia with only the guarantee of a welcoming family and home thanks to the Rotary Club. Over the past few months I have had contact with the director of the Bosnian NGO- Fondaciju Mozaik- which I discovered on-line and seemed that it was doing community development work that I was interested in. Besides some basic info and welcoming emails from its director, Vesna, I did not know if I could team up with Mozaik to volunteer as a landscape architect. But, the 'idea' of volunteering with a grassroots Bosnian non-profit like Mozaik was enough to convince to give life in Sarajevo a chance.

So, today I had a much anticipated meeting with Vesna in their office in Sarajevo. From the start it was just an enthusiastic exchange of who I am and what Mozaik is all about. Even more than in her emails, Vesna was totally welcoming and made it clear that their is every possibility for me to involve myself and talent with Mozaik. Like all of their employees, I can carve out for myself a working identity which creatively interacts with the rest of the team. I learned a lot about the organization and was really surprised by the scope and success of their work and was pleased to find out that they have a great reputation fiscally and with municipal governments across Bosnia.

When it's all said and done, I have a legitimate opportunity to work with Mozaik. It's still unclear when and how that can happen but I know I am touring a potential project area with them on Monday and I have been invited to start hanging out at the office getting to know the other employees, sitting in on meetings and getting in the loop with their prospective community development opportunities. I know that this is still a little general but in the following weeks I should be able to get some clarity and share that with you.

From my Journal (past and present)

Oct. 26th, 2008
Wether you believe in God or life or in yourself, all of us can look back at moments and seasons when we doubted...The existence of love, reality of peace, hopeful futures, a reason. In my life I have questioned much in reaction to the loss of family and friendships and those internal battles I cannot win. Too, my sense of 'Home' and where my heart needs to reside has brought me to tears.

At this moment I am still thousands of miles away from Bosnia. I have fallen out of favor with my church and sending organization and therefore, logistically, I am even further away then a year ago. But, my heart tells me that I'm just an overnight flight away from being there, serving there, loving there.

I think I have discovered God's unmarked path to a destined home. I don't need a wallet or a way out to make it there. My grandfather, Pete Talacki, has been telling me to 'go, just go and trust in God.' A God that inspired his father to work and minister to an immigrant community in Philadelphia and led him through WWII. So maybe it's just natural for me to follow this obscured, unmarked path back to Bosnia.

Nov. 1st, 2009
And so it begins. It's the first day of a new month signaling my first efforts to begin a new life in Bosnia. Outside my train window, excepting our present motion through tunnelled darkness, I see a part of Bosnia that is so reminiscient of home with it's Autumn shrouded forests (suma) and choreographed river valleys falling from mountain slopes. This is the romantic in me that values this enviroment as my wild garden of eden fit for adventure and dependent exploration. Then I realize landmines infest some of these beautiful hills. Life is explosive here.

I occupy my train booth with two older men who are 50 and 77. I am just a young boy again who wishes to be taken seriously in a mature world. I speak Bosnian like a 4 year old and I'm dependent on my dictionary like a mother. I struggle around a fragmented list of basic words to articulate how I feel and the spirit behind it. 'I am America. I want to live in Sarajevo.' And in that can these strangers realize the journey I've been on and the life I imagine? Today they cannot but I won't allow this frustration to cut my heart and stab my tongue. While learning to speak I will constantly address the personalities within me, declaring who I am. I am just a child but one who is loved and protected and belonging to a home. I will grow here and play here and respond instinctively to the opportunities and constraints awaiting me.