Worldwide Family Activity Report - Special Issue on Former Yugoslavia
FAR003s - GP
August 1994 by The Family, Zurich, Switzerland

The Family
Making a Difference!

HEALING HEARTS IN THE WAR-TORN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
Part 3

         Eleven relief workers from The Family are in Croatia, bordering the war zone in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This account of their activities and experiences, as told by the senior member of the team, Joseph Eastman, in excerpts from his daily log, continues here:

Ever-present dangers

         (Warning: This section contains some graphic details, not suitable for children.)

         Whenever we begin to let down our guard, the sound of nearby sniper fire jolts us back to reality. The town of Makarska, where we are now working, is only 60 kilometres from the front lines. One man was killed recently when someone threw a grenade into a ward at the rehabilitation centre, just 300 meters from where we are parked.
         None of us ever go anywhere alone, and outside of town we must constantly be on the lookout for land mines. There are two types of anti-personnel mines. One explodes as soon as three kilos of pressure is applied, and--barring a miracle--is instantly fatal. The other type explodes only after the pressure is lifted. "When you step on this kind of mine," we've been instructed, "you can feel the ground give way slightly under your foot, and you hear a distinct ratchet sound. STOP! Hold perfectly still and continue to apply pressure, because as soon as the pressure is released, the mine will detonate. Have your partner get help. Almost any soldier will know how to defuse it."
         Much of Croatia's water supply is contaminated. This is especially true in areas close to front-line battle zones, but even in Makarska certain wells are not safe to drink from. This problem stems from improper burial of the staggering 250,000 war-dead inside Bosnia-Herzegovina. Many corpses have been buried in mass graves, tainting the water table. Others have been dumped into rivers which feed the water processing plants. Recently U.N. soldiers told us that when they tested the water in certain areas, one fourth of the elements consisted of decomposing human waste products.
         Every conceivable disease is present here in Croatia--from ringworm to dysentery, cholera, etc.--do to poor sanitary conditions inside the Bosnian-Herzegovina war zones.
         "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear." (The Bible, Psalms 46:1,2.)

Fact-finding trip to Dubrovnik
         We had heard much about the plight of Dubrovnik, a city in the south of Croatia, so we made a trip to see the conditions firsthand and explore the possibility of sending a team to work with the thousands of refugees there.
         As we travelled south from Makarska, the spirit became more sombre, but the scenery couldn't have been any more beautiful. To one side of the road are rocky mountains covered with olive trees, fig trees and flowers; to the other the beautiful deep blue Adriatic. The villages along the road are picturesque--similar to the smaller towns along the French or Italian Riviera. They were once favourite hideaways for tourists. Now they are deserted except for a few locals. Some have been completely devastated by the war.
         About halfway to Dubrovnik we were in for a surprise! As we rounded a bend, we came to an official border crossing--passport check and all--as the road passes through a five-kilometre stretch of Bosnia! "What are we heading into?" we asked the border guard.
         "You're leaving Croatia, but I don't know who controls the area you're entering!" was his reply.
         From that point southward along the coastal road, even after re-entering Croatia, the vestiges of war become all the more apparent: blackened fields and charred forests, ruins and rubble. The various factions are still officially at war, but the area has been relatively peaceful for the last year.
         One old man we talked to spoke for all of the older generation. "For 50 years I paid taxes to the Yugoslav government," he said, "and then they turned around and shot at me and destroyed my home with armaments my tax money helped to buy!"
         A while later we made another rest stop and struck up a conversation with two men working in a garden: an elderly Croat and a younger Dutchman who moved here with his wife 12 years ago, thinking that Yugoslavia was more Godly and peaceful than Holland. How times have changed!
         By and by, the old man showed us before and after photos of the house the two couples shared and the area's four villages.
         "The Serbs came over the mountains and took everything from every house and person. They ripped earrings from the women's ears and rings from their fingers! Beside our house they found a bulldozer which I had rented to clear the land. The soldiers bulldozed the house and then blew up the bulldozer! We had nothing left!" After pillaging, plundering, raping and wreaking havoc upon the innocent villagers, the soldiers set fire to what was left of their homes and businesses, and laid land mines in the surrounding area. This old man borrowed enough money to buy one sheep and started over again.
         We are so thankful that God sees the plight of the poor and oppressed and will ultimately right all wrongs!

* * * * *

         Many of the road signs in that part of Croatia are bullet-riddled, especially those that bear the names of Serbian cities. There is also a lot of very strong anti-Muslim graffiti.
         As we continued down the Croatian coast, we saw few vehicles on the road apart from U.N. convoys, Croatian military police, and a few farmers making their way home from nearby fields. The buffer zone between the border of Croatia and Serbian-held territory in Bosnia narrows as it extends southward, and tensions increase.
         The atmosphere of Dubrovnik is very different from Croatian cities farther north. Dubrovnik suffered full-scale war and devastating shelling, so the city is quite depressing. Many of the middle-aged and older people eyed us suspiciously. The political situation is extremely delicate. The Serb line is presently just 400 meters from Dubrovnik!
         Strangers are suspected of being "the enemy" until proven otherwise. We had a brief, normal conversation with a hotel clerk and one of the waiters before checking in. But the moment the subject of the war came up, they changed incredibly. Suddenly they became so worked up that we didn't dare express a neutral position. This is something we had experienced in other parts of Croatia, of course, but not to this extreme!
         Unlike many other cities in Croatia, Dubrovnik is not separated from hostile forces by a buffer zone that is patrolled by U.N. soldiers, and that makes the situation in Dubrovnik all the more dangerous!
         Although we found some openings to work with the refugees in Dubrovnik, it became quite clear to us in the four days that we were there that we could accomplish a lot more in the Makarska area, so we returned north.

Back in Makarska
         Upon returning to Makarska, we learned that the beach front road where we had been parking our bus was blocked off to traffic. We found another temporary parking place, and went about our business.
         A few hours later we ran into some soldiers that we had met on their previous leave from front-line duty. They said the first thing they did when they arrived in town was to go see if we were still parked on the beach. When they couldn't find the bus, they were disappointed and thought we had left the area.
         This encounter impressed upon us how important it is for us to "be there" for the many people who have grown to depend on us. One of them had even written a poem for us. (See box.)
         We took our case to the Director of Roads and City Maintenance who, after hearing about our work, was kind enough to give us a set of keys to the barricade so we can park on the beach and come and go whenever we need to.
         Although we have now rented an apartment and are busy much of the time with regular programme at several refugee camps, we plan to have at least a couple of us at the bus around the clock for the many patients from the rehabilitation centre and U.N. soldiers who come for friendship and counselling.

Time is short!
         The soldiers we talk to--both U.N. and Croat--are sceptical about the current ceasefire agreed upon by the warring factions. It's common knowledge that all sides are presently re-arming, and everyone expects fighting to erupt in a few months--possibly as early as September or October.
         The Croatian president has announced that he will command the army to launch an offensive to regain Croatian territories now occupied by Serbia, unless international negotiations put them back in Croatian hands by September 30th. The harvest time would then be finished, but the severe winter weather would not have set in. In response to the president's threat, the Serbs are now talking about a preemptive strike.
         September 30th is also the date that the present U.N. peacekeeping mandate expires, and unless all of the warring parties formally ask them to stay, the U.N. will be forced to leave. God only knows what will happen and when.--But we have been warned that when fighting erupts it will probably be very sudden and without warning, and continue for a very long time.
         In the meantime, we are doing our best to make every day count!

         (To be continued.)


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family