Participants Blog

Visual Storytelling of Time in Bosnia

Brigette DePape, Loran Scholar placed in Bosnia for the summer, sent along the following photos to share with the Intercordia community.  The photos are from the youth centre at carnival day, making pinatas, dance class, movie night and yoga class.

Anecdote: A few indicators I’m in the right place

• My house is adorned with Jadotica Bobitica (strawberry shortcake in bosnian) paraphernalia, my childhood super hero.

Where is Bosnia’s Nelson Mandela?

A Canadian with a new home in Bosnia on Religious/Ethnic Apartheid in Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje: Where is Bosnia’s Nelson Mandela?

Part I: Introduction

When I wake up each morning, it doesn’t take long for my sleepy eyes to notice that I’m in someone else’s bed; that the blankets, room, and mountains bear hugging me aren’t mine at all. Who’s are they? Gradually, with a cup of Bosnian coffee (so potent I probably only needed a teaspoon) I start to remember.

The room and blankets belong to the Sabic’s, the warm family I will be staying with for the next three months during my work term in Gornji Vakuf-Uskopje (GVU), a town of roughly 4,000 in the Bosnian part of Bosnia-Hercegovina. But to whom the mountains belong is more complicated.

Croatians and Serbians tried to claim Bosnian land (its mountains, rivers, etc.) as their own in 1992, leading to the 3-year war. As a result, today in 2009, Bosnia is divided into three parts; the Republika Serbika (largely Orthodox Serbians), Herzegovina (largely Croatian Christians), and Bosnia (largely Muslim Bosnians).
The room and blankets belong to the Sabic’s, the warm family I will be staying with for the next three months during my work term in Gornji Vakuf-Uskopje (GVU), a town of roughly 4,000 in the Bosnian part of Bosnia-Hercegovina. But to whom the mountains belong is more complicated.

Croatians and Serbians tried to claim Bosnian land (its mountains, rivers, etc.) as their own in 1992, leading to the 3-year war. As a result, today in 2009, Bosnia is divided into three parts; the Republika Serbika (largely Orthodox Serbians), Herzegovina (largely Croatian Christians), and Bosnia (largely Muslim Bosnians).

A Lesson in Bosnian from Brigette DePape

Toothpaste was the only Bosnian word I knew I when I arrived in Gornji Vakuf –Uskoplj (GVU). While “pasta za zube” would make a great name for fine cuisine, (truly rolling off the tongue!), there probably isn’t a more useless word to master.

Over the past 3 weeks, my vocabulary has expanded. Saving graces are words like “banana” and “piercing” which are the same in both Bosnian and English. The word “lijepa” means beautiful. In GVU, bear hugged by rolling hills decorated by meandering rivers, this word is a staple. But so are words like “rat” and “smrt”, meaning war, and death.

Preparing for Bosnia Herzegovina:  Georgie’s Blog

Georgie is a St. Jerome’s College student at UW who has been placed with Intercordia in Bosnia Herzegovina at the Omladinsky Centar.  In this excerpt from her blog, Georgie offers up helpful phrases from her developing Croat vocabulary as well as a few helpful observations given to her by Intercordia Alumni who were placed at the Centar in previous years.