The word Balkan comes from two Turkish words. Bal: honey Kan: blood. And being in Mostar and in Sarajevo you would understand how fitting that name is. How truly it describes the region. Bosnia i Herzegovina is still filled with blood and honey. The people are sweet yet filled with pain. And the land is beautiful, but filled with the blood of its' people. If only you had been there to see it. Oh, I wish that words could make you feel what my eyes saw. I wish that these photos meant to you what they mean to me.
Everytime we (my class and me) went somewhere that I knew there had been conflict only 10-15 years prior to our arrival, I desperately searched the buildings and landscapes for signs of destruction: namely shell holes. I was forced to wonder during all of my searching if I was doing something wrong... looking for only the open wounds rather than looking for the signs of healing. I felt strangely fascinated by all of the wholes and then... I felt... guilty. Guilty for wanting to see it all and feeling vaguely disappointed about the covered and filled in holes. Should I be ashamed of myself? I'm not sure. Should I know how to feel all by myself?
It was an alien situation for me. I didn't want to see the destruction, but I did; I was happy to see the repair and the progress. It means that the city is healing - that the people are slowly learning to forget the pain. This is what I want to do with the life that God has given me.
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