Leaving the shadow of war
The expulsion of Serb families from Croat controlled villages in the Mostar area were followed by tensions and war between Croats and Bosniacs leading to ethnic cleansing. Through a range of activities, such as reconstruction, livelihood support and the initiation of inter-ethnic dialogue, DRC enabled the reemerge of mixed communities in the area.
Salko Zuhric
With the view of fields and gardens and the surrounding mountaintops breaking the horizon, the image of Dubrava is hard to accociate with violence and war. Though Zuhric Salko has suffered immensely during the dark years, as he refers to the war, nothing suggests that his loud, jolly and straight forward approach is not genuine.
- I know the tragic insanity of the dark years first hand. Fighting the Serbs, spending two months in a Croat concentration camp and finally kicked out of my region of birth, Bosnia. I can never forget – but it is in my power to forgive, as others can forgive me, because we all suffered. Now, as you see me here with my wife and my children surrounded by family and friends and sitting in front of our beautiful house looking at our garden and fields with all kinds of crops, flowers and fruits – I have to ask myself, what is more important - the horrors of the past or the joys of the present?
What DRC started was not only a process of rebuilding houses and helping out with seeds and tools. It was just as much a question of different groups learning how to depend on each other and work towards a mutual goal. We were just three Muslim families at first, but then others followed and when Croat and Serb families joined, old wounds began to heal – we were all part of a dialogue initiated by the DRC, targeting our mutual interests.
The water supply has been one of the key issues in the reunification process. I have installed almost 500 water pumps in this area and established a collective pipeline leading water from the river, which, in fact, is shared by all our ethnic groups– a multiethnic water system if you want…
It has been a long and hard struggle to reunite the people of this area and it’s one that will continue for years to come, but without the assistance from the DRC, the fragmentation and alienation of different groups would never have diminished. Bosnia is far from revitalized economically and politically, but you could say that a mental and practical steppingstone has been established.
