tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241273492011-04-21T12:23:51.909-07:00Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comBlogger331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153885794714140382006-07-16T20:49:00.000-07:002006-07-26T13:17:07.046-07:00<span style="font-family:georgia;">Hey everyone,</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Here I am...back in front of my computer in good ole Yorba Linda. I have spent the past couple of days putting together my pictures and reminiscing about camp...it's amazing how much you can miss a place like that. So here they are for you...al 729 of them. Enjoy.</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family:georgia;"> April 2006: </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLM" title="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLM (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLM) (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLM) (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLM) (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLM)" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> http://share.shutterfly.com<wbr>/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cN<wbr>mLM</a><br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/Storytime.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/320/Storytime.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />May 2006: </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLd" title="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLd (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLd) (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLd) (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLd)" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> http://share.shutterfly.com<wbr>/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cN<wbr>mLd</a><br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/Diamond.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/320/Diamond.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />June 2006: </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLu" title="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLu (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLu) (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmLu)" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> http://share.shutterfly.com<wbr>/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cN<wbr>mLu</a><br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/Leaving%20Ceremony.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/320/Leaving%20Ceremony.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mix: </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmL_" title="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmL_ (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmL_)" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://share.shutterfly.com<wbr>/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cN<wbr>mL</a><br /></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/watsan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/320/watsan.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388579471414038?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153885743773618462006-06-23T20:48:00.000-07:002006-07-25T20:59:27.466-07:00<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;">Dear friends and family,<br /><br />Over the past couple of weeks, several people have emailed me asking how they can help the community in which I have immersed myself. Along with the other international volunteers, I have been working on a proposal which will allow anyone to help. After being here for nearly 3 months, I have identified a need I feel particularly attached to that I believe will have a lasting impact on the Liberian refugees.<br /><br />THE PROBLEM<br />The majority of local employees in Children Better Way (CBW) are paid 150,000 cedis per month. This equals to be about $16 a month, or $.55 a day. The cheapest bag of rice (which will feed a family of 8 for one month) costs 225,000 cedis or $25. Keep in mind that even if a local employee can somehow save up money to purchase a bag of rice, he/she needs to also purchase coals, matches, and water. This leaves no room for any variety in diet (vegetables or meat), medication, drinking water, or children's school fees.<br /><br />THE PRIMARY PROPOSED SOLUTION - RAISE $3176<br />Our goal is to raise those local employees in the lower stipend bracket by 50% to allow them to at least be able to cook rice throughout the month and possibly save some for medication and school fees. This would mean the majority of the local employees could earn 225,000 cedis, or $25, per month. Those local employees in the higher stipend bracket would be raised by 30%, allowing the highest paid member (executive director) to receive 585,000 cedis, or $65, per month. The total amount needed to increase the stipends for all 65 local employees for one year is $7,588.<br /><br />Through my work in the fundraising committee, I am working closely with CBW administration to allocate the proper funds for stipend increases. The proposal is essentially a partnering grant. International volunteers will raise $1588 if CBW can provide an additional $6000. The last details are being worked out to secure the $6000 from CBW. The goal is to continue this agreement for 2 years, thus making the grand total needed to raise at $3176. By that time, CBW will have a chance to raise the necessary funds on their own, through the knowledge gained from the trainings I have helped to lead, in order to maintain a reasonable stipend for its employees.<br /><br />THE SECONDARY PROPOSED SOLUTION - RAISE $2030<br />In case the $6000 is unable to be secured, or if the total amount raised exceeds $3176, then the goal is to raise $2030. This would allow enough funds to purchase one bag of rice for all 65 employees and allocate all 7 departments of CBW 1 hour of internet time per week for fundraising research. If the funds continue to exceed the secondary goal, then the money will go to purchase either two bags of rice or additional coal for all 65 local employees, starting with those at the bottom of the stipend scale.<br /><br />JUSTIFICATION<br />Children Better Way employees are actually called local volunteers here on camp. But they are far from volunteers and deserve the correct title of employees. They show up every day to teach rooms full of 50 or more children with hardly a piece of chalk; clean the drainage system full of feces and insurmountable mounds of trash; supply care and support to HIV/AIDS patients outcast from their community; provide space and time for children's recreation; and organize workshops on business management for women. All local employees show up everyday for work as early as 6:30am and attend meetings as late as 7pm on a weekly basis. I have never heard a local employee complain about the workload because they are so grateful for the opportunity to work and rightfully proud of their accomplishments within CBW.<br /><br />Additionally, several of the local employees have taken it upon themselves to raise other children orphaned or abandoned because of the war. Often times the local volunteer is running the household because their significant other was either killed or lost during the war. Due to the fact that the local volunteers have any opportunity to work at all, they give back to their community and attempt to provide help wherever they can.<br /><br />Similarly, CBW will only improve their ability to help the community they work for with stipend increases. If the employees are able to have a more ample diet, reduced stress level, and medication for when they are sick, then their work will inevitably become more effective. For example, the CBW school keeps their school fees low but in consequence pays the teachers the lowest of any other school on camp. Therefore, the more qualified teachers are not drawn to teach with CBW because they can be paid higher elsewhere. If the stipends can be increased, then more qualified teachers will be willing to teach those students at CBW who cannot afford to pay the higher school fees.<br /><br />Finally, this is an opportunity to donate money without giving blind handouts. The prevailing dilemma in development work is the struggle to want to give in the moment with the thought of dependency holding you back. The local volunteers are working for their money instead of waiting with their hands and mouths open. They are taking the honorable approach to making money…by earning it.<br /><br />HOW TO DONATE<br />If you wish to donate to the stipend increase fund, I will be sending out the final details at the beginning of next week. I am working in partnership with Global Volunteer Network to ensure all donations can be tax-deductible. If your are planning on donating, please send me an email by Sunday evening so I can figure a rough estimate in order to best allocate the funds. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions about the proposal!<br /><br />Thank you in advance to those who choose to donate - any amount is greatly appreciated. And if you are unable to donate, then I thank you for reading my emails and knowing the story of the Liberian people. Knowledge about their situation is as precious a gift as money. Yet if we can come together and donate to a cause that will directly affect those who deserve it the most, then let's jump at the opportunity.<br /><br />Doing what I can,<br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <span class="sg">Marlee</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388574377361846?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153885703395170252006-06-11T20:47:00.000-07:002006-07-27T21:41:13.766-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/asa1.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/asa1.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>Hello to the outside world,<br /><div style="direction: ltr; font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><br />I have now entered the third month of my time in Little Liberia -Buduburum Refugee Camp. I apologize for the lack of consistent emails, but the electricity has been pretty much nonexistent for the past month. As old volunteers leave and new ones arrive, I am the remaining veteran. I have made it through the rainy season and am now entering the dry season; in other words from avocados to corn. Although I am comfortable with my cold bucket showers and feet in the nasty drains, I am yet to have a "normal" day. People and issues find a way to creep into every crevice of my time here and while it can be an immense challenge to my patience and morality, it is a rewarding experience that is beyond what words can describe. These past couples of weeks have had a running theme of exposure to the layers, both deep and wide, of camp.<br /><br />EXPOSURE TO DISEASE<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/scabies.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/scabies.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>In Africa rashes and sicknesses come and go. The rule of thumb is to rest and wait 24 hours. If headache and fever persists, it is malaria. If diarrhea or vomiting persists, it is food poisoning or a general stomach bug. If there are bites in a line, it is bedbugs. If there are bites with two holes, it is a spider. If a bump has a black dot, then it is a worm. Of course, the rash that found me did not fit into any of these categories and proved to be quite the mystery. I woke up one morning with these white itchy bumps all over my feet. As I was rubbing on the anti-itch cream, I could literally see the bumps spreading. Considering I didn't feel sick and the medical facilities on camp wouldn't be able to tell me anything, I decided to just wait it out. Once the bumps spread to my arms, I knew it was time to go to the capital, Accra, to find out what was attacking me. After two trips to the city, $30, and a lot of waiting, I finally got to see a so-called dermatologist who informed me I had scabies. Sure enough, you contract scabies after "prolonged and intimate contact with a sufferer"…i.e. the kids on camp. Scabies is a mite that burrows under the skin which produces itchy white bumps. Now I have to take a shower every night in the dark and then lather myself in scabies lotion. I found the source a couple of days ago and proceeded to buy the 6 year old, Diamond, the same medicine. The scabies and I are still battling, but I have a good feeling I will be the winner in the end.<br /><br />EXPOSURE TO BARE NECESSITIES<br /><br />A couple of weeks ago, I was in the house when someone came to the door telling us there had been an accident and a white woman needed medical supplies at the clinic at the top of camp. Not sure if we heard the person correctly, two of us grabbed all the medical supplies we had and ran up the hill. Once we arrived, we discovered there had been a car accident on the main road and Erin sent for us to help. Although I was impressed with the speed in which the clinic calmed and treated everyone, the clinic had such meager supplies that they even ran out of cotton. I helped clean, bandage, and calm people as much as I could, but my lack of medical knowledge clearly limited my reach.<br /><br />It was such a surreal scene and gave me a quick glimpse into what it would be like to work in a third world medical facility or crisis zone constantly surrounded by blood. It really is amazing that this clinic is expected to be the medical resource for 42,000 people when there are no band-aids, anti-septic cream, or cottons swabs. They looked at us as if we were crazy when we asked them where we could get tetanus shots. We even had to pay for the gas to drive some people to the hospital. I do give the staff there (both local and international) credit for working with such scarce resources along with the creativity and tolerance it takes to continue operation.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/plaster.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/plaster.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br />EXPOSURE TO THE COMMUNITY<br /><br />One activity the water and sanitation department undertakes is the construction and maintenance of water wells to provide free water to those on camp who cannot afford to buy water from reservoirs (typically 5-10 cents/bucket). Even though the water is only for washing, some people still need to drink it because they cannot afford bags of pure water (2-3 cents/bags). Drinking the well water only leads to them getting sick, and of course there is no money to pay for treatment.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/well1.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/well1.jpg" border="0" /></a>After CBW constructs the wells, they turn the key over to the Zone Head, who then finds a trustworthy person to care for the well. This last week, water and sanitation held a meeting with some of the well caretakers to investigate if they had been charging for water. Turns out, they are not actually charging per bucket; however, they are collecting "voluntary" contributions from the community to pay for chlorine to treat the water. While it is nice to see the community coming together to clean the well <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/well2.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/well2.jpg" border="0" /></a>water, the community feels as though they are required to pay before they can draw water. At first I was disheartened after the meeting to see our suspicions were true, but then I gave it a little more thought and realized this is how a community works together to survive. While there are immense communal feelings on camp that can be so precious to witness, these wells were built specifically so there would be no money attached. The next couple of weeks will include more fact finding missions and hopefully finding a way for CBW, rather than the most vulnerable of community members, to pay for chlorine.<br /><br />EXPOSURE TO OPPORTUNITY<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/internet2.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/internet2.jpg" border="0" /></a>My work in the fundraising committee continues to bring me absolute fascination and means of feeling of accomplished. The course of "Mark's Grant" and meeting with the various local volunteers on their progress continue to be a learning process and, wow, it is moving along well. Last week we held a workshop to train about 15-20 CBW volunteers how to use the internet. The most knowledge anyone had was how to check email whereas some had never even attempted to open the internet. Starting from scratch, we taught them about Google, search terms and basic navigation. Then, we took them up to an internet café for an hour where they could practice doing searches for grant money. The huge eyes of wonderment, smiles of appreciation, and minds turning were all intertwined with flashes of opportunity. Suddenly a whole other world had been opened to these people and they began to see how information can be a source of wealth. In two weeks, we will take them back up to the internet for two more hours <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/internet1.2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/internet1.1.jpg" border="0" /></a>with further direction on websites to investigate for grant money for their projects. Every time I sit down to work on fundraising or I lead a workshop, my mind seems to wander off into finding ways that I could stay here on camp for a year and consistently help these people gain the skills they need to help themselves.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><br />EXPOSURE TO CULTURAL DIFFERENCES<br /><br />Unfortunately being exposed to cultural differences is not always a pleasant experience. Just as I was learning how to manage swallowing my breakfast amongst the backdrop noise of neighborhood children being beat, another most unpleasant sound made itself available. One night, we were sitting in the house playing cards and we heard a woman screaming, almost as if she had found a dead child. We ran and banged on the door followed by someone telling us it was a man and his wife. Embarrassed and giggling, we retreated back to the house. But soon enough, we realized it was not enjoyable sounds and soon crying and yelling ensued. Sitting with dumbfounded looks on our faces, we were helpless. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/gus.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/gus.jpg" border="0" /></a>Should we interfere or not? There were plenty of other people around hearing the same sounds as us, and yet no one seemed to think twice about it. We concluded there was nothing we could do other than offer ourselves to the woman if she needed a safe place to stay or someone to speak to. Then, a couple of days later I was doing outreach with water and sanitation and as we were doing our pitch, a woman starts yelling inside a house "leave me, leave me!" followed by persistent slapping noises and cries. Everyone just carried on with the outreach program without a flinch. I always knew these types of things went on, but hearing it first hand and being in such close proximity was like stabbing a knife of reality into my stomach.<br /><br />EXPOSURE TO HAPPINESS<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/boots.2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/boots.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In contrast to those depleting emotions, I saw 20 kids the happiest I had seen them in a long time after a former volunteer sent money to buy them football boots (i.e. soccer shoes). The looks on their faces were priceless as their modest pride glowed through. While it was awful to be forced to say no to the kids who were not on the list, the joy of the receivers was overwhelming. For many of them it was not only a pair of football boots, but their very first pair of shoes apart from flimsy rubber sandals.<br /><br />EXPOSURE TO WORK<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/cleanup.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/cleanup.jpg" border="0" /></a>The other day, we organized all the kids to do an informal camp cleanup. We had about 30 kids running around with latex gloves and plastic bags picking up trash chanting "we are helping the community!" They were told that if they worked hard, then they would be paid for their work. Let me tell you, these kids were so proud to be working that for nearly every piece of trash they picked up they would call my name to show me what they had acquired. After one hour, they were paid the equivalent of 20 cents. Unsurprisingly, after the hour they were all thirsty and hungry and were asking us for food and drink. It was a perfect lesson to turn around and say they should use the money they earned. Some light bulbs clicked and with additional conversations about saving money, I have now established the Bank of Marlee for one kid, Fokon. He gives me his money so he won't spend it. Anytime he wants to spend it on something, we think long and hard about the choice that is about to be made. Fokon is on his way to having and next week we are going to talk about how he can buy small goods cheaply with his saved money and then sell them for more money to make a profit. Oh, and did I mention this kid is 10 years old.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/cleanup2.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/cleanup2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Other than their physical size, these kids are way beyond their years in so many aspects. I suppose that's what happens when all you know is how to live to survive.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />EXPOSURE TO A NEW WORLD<br /><br />During my stay here, I have been fortunate enough to make friends with a woman Esther, who also kindly washes my clothes for a modest fee ($3-5/load). She is one of the lucky few who has been chosen to be resettled in the States…and not just any state….oh yea, she is coming to California!! I am so excited that she will be in an area where I can visit her often!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/esther.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/esther.jpg" border="0" /></a> I went over to her house last week and we were just chatting, and finally she started to ask me questions about what her life was going to be like in California. I explained the most simple of things like running water to the most complex things like insurance. She was bewildered with the concepts of freezers, ovens, homes with electricity, workers' rights, banks, washing machines and dryers. She is so happy she doesn't have to cook everyday and she didn't believe me when I explained that she no longer had to wash clothes by hand. She was so cute when I shook the bench she was sitting on in an attempt to explain earthquakes! Next week I am going back to her house and we are going to look through and organize her one box of belongings. Spending time with Esther is some of the most enjoyable time I have here on camp…I cannot wait to see her in action in California!<br /><br />EXPOSURE TO HOPE<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/liberia.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/liberia.jpg" border="0" /></a>As word gets out that I am chair of the fundraising committee, more and more people have meandered their way to finding me. I have now met 3-4 people who are interested in starting their own organization in Liberia and they want my help in writing grant proposals and finding sponsors. Even though I have made it clear I cannot help financially, they still show a craving for knowledge and input for their ideas. It is truly amazing to see how much people want to see Liberia flourish. Although people are not convinced Liberia is safe to return to, they are confident that that day is approaching soon and they want to be ready. If the commitment and mentality of starting community organizations and free schools is a trend among Liberian refugees, then I believe this country may have hope after all. I am far from convinced that anything good is going to result from the government currently in power. But ultimately if Liberia is going to rebuild, it needs to come from the people on the ground that are ready to embrace peace. Although I am extremely skeptical about the safety of the country today, maybe it is time for Liberians to start making plans to go home and build the country they want to see.<br /><br />EXPOSURE TO SLAVE TRADE<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/fort.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/fort.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Last weekend the volunteers ventured off to the west of Ghana to see Cape Coast and Elmina for a visit the slave forts and to enjoy some quiet time off camp. It was interesting and eerie to be in the concrete room where hundreds of slaves were kept, to stand on the floor where everything from urine to menstrual blood collected for the years of the slave trade. To see the door of no return open into where the ships would pull up and the slaves would be loaded was surreal. Walking around the towns I got a distinctly European vibe with the shapes and colors of some of the buildings. It was a bit strange and unexpected to have an Afro-European surrounding smack me in the face. The highlight of the weekend was when Erin and I splurged and indulged ourselves in wine and chocolate chip cookies (nearly impossible to find in Ghana). <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/fort2.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/fort2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Oh the night was so good! After the weekend I was full of new knowledge and chocolate and I was a happy camper. So off we went and returned to camp!<br /><br />And now this email is officially at the top of its fifth page and I promise I will stop here. For those of you who actually made it through, thank you for listening to my rambles! I suppose this is what happens when I don't email for a couple of weeks. But now you can take your time to leisurely read about what's been going on instead of having to listen to be babble off about it when I get home.<br /><br />Ahh speaking of home. Here is the game plan…July 2: leave Ghana; July 3-12: Budapest, Krakow, Warsaw, London; July 12-18: Orange County; July 18-24: Bay Area; July 24-August ?: Orange County; August ?: move to either Boston or Newark for law school.<br /><br />I am looking forward to seeing you all…it will be here before we know it!!<br /><br />From inside the world of Little Liberia,<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="sg" style="font-family:georgia;">Marlee</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388570339517025?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153885643484381472006-05-21T20:46:00.000-07:002006-07-27T22:29:45.790-07:00Hey!<br /><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><br />The rainy season is officially here! As the Liberians would say, the rain has fallen plenty!! Nearly every day the rain has come and brought along the attached tug of war of pros and cons. Rain is nice because it cools down the temperature outside, washes away a lot of the trash on camp, and fills the wells with water; but it can be a problem as people's homes flood, more </span><span style="font-family:Georgia;">mesquites</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/rain2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/rain2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;"> are </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/rain1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/rain1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;">born, and walking outside becomes a hazard. </span><span style="font-family:Georgia;">Although the drains clear of disease ridden trash, they fill with sand that prevents water flow thus inviting water born diseases. The lightning flashes so bright and regularly I hardly </span><span style="font-family:Georgia;">need a flashlight </span><span style="font-family:Georgia;">outside and the thunder is so deafening it makes me jump at each crash. One night we had a really harsh storm - I probably saw more lightning and heard more thunder in that one night than I would see in a whole year back home - and it virtually knocked out our electricity for a week. So we reverted back to good ole pen and paper for our work and candlelight for our reading. It seems to be back on track now, but my guess is that the electricity will be more likely to visit us sporadically rather than stay permanently for the rest of the rainy season.<br /><br />HOW MY WORK IS PROGRESSING<br /><br />7 weeks of mental tug of war, yet the past couple weeks have inevitably been fascinating as more pieces start to come together and more layers are uncovered. Work in water and sanitation is going along well. Every time the rain falls, I know I will be digging sand out of the drain the next day. I am starting to feel like this department just works to put a quick fix band-aid on problems. For example, there is a concrete drain built by UNHCR and part of the drain runs uphill. So every time we go to that drain, we have to disturb the mosquito eggs and attempt to fill the hole with sand.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/drains.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/drains.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;">Or when we go out to talk to the community, people tell us they have no dumpster nearby to put their trash, so they just dump it a in a mound near their home. It's frustrating that there is no clear path on how to get the drains fixed or send in more dumpsters. Part of me wants to jump in and fix the problem in a matter of weeks, but another part of me knows that I can't do everything for the people here. All I can do is encourage them to seek out the path to solving the problem, but I think soon enough some of the international volunteers will need to take a proactive approach. The mental tug of war says although I am in this department to be an extra pair of hands, I am tempted to think that a little guidance wouldn't hurt. I just need to be careful that I am providing the local volunteers with the skills to seek out solutions for themselves once international volunteers are gone.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/marksgrant.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/marksgrant.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;">7 weeks of mental tug of war, but at least in one aspect one side is winning. I genuinely feel that I am helping local volunteers gain skills when it comes to my work in the fundraising committee. I never thought I would be so excited about fundraising!! I think in my last email, I talked about how I have steered the committee away from doing the actual fundraising and instead training the locals how to apply for their own grants. A former volunteer left some money to the fundraising committee, and the month of May has been a whole learning process where each department has gone through the full process of grant writing to obtain some of this money. During the next two months they will be responsible for implementation and follow-up as well. It's so rewarding to see them taking our workshops seriously and applying their learned knowledge to take their skills and run with it on their own. The local people possess incredible ideas in their head, they just lack the education on how to present the information in a written and organized format. I feel as though I am doing worthwhile development work by helping them to bridge the gap between idea creation and implementation by showing them how to acquire the necessary funds. So far the tug of war competition in the fundraising area has been minimal; however, I am anxious to see how long this lasts.<br /><br />HOW MY MIND IS PROGRESSING<br /><br />7 weeks of mental tug of war. One of the most unexpected experiences on camp is how the</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/diamond.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/diamond.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;"> philosophical questions I have discussed in the classroom with professors, on grassy fields with friends, and inside my own head play out in every action I take and word I say. Liberians live in the moment, they don't think about tomorrow because, quite honestly, they don't know if they will see it. Survival is so engrained in their heads that they worry about surviving today; whereas I come from a future-oriented background where every moment is meant for building up for the future. I often need to remind myself to live in the moment and when I talk to the Liberians, especially the children, I encourage them to think about their future either by saving money or practicing safe sex or whatever. It just rips me apart when I see a mother of 8 buying herself hair or clothes and then complaining to me the next day that she has no money to feed her family.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Georgia;">7 weeks of mental tug of war amidst the abounding cultural differences. There are times when</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/grace.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/grace.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;"> the international volunteers are sitting inside laughing or eating, and outside we can hear the screams of children being beaten by their parents. Clearly I believe beating children is wrong, yet a beating seems to be the only punishment children respond to here because it is all they know. During the day, I walk along the main road and see children selling at stalls rather than attending school. Obviously I think the children should be in school, but would an education do any good if they don't have the money to eat?<br /><br />7 weeks of mental tug of war. I used to be totally convinced that being aware of outside opportunities was for the best because then it would give people something to </span><span style="font-family:Georgia;">aspire toward. However, I come from an environment that would encourage me to do this and it is implanted into my nature to think along these lines. Yet, the children who were going to be </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/asa1.2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/asa1.2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;">adopted (whom I wrote about in previous emails), have now tasted the flavors of three meals a day and felt the comfort of sleeping on a </span><span style="font-family:Georgia;">mattress only to be thrown back into the hole of camp. The anger, frustration, and confusion within them are bubbling and slight explosions are already occurring. Although this may sound pessimistic, the reality is that the chance that these children will ever be able to aspire to the opportunity dangled in front of them is slim. Is this a case where ignorance would have been bliss?<br /><br />7 weeks of mental tug of war. The leftover food situation has been battling it out left and right since day one. We ultimately came to the decision that we are not going to give out extra food (the kids hate it when we use the word leftovers) ever again. We have to be careful to make sure the kids know that they are not being punished, but rather we are just eating more since we have more volunteers in the house now. In other words, we are stuffing ourselves to the brim to make sure there is not extra food to hand out. I do believe that in the end this is the best option to put a halt on dependency and expectation. Who would have ever thought I would gain weight in a refugee camp?<br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/food.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/food.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><br />Random observations abound on a minute by minute basis, but here are some that I have picked up this past week:<br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/esther.2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/esther.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">- A lot of people have emailed me questions about the language, and the answer is everyone here speaks Liberian English. In other words, it is English with a particular accent, dropping off the end of words and adding an -o (i.e. mornin-o), and specific vocabulary phrases (i.e. small-small instead of little, plenty instead a lot, finish instead of done, wee instead of wheelbarrow, fine instead of good, etc.) As the weeks have gone on, I can understand the vast majority of conversations and incorporate their vocabulary into my vernacular. So if I come back talking funny, now you'll know why.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/pinky.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/pinky.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;">- The fact that Liberia was founded by former American slaves is not just the one fact that everyone knows about Liberia, but rather it shadows over the entire historical conflicts of Liberia (to be discussed in another email). In addition to language, one of the everyday presences of this is in people's names. Nearly everyone has an American style name - from Mary to Lawrence to Jerry - with the bonus names like Diamond, God's Gift, Gift-Tee, Blessing, Patience, etc.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/slippers.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/slippers.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">- For some reason that I am yet to put my finger on, people here are</span> obsessed with wearing their slippers (i.e. sandals). Children will get slapped if they are caught without their slippers. It is so odd that they are fixated on this issue whereas they don't mind picking up food from the ground and eating it. And I find it even stranger that they will tell us when we are wearing dirty clothes or have dirt on our skin, when they are filthy and are often the cause of our uncleanliness.<br /></p> <span style="font-family:Georgia;"></span> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/fabric.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/fabric.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:Georgia;">- One thing that really gets me when I am abroad is the stark contrast visuals present. Here, there is no more blatant image than the women who wear elaborate African fabric as skirts alongside their donated t-shirts bearing race for the cure logos or odd American phrases like "chill out" or "50 years and plenty of beers." All the while they have their business balancing on their heads (from eggs to water to wood) while walking around in American style rubber flip-flops.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:Georgia;">Overall, living and working on camp is forming a whole new dimension to refugee situations that I never knew existed. UNHCR is heavily pushing repatriation (i.e. people to go back to Liberia) despite the fact that Liberia is far from being safe. But UNHCR is running out of money and continues to move from crisis to crisis because their mission is to get people out of immediate danger. I am learning that UNHCR then just leaves the refugees and this is where </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/jeffersonme.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/jeffersonme.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;">NGOs are expected to jump in and carry on the efforts between the people being evacuated and being returned. But what if that time gap is 15 years with a less than meager sign of ending in the near future? What if returning is not an option? The psychological trauma and logistical nightmare of dealing with this dimension are breeding quicker as time goes on. The area of refugees is becoming more intriguing to me, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be where I am learning what I am learning. I hope these emails are able to portray a glimpse into the uniqueness of this dimension and the reality that an obscene number of people are facing in this world.<br /><br />From the land of limbo in this game of tug of war,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">Marlee<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388564348438147?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153885590450022642006-05-09T20:45:00.000-07:002006-07-30T16:41:08.886-07:00Hello across the Atlantic!<br /><div style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><br />This past week I have officially moved positions from newbie to veteran as 6 new volunteers have arrived. It's nice to be comfortable enough to show new people the ways of the camp. I'm feeling more and more natural living on camp and this allows me to sink deeper into its various aspects.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/1bins.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/1bins.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>In water/sanitation, I continue to empty trash bins around camp every morning. Between unpleasant drips and dirt, we are greeted with "God Bless You" and "Morning-o" (Liberians like to add "o" to the end of certain words). One day we saw World Food Program giving out food aid, and we asked them if they would provide the extra rice bags to us so we could use them for trash bags. Although finding a printer for the letter request required a trip into Accra, there was surprisingly little effort needed to get 92 bags donated! Woohoo! As we like to say, small-small steps to improvement.<br /><br />Also this week in water/sanitation, we worked to renovate a well. Children Better Way (CBW), the local organization I am working for, asks for $500 donations in order to build a well. This well then provides free water to the community for washing and bathing. I was blown away by the local Liberian volunteers who worked their asses off (on hardly one meal a day) <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/2well.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/2well.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>to get the well completed within a week's time. Since we were renovating the well, we had to dig up the old one and basically make a whole new well. We dug down 10 feet (yes, I got into the hole!), put in barrels and crushed rock, and cemented the top. While we were able to complete the well with impressive speed, there are certain underlying details that chip away from the sweetness of success. First, the money to renovate the well was given over a year ago, and only now was everything worked out to go ahead with the renovation. Second, the international volunteers got into a discussion with the local volunteers as to what to do with the leftover <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/3well.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/3well.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>materials. We suggested they save the materials so that the cost of the next well would be lower, and this would mean finding donated money would be easier. But the local volunteers didn't quite grasp this concept and they wanted to use the extra materials either for their own purpose or to sell. Although we convinced them to keep the extra materials in storage, I'm not so sure we convinced them on the business end of things. Alas, small-small steps to improvement.<br /><br />Sometimes I feel awkward making suggestions on how the organization should operate because I am not here to implement my ideas. How do I know my ideas are the best ones suitable for Liberian refugees in Ghana? However, CBW has international donors and is therefore required to follow certain standards if it wishes to continue to receive funding. When it comes to the manual labor, I keep my mouth shut and my hands moving. However, when it comes to the administration side of things, I am slowly starting to let my mouth to do more talking. These efforts are coming out in my work with the fundraising committee. Previously, the fundraising committee was dedicated to raising outside money for CBW.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/4cooper.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/4cooper.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />As chairwomen, I slightly changed this direction. Instead of the fundraising committee filling out grant proposals for CBW, we are now working with the administration to get their financial documents in order to allow the organization to be transparent to their donors. Then next month, we will be training CBW how to fill out grant proposals themselves by holding two workshops a month in addition to weekly meetings. I am much more comfortable leading a committee that is helping people help themselves. I must admit that I have high expectations for this area of my time, and I hope that when I leave, the administration will be comfortable walking the fundraising walk on their own. Yet, I know I still need to keep in mind, small-small steps to improvement.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/5gus.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/5gus.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Overall about half of my time is spent working, and the other half is spent dealing with various issues that pop up around camp. This last week, there were some significant events that have made my stay here more difficult, yet more enriching. The family that lives across from us has two parents with a total of 7 children, which are a combination of brothers/sisters, cousins, and grandkids. A previous volunteer decided to adopt two of them - the oldest boy and the only girl. She started the adoption process in December and has been living with the two kids on a beach ever since, working with them on behavior and language. Clearly, the other kids in the family were profoundly affected by the fact that two siblings were chosen to be adopted and move to the US. After a couple of months, the facts sunk in and life without them began to take shape. Now, the other weekend, the international volunteers came back to camp to find out that the two kids had been dropped off by the previous volunteer. We had no way of contacting her, and so all of our <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/6vashti.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/6vashti.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>information came from the kids - that the previous volunteer said the Ghanaian government wouldn't let her adopt them, she was going back to the US without them, and that they were to go back living on camp. The ripple affect of this is too far to even see. I can't imagine being those two kids, thinking their lives are about to get infinitely better, only to turn back and realize their chance is over. I can only hope that the taste of another life is enough motivation to push them to achieve the whole pie. It's utterly heartbreaking and there are no words to console such a loss.<br /><br />Another unbelievable story came to us this week. There is a little Liberian girl who was adopted to the US at the age of 4 and has been living with foster parents. The girl is now 12, and her foster parents told her she was going to Canada to see her birth mother. However, the foster parents sent the girl with a woman to abandon her here at the refugee camp. Somehow a pastor found the girl crying on camp, and took her to CBW, where the woman in charge of international<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/7erin.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/7erin.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> volunteers - Erin - took the situation under her wing. After contacting the girl's school in New York, it came out that there was most likely abuse going on with the foster parents and they were looking for a way to get rid of the evidence. Because Erin is a licensed New York teacher, all of the girl's records were able to be released to her so Erin could prove the girl had permanent status in the US. To make a long story short, while hoop hopping and investigating, Erin was informed that she was being followed and that neither she nor the girl was safe because the foster parents were still looking for a way to get rid of her. Finally, after working with the ACS, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security, Erin secured that she would be temporary guardian of the girl and escort her back to the US where she will live safely with the principal of her school until a permanent home can be established. Erin and the girl are still in Ghana, and should be leaving for the US soon. This story keeps unfolding like a mystery novel, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up on Oprah soon. Hint hint (her producers are already<br />involved).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/8karen.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/8karen.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>As you can probably guess, living on camp is all about the ups and downs. One up that happened this week was my washing lady and peanut candy making friend, Esther, received news that she and her daughter would be resettled in the US! This is absolutely incredible considering the US nearly put a stop on accepting anyone from Liberia. The fact that Esther was able to prove that there is no way she can return to Liberia safely combined with the fact that Liberia is not getting any better, worked magically together to result in this fabulously life-changing news. It has been incredibly suspenseful watching Esther go through this process and I know it will be fascinating to watch her prepare for the big move. Despite all the crap that goes on within camp, it's revitalizing to see such a kind-hearted spirit as Esther receive the best news of her life.<br /><br />I must admit that last week was the most difficult week on camp. Between the horror of the two<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/9asa.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/9asa.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> kids being brought back to camp, the abandoned girl, and new volunteers arriving, the other neighbor kids were an absolute nightmare. They were hyper-active and not listening to any words that came out of our mouths. We decided to punish them by not giving them leftover food for one week and instead we would give it to other needy families. This caused uproar to the point of a near-riot. After a couple of days and explaining that our leftovers were a privilege not a right, the kids finally started to behave again. In giving out the food to other community members, I gave it to a co-worker who has 6 children to take care of. She was so grateful and told me that in the past two days the only thing her children ate was some cassava (a vegetable). It's so hard to keep giving food to the same kids knowing that there are thousands more families that need the food just as much, if not more. Ah the dilemma of leftover food is one that haunts me at night and reflects so many ethical questions involved in working here.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/10winneba.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/10winneba.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Despite the downs from last week, I was able to muster up the energy to head to a little town called Winneba for the weekend. There was some sort of a deer hunt festival that we wanted to investigate. After partaking in some of the parades and seeing the deer-to-be-sacrificed, I relaxed with a book and coffee for most of the time, which allowed me to return to camp on Monday fully re-energized.<br /><br />Basically living on camp can somewhat be related to a black hole. I find myself getting just close enough to look over the edge, but one more step and I am sucked in forever. I am doing my best <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/1600/12.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5028/2498/200/12.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>to learn about what is inside without actually intertwining myself in its components. Inside the hole are all the horror stories of what happened to the Liberians, the innocent ignorance of administration, and all the moral dilemmas that come with being surrounded by refugees. It is important to be aware of the horror stories, but I need to remain somewhat disconnected in order to remain focused on the work I came here to do. It is also important to be aware of the shortcomings of the administration and work with them to improve, but I cannot do it for them and I cannot get wrapped up in solving every organizational problem. And it is important to acknowledge and think about the moral issues involved, but I need to not go in circles with these questions and let the fact that I have no answer get me down.<br /><br />I cannot seem to write short emails these days, but as you can see the amount of activity, both physical and mental, is endless. I appreciate those of you who take the time and build the patience to read about my experiences. I hope I am able to pass on a small-small amount of what I am learning here over to you across the Atlantic.<br /><br />From little Liberia in Ghana,<br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"> <span class="sg">Marlee</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388559045002264?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153885506171047992006-04-27T20:44:00.000-07:002006-07-30T17:18:12.886-07:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Hey out there! (and if you were here, we would shake hands, pull each </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">other's middle fingers, and snap…as is the standard greeting)~</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Amongst the heavy rain and deafening thunder, this week has been full </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">of various activities and accompanying emotions. Everything is still </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">a little jumbled in my head, and I am reaching the stage where things </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">are starting to come together and I am grasping the concept of what it </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">all means. Because I came here expecting the unexpected, things are </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">reaching my expectations. I had no idea what I was walking into and </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">how I would respond to being surrounded by such dire circumstances. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">In this email, I will just tell you some disjointed stories I have </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">come across, and hopefully by next week I will have pieced some of it </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">together and will have a deeper reflection to offer.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">I'll start with one that has a little bit of humor to it. Last week, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">some of the volunteers took the kids up to the "fee" (i.e. field) to </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">kick around a soccer ball and throw some frisbees. One girl, about 5 </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">years old, carried her little brother, 8 months old, up the hill and </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">asked me to hold him while she played. I thought it was only fair to </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">give her a rest from looking after her brother so she could run </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">around. For about an hour, I held the boy while talking to the rest </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">of the kids and tossing the frisbee. Sure enough, I went to hand the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">boy back to the girl, and I had one big pee stain all over the front </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">of my shirt! It was funny at the time, but looking back, I realized I </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">have seen very few children with diapers. Obviously little kids </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">cannot control themselves, so it \wouldn't be surprising if they often </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">went to the bathroom on or near themselves, therefore spreading </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">disease like wildfire. What we think of as basic hygiene just doesn't </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">exist. The vast majority of establishments on camp do not have a </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">toilet. This morning I was brushing my teeth five feet away from a </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">kid taking a crap in the dirt. A dumpster to dispose of any type of </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">waste can be as far away as a 15-20 minute walk to areas that are </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">dangerous at night. Between non-existent bathroom facilities and no </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">efficient waste disposal system, various animals have one hell of a </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">party carrying disease throughout the entire camp.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">The amount of disease on camp is out of control. Just yesterday I was </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">walking down the road and saw a kid bent over on all fours coughing up </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">mucus. This is a common cough we have been hearing around camp, and </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">we are afraid TB may be floating around. It's hard to diagnose </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">anything with only 5-7 doctors on the entire 42,000 person camp. At </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">night we often sit around reading various travel health books to help </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">identify things that kids approach us with. Ringworm has also had a </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">consistent presence lately. The boy that lives next to us has these </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">awful looking flaky rings on his scalp. And the other day we had a </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">mother bring her little boy by who had a cut on his head (from when </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">she shaved the boy's head to, ironically, keep it clean) that got </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">infected. Keeping in mind that most people use the same bathwater, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">from free wells on camp, if there is a water-born disease </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">spreading…chances are an epidemic is about to happen. This happened a </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">couple of months ago when a lot of people on camp came up with </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">cholera. It's unfortunate that I have a gut feeling of hesitation </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">when I go to hug the children or pick them up because of the fear that </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">I may catch something. Every time I enter the house, I go to eat, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">before and after I go to the bathroom, I need to scrub my hands clean. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Even after showers, I never feel clean. This is an issue that we </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">deal with every minute of the day, but certain precautions are </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">becoming second nature and you learn how to make your interactions </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">with the kids safe, but simultaneously natural and nurturing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Sometimes I forget the non-visible horrors that follow people when </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">they flee their home country. People are not only striving day by day </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">to survive, but they also must deal with traumas of their past and </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">attempting to think about their futures. One man came to one of the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">volunteers asking for help the other night, showing him some sort of </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">police report. The volunteer inquired a little more about the story, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">and it turns out that the man who approached him is a Liberian who had </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">his entire family killed in the war and he fled here for safety. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Turns out the rebel who was responsible for killing his family in </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Liberia also fled here. The rebel recognized the man, chased him with </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">knives, and now the man sleeps with friends out of fear the rebel will </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">find him at night. So what are we, as volunteers, but seen as </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">saviors, supposed to do for this man? And then after hearing this </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">horrific story, come back to our guesthouse, eat food, savor the fan </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">powered by precious electricity, and sleep soundly at night. We are </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">still brainstorming on if and how we can help this man. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Unfortunately, sometimes the hardest part is acknowledging the fact </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">that there is nothing you can do.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">But sometimes there are things you can do. For example, almost every </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">night we have leftovers after dinner, and there is no way we can throw </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">away the food. Somehow, years ago, a tradition started that the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">volunteers hand the food out to the kids around the house sometime </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">after 8pm. While it may sound nice that we are feeding the kids, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">there are so many things wrong with this scenario. Not only do the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">kids come to expect the food and wait outside until we give it out, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">but what would happen to them if volunteers weren't here. The word I </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">try to follow the whole time I am here is the word of </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">"sustainability." Some of the kids have now become dependent on us to </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">feed them every day and become quite hostile if we don't follow suit. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Plus, it is usually the same kids getting the food every night, and </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">knowing that there are other starving families that happen to not live </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">near us, just kills me. Some of the other volunteers agreed with my </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">discomfort with the situation, and we sought out a family that is </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">really struggling to buy food, and there are suspicions the mother may </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">be resorting to prostituting late at night. We decided that twice a </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">week, for one month, we would bring the family the leftovers instead </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">of giving it to the kids. In the meantime, the mother would be hired </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">as a washing lady, in order to give her a means of providing for her </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">own family. However, now the family is accustomed to the fact that </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">the white people are helping them out and the boy, Rufus, has been </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">coming to the house asking (actually more like begging) for more food, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">water, coal, and money. Just when I think I am on the right path to </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">finding a solution, I realize I may actually be causing more harm than </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">good. This situation is still unfolding, and I will let you know how </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">things turn out.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">In general, there has been a constant asking problem lately that the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">volunteers have been discussing in our meetings. Although I was asked </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">a lot when I first got here, I have not yet faced very difficult asks </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">because I am still forming relationships with people. But most of the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">volunteers are asked by their colleagues that they work closely with </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">for money for food, rent, medicine, etc. It is incredibly difficult </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">to stay the course and give blanket no's. Often volunteers find </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">themselves giving, then word gets out that they give, and magically </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">there are more and more asks. It is a vicious cycle and takes a </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">united cold hearted approach to stop it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Sometimes there are situations that cannot afford to be turned away. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Last week, a girl named Beneta, came up to one of the volunteers, Liz, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">and told her that she had taken blue tablets and wanted to kill </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">herself. Beneta became too weak to walk, and she was eventually wheel </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">barrowed to the top of camp to the UNHCR clinic. Liz stayed with </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Beneta for hours while the drugs wore off and her family came to the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">clinic. This is an incredibly long and detailed story, but basically </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Beneta is 15 years old, is not in school, lives with her aunt (the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">rest of the family is in Liberia), prostitutes to get money, and has </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">been starting to influence some of the other girls around the house. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">The next night, she came back to Liz saying she had taken three more </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">tablets and still wanted to kill herself. Lucky for me, Beneta </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">requested to speak to me. Through much talking and maneuvering, we </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">got her to give us the tablets and agree that she would make it </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">through the weekend so she could think clearly without the drugs. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">That night Erin, our coordinator, found a mental hospital in Accra </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">that would accept Beneta if she was in danger of overdosing and </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">provide her with psychological services. Beneta agreed to go to the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">hospital and we took the 90 minute taxi ride there. Sure enough, we </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">get to the hospital and the workers had gone on strike that afternoon. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Yup, they locked the patients in the ward, and walked off. Exhausted </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">and flustered in this overly exasperated situation, we calmly took the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">taxi back to camp and decided to seek out services on camp. As of </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">yet, our luck has been minimal, but we are still trying to construct a </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">program of our own to help Beneta turn her life onto the right path.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">In an attempt to lighten the mood a bit, here are some random things </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">that have happened in the past week:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">- I noticed the Liberians have surprisingly white straight teeth! </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">When I am out "dislodging" (i.e. emptying) the bins in the morning, I </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">see a bunch of people brushing their teeth. And I'm not quite sure </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">how they all got so straight…but nevertheless they are!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">- I also noticed the Liberian women do not grow their finger nails </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">long because they are often doing the cooking and washing and nails </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">would just be a nuisance. However, they have a tendency to grow their </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">toe nails very long, some even have fake toe nails! It kinda creeps </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">me out a lit bit, I must admit. And then men tend to have at least </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">one or two long nails to be used as an additional utensil or </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">instrument.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">- Asa, one of the babies that lives near us, used to be petrified of </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">white people. Today if a white man goes within 5 feet of him, he </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">still lets out a wailing scream. But, he is coming around to the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">women first and has slowly progressed to actually let me pick him up </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">now!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">- I went into Accra and bought some gorgeous fabric! On camp I can </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">have skirts and bags made any way I want! Ah, I have to control </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">myself to not come back home with a new African wardrobe. Plus, how </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">can I spend money on such things when there are people on camp not </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">eating? I suppose by paying someone to perform a service for me, I am </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">helping. But still…ah the moral dilemmas in everything!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">- I went to church on Sunday! Yes, that is a very strange sentence </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">for me to write. Wow, people are in their own little worlds when it </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">comes to church. You have people with their arms in the air, people </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">on their knees, people looking like they are about to cry, people </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">hugging, people dancing, people singing! It's like one big concert! </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Imagine a party atmosphere mixed with endless blessings for random </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">things, donation collections, reading from the bible, and a sermon </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">about recruiting new church members, and you have yourself a Sunday </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">service.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">- I am part of a department that helps women set up businesses through </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">micro-loans and last week we held a workshop to help them set prices </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">in order to make enough profit to cover their expenses. The workshop </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">seemed to go quite well and they were slowing understanding until we </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">got to the mathematical part of it. Although some women can read and </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">do math, some women use rocks and sand drawings to figure out the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">necessary math. During the next two weeks we plan on visiting each </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">woman to help them with the math, and I'm planning on doing some </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">fundraising specifically to buy them calculators. Being an extra pair </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">of hands in the drains through the sanitation department and helping </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">people help themselves through micro-loans is helping me keep </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">grounded.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Well, I'm sure I have exhausted your eyes and tugged at your hearts </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">enough for one email. There are still so many things I could write </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">about, but I will save them for next time. Rest assured I am doing </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">quite well and am doing my best to able to pull myself into the bigger </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">picture rather than get caught up in the frustratingly blinding </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">details. But the details are what make up the bigger picture, and </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">that is why I am here…to learn and gain the necessary experiences to </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">carry into my future work.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">From under the mosquito net,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Marlee</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">I FINALLY HAVE PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It actually proved to be </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">easier than I thought, I just need to get into Accra every once in </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">awhile to the lovely air conditioned and fabulously fast internet </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">café. I will send them out as often as possible! Here is the link: </span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmK7" target="_blank">http://share.shutterfly.com<wbr>/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3c<wbr>NmK7</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388550617104799?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153885454515002812006-04-20T20:43:00.000-07:002006-07-25T20:45:29.783-07:00<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: georgia;">Hello from the land where the avocados are purple and the oranges are yellow,<br /><br />Now that I have been formally Africanized with my braids and malaria<br />recovery, I have had some time to sink my way deeper into life on<br />camp.<br /><br />It must be so hard for you all to envision what the camp looks like<br />considering our perception of Africa is based on movies and<br />stereotypes. I imagine the camp is similar to other parts of Africa<br />in that it is becoming more and more like a community, but with a<br />different feel because the population consists entirely of refugees<br />with only a maximum of 15-20 international volunteers. Let me take<br />you on a walk from the bottom to the top of camp…<br /><br />At the very bottom of camp, there is Whiteflower, which is the<br />dreadfully slow internet café that tests our patience more than the<br />kids. There are about 20 computers there and the Liberians there are<br />often writing emails to former volunteers, doing research on<br />educational or resettlement opportunities abroad, or, surprisingly,<br />chatting on yahoo chat. I'm starting to get the feeling that those<br />that are better off have the money to go and skills to use the<br />computer. Often times I have kids peering over my shoulder looking at<br />the screen or asking me for internet time.<br /><br />To the right of Whiteflower is Guesthouse 2, and up and to the left is<br />Guesthouse 1, where I live. Right now there are 6 people living in<br />the house, but the number changes on a monthly basis as volunteers<br />come and go. I share a room that consists of two beds, two mosquito<br />nets, two windows, two shelves, a wobbly table, and a fan that<br />requires a push start. The communal bathroom is next to my room, and<br />is essentially a toilet, a big container of water, a bucket for<br />flushing, and a can for the paper. We also have a common room where<br />we can talk and eat. Victoria, our cook, cooks for us everyday. And<br />boy oh boy do we love our carbs around here! An interesting note is<br />that when UNHCR founded the camp, they provided the Liberians with<br />corn as food aid, but the Liberians traditionally eat rice. So now<br />they take the corn and sell it off camp to the Ghanaians (who<br />traditionally eat corn) and buy rice. Needless to say, nearly every<br />meal has a rice base. We have a staple supply of peanut butter and<br />eggs to keep us going.<br /><br />Moving up the main road, there are endless curves and twists. The<br />camp is quite large spatially; however, when looking at all the nooks<br />and crannies it is an absolute maze. Luckily the kids know their way<br />around fantastically and always "carry" us anywhere we need to go,<br />even if it's just to the other guesthouse. Most of the establishments<br />are homes with scattered restaurants, pharmacists, churches, and food<br />stalls. Surrounding the whole camp is "The Gulf" where all the trash<br />is dumped. And just over "The Gulf" is the field where we take the<br />kids to play. I always am sure to wear my sneakers on the field<br />because snakes are known to roam around.<br /><br />Keeping in mind all the roads are dirt, the ground is caked with<br />plastic bags and scattered with rocks. It is anything but even as<br />makeshift drains and natural water paths curve their way through camp.<br />One of the most common sights is chickens! They are everywhere! My<br />enemy is the rooster outside my window that wakes me up every morning.<br />But my favorite is the one legged chicken, but the chickens running<br />around with their chicks are hard to resist. But working in the<br />drains and seeing the chickens eating whatever they can find out of<br />the drains (yes, mostly feces) then I think twice about eating chicken<br />around here. Lizards are often seen prancing from tree to wall, and<br />some have a brilliant orange color. Goats are known to wander around,<br />baaing to find their pack. Unfortunately the most common sight on the<br />ground is plastic bags from the water. On the one hand, I was glad to<br />see that so many people could buy clean drinking water. But on the<br />other hand, I was devastated to see that people weren't taking care of<br />their surroundings. Even from a health standpoint, people plainly<br />just don't know the dangers of living in a dirty environment. These<br />are some of the many reasons why I wanted to join the water and<br />sanitation department.<br /><br />About 1/3 of the way up the main road, there is the Children Better<br />Way (CBW) office where most meetings are held and the administration<br />is located. It is an awfully stuffy building with fans that look like<br />they are about to collapse. But there is an operating computer, a<br />schedule, and a few separate rooms that act as offices. And moving up<br />from there, the main road gets busier and busier as you reach the top<br />of camp. At the top is where most of the shops are located and you<br />can find more specific things like cloth or avocados or soap.<br />Basically anything you need is there, you just need to ask around on<br />how to find the correct stall.<br /><br />Just outside of the top of camp, there is the main paved road that<br />goes into Accra. This is where taxis and tro-tros are readily<br />available. And actually across the road is part of the camp as well,<br />but much quieter and some Ghanaians are building fortress like houses<br />next to the meager Liberian creations. The interactions between the<br />two are not always favorable, especially because Liberian women can<br />often be found in Accra prostituting their way through. Hearing about<br />Liberians being targets of discrimination when off camp is not<br />uncommon. And I foresee this as being an interesting issue area if<br />and when the camp turns more into a resettlement rather than a refugee<br />camp.<br /><br />That's just about the appearance of camp in a nutshell. Some other<br />news is that this weekend some of the volunteers and I ventured to<br />Akosombo, a town on the bottom of Lake Volta…the largest lake in West<br />Africa (and I believe the largest manmade lake in the world).<br />Surrounded by green trees, a lush contrast to camp, we relaxed<br />lakeside and took a ferry out to an island. Despite the run-ins with<br />scorpions and mesquites, it was an enjoyable time off. I am learning<br />that it is nearly vital to get off camp at least for a night to cool<br />down, treat your back to a solid mattress, and give your patience a<br />break from the kids.<br /><br />Thank you all who have been writing me emails…I have been reading<br />them! I will do my best to respond to everyone and send pictures<br />soon.<br /><br />From the land where the phrase "don't let the bed bugs bite" isn't<br />just a phrase,<br /></div> <span class="sg" style="font-family:georgia;">Marlee</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388545451500281?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153885372466067552006-04-12T20:41:00.000-07:002006-07-25T20:42:52.473-07:00<span style="font-family: georgia;">Hey out there!</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">I have finally established a schedule for myself, and oh my, am I</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">busy!! My predominant responsibility is with the water and sanitation</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">department. Monday through Thursday mornings, I wake up at 6:30am to</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">go around the camp emptying the trash bins, come back to the house for</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">breakfast, and by 8am I am out in the sewer system. Mondays and</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">Wednesdays we go around with rakes and shovels cleaning out the</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">drains, finding anything from plastic bags to batteries. Black bags</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">are especially common because while the men go #2 in "The Gulf" (i.e.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">the dump that surrounds the camp), the women go in black plastic bags</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">that often find their way into the drains. After it rains, the trash</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">will often get buried in the sediment and then we need to shovel the</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">dirt of the drains. Seriously labor intensive work!</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go with the water and sanitation</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">department to do outreach. International and local (Liberian)</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">volunteers go around and talk to various parts of the community about</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">the importance of keeping their house and surroundings clean. We</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">attempt to show them how putting one plastic bag into the drain, added</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">with everyone else's bags, lead to flooding and clogging. It has been</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">a bit frustrating because I can see so many ways to improve the</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">techniques. But I need to wait to see what would be the most</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">appropriate suggestions taking cultural differences into account.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">Water sanitation is awesome because it is totally outside anything I</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">have ever done before. It's also fantastic because this is one of the</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">departments that is led by local Liberian volunteers and the</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">international volunteers act more as extra hands. Global Volunteer</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">Network (GVN), the international organization who recruits and</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">organizes international volunteers, is trying to phase out their</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">facilitating role and not lead any projects. Considering the camp was</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">originally set up by United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">(UNHCR) for the immediate refugee crisis, and then international NGOs</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">come into foster the transition period, it is now time for local NGOs</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">to take over. It's an incredibly interesting period for me to observe</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">and I have already learned skills that I know I will carry over into</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">my international civil society work in the future.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">I am also involved in a micro-loan program where the local</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">organization, Children Better Way (CBW), gives out interest free loans</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">to women to start their own business. Thus far I have gone around to</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">visit the women, see how their businesses are going, and collect part</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">of their payback money. Currently we are planning a workshop focusing</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">on business and time management. I'm so anxious to see the women</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">develop and expand the program to offer more loans.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">Additionally, I have been recruited to take on some fundraising</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">activities. This is going to require me to make frequent trips to the</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">internet to do research, type up proposals, and email contact people.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">Fundraising should balance out my physical work with some office time.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;"> It will be interesting to see how difficult and frustrating this task</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">will be to take on. Yea fundraising!</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">I also will be involved in a bunch of little activities. On Tuesday</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">and Thursday afternoons I will often go to a dirt field and throw the</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">frisbee, chase kids, or carry and run with them. A couple of times a</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">week I go to storytime where we read to kids for about an hour and ask</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">them interactive comprehensive questions. And because the kids are on</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">a school holiday break for the month of April, I am hoping to pop in</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">and help out with an art outreach program to help identify certain</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">trends through artistic means of expression. There are a bunch of</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">other programs, such as HIV/AIDS outreach or tutoring or or adult</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">literacy or computer classes or administration, that I wish I had time</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">to partake in!</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">And every single minute in between, I am outside of my house playing</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">with the kids, providing sheets of paper, or looking at various wounds</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">attempting to refuse to give out medicine or bandaids. Basically my</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">house is a school, meeting place, hospital, food provider, and play</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">center all at the same time. I can see how it will get exhausting</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">with the constant requests and trying to judge what is legitimate, but</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">I also have confidence that I will establish a rule system for myself</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">and try to give as much time and energy to the kids as opposed to</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">money and food. This is much easier said than done…</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">For example, the other night I had a kid asking me for money to buy</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">clean water to bathe in. And the other day a girl came to me with her</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">little sister with a bad looking bed sore. Although it only takes</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">$1.50 to take someone to the clinic to be diagnosed, usually no more</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">than $5-$10 for medicine, and only $.10 for a bag of clean water, a</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">line must be drawn somewhere. If you give out money, then everyone</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">will be asking. And it's hard to say for sure if each request is</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">legitimate. There are known scammers, and volunteers must be careful</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">to go with kids to the clinic (which can take 3-6 hours) and then to</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">buy medicine.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">On a lighter not, I got my hair braided! 10 hours worth of sitting on</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">my ass with women pulling on my hair. I must have at least 100</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">braids. It's nice to have my hair out of my face and not have to</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">worry about consistently washing it. I'll do my best to get pictures</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">out sooner rather than later.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">Speaking of diseases, I am the lucky soul who got attacked by a</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">malaria infested mosquito pretty much right after I stepped off the</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">plane. I went to a local doctor (must admit it was a little bit</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">nerve-racking), and he took a finger prick test. Sure enough, I have</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">malaria. Whew it is not fun, but at least it is identifiable and</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">treatable. I feel extraordinarily tired and lethargic combined with a</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">massive headache and zero appetite. As of right now, I am still</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">taking medicine to cure it, and should be better in a couple of days.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">With that, I think I need to head back to the comfort of my fan. Oh</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">and if I didn't mention, it is hot hot hot. I am sweating from places</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">I didn't know possessed sweat glands.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: georgia;">Hope all is well at home and I can't wait to hear about all of your happenings!</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388537246606755?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153885057807634592006-04-04T20:36:00.000-07:002006-07-25T20:37:37.813-07:00<div style="font-family: lucida grande;"><p>Hi!</p> <p>So here I am…in my guesthouse on an old school laptop with a chance to sit down and write a couple of thoughts down.</p> <p>London<br />My last days in Croatia seem like ages ago, but I remember them fondly and feel so accomplished to have finished my article. I then found myself with several flight issues, but it all worked itself out and the next thing I knew I was in London. Directions in hand, I meandered my way to Dhaval's house in a suburb south of London. Dhaval and I had an excellent time catching up and driving around his hometown. London was so fascinating and so much different than I imagined. There was a general feeling of oldness and all the buildings were brick. Winding through the cutty streets of south London, Dhaval gave me a personal tour and told me of all the ethnic divisions plaguing the city. Everywhere I went I heard several different languages all at once…it was such a mixed city! Although I was only in London for one night, I will be back in a couple of months and I can't wait to explore further! </p> <p>Where am I?<br />And so now I find myself in Buduburam Refugee Camp about 30 miles northwest of the capital, Accra. While I am in Ghana and interacting with Ghanaians in the city, I am mostly with Liberians because they are the ones who live at the camp. The camp itself is now more of a resettlement community rather than a refugee camp because it has been here for 15 years. The tents have turned into cement homes and it feels more like a small community rather than a temporary set up. I don't know too much about the political situation and how people feel yet, but I am working my way up to building relationships with people. Considering there are a ton of tribal languages, nearly everyone speaks English so I can actually communicate with people. </p> <p>First Impressions of Life on Camp<br />The camp is hot hot hot mixed with humidity and dust. Sneezing and sweating is becoming as common as breathing. There is no running water so we have bucket toilets and showers along with bagged water for drinking and brushing teeth. Electricity is sporadic and often a gust of breeze replaces the fans. Victoria is our cook who makes eggs and porridge for breakfast and then a big pot of something (potatoes, cabbage, or eggplant) along with rice or noodles for lunch and dinner. There is always bread and peanut butter and there is usually some fruit around. The kids are absolutely fascinated with us, so protective and curious. While we are sitting at the table eating or talking, the kids are constantly at the window gazing inside or saying, "please come!" Someone referred to this as the fishbowl syndrome…as in we are constantly being watched...it's like a 24 hour reality TV show for them. Walking two minutes outside you are greeted and hugged. Kids are jumping on you wanting to play with your fingers or hair. They are irresistible, but boundaries must be drawn and they are not allowed in the house and we have a curfew that we must be inside by 10pm. </p> <p>First Weekend<br />Last weekend we traveled into Accra by tro-tro, basically a squished bus of people bumping along the road. We got out in a super busy market full of women selling goods off the top of their heads and out of little stalls. We quickly caught a taxi, who successfully got us lost, hopped into another taxi, and made our way to Busy Internet…super fast internet with air conditioning…a major luxury. Then we went to an art market when many of the crafts sold around Ghana are made where we met Erin's (the woman in charge of the volunteer program) friend, Jabwai, who is an excellent drum maker. On our way through his neighborhood, we stopped by and I had my first Ghanaian coconut! Mmmm the milk and the meat were so yummy and a welcome treat. Next we hopped into another taxi and managed to sit in traffic for two hours in the squelching humidity with heat lightning above us. </p> <p>We finally made our way to Kokobite, a fantastic beach area where many NGO workers gather on the weekends for reggae night. We drank and danced on the beach to the reggae band with real live Rasta people. They really exist! It's sort of a mixture of religion and philosophy and generally meets the stereotype where everything is about respect, love, brothers, and peace. I'm still learning about their way of thinking, but it was quite fascinating to be around them. The next morning we ate breakfast with the ocean in the background and flies swarming around us….lovely nonetheless. And we spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach, buying bags, and collecting shells. </p> <p>On our way back to camp, we wanted to stop back in Accra for a bit to pick up some goodies. Now, there is this former volunteer, Libye, who is in the process of adopting two siblings from the camp and is living with them in Kokobite for the time being. Libye brought another sibling, Owen, out of camp for the first time to play with his brother and sister. Owen saw the ocean, played in sand, ate substantial meals, and slept on a mattress all for the first time. Seeing him say bye to his brother and sister was absolutely heartbreaking…he could barely bring himself to look at them. The overly crowded bus back to Accra broke down and we had to wait and switch busses (which took forever!). The busses had everything from a woman to elephantitis to women carrying children on their back to a man with drums. Once we finally got into the city, considering it was Owen's first time off the camp, he kept commenting on how tall the buildings were, how humans kept running into each other, and how much traffic there was. He was hugely wide-eyed with wonderment. We took him to a supermarket and he couldn't believe how many choices there were. He even ate a grape for the first time, loved it, and saved the seeds to plant. Due to the random downpour of rain, we decided to eat at a Chinese restaurant before heading back to camp. Owen was too cute when he cut off a piece of his chicken to share with all of us at the table. He ate the smallest piece for himself, and then saved the rest to bring back to his family. And when we went to get ice cream, he took one bite and then asked for a top so he could take it back to camp for his family. When we explained to him that the ice cream would melt, he instead took two spoons that he said looked like shovels to bring home. After a busy two days of firsts for Owen, he was tired and ready to get back to camp, so we hopped on a tro-tro and made our way back to homebase. </p> <p>The rest of the week will be spent getting my schedule organized and meeting as many people on camp as possible. More to come!</p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388505780763459?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153884907077341302006-03-30T20:25:00.000-08:002006-07-25T21:21:39.450-07:00<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >People home and abroad constantly ask me the question: "Why did you come to </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >?" Before I arrived there were two main reasons. The first reason was selfish. I wanted to learn. I wanted to challenge what I was taught in school and see first hand what war meant to a society and how it was able to cope and move forward. To hear the so-called real story. The second was to offer a helping hand while I embarked on my personal discoveries of the Balkans. I may as well offer my skills and availability wherever they may be needed, from editing English language proposals for funding to traveling 90 minutes to teach an English class in a rural village. Although I have not completely accomplished these goals – because the learning and helping potential is endless – I feel as though I have done as much as possible in my short time here. Now that my stay is reaching its end, I have uncovered another reason for my journey to </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. And that is to share all that I have learned with everyone on this list. Some of you claim to have no interest in politics or international affairs and may not even choose to read my writings. And as much as I am here to help those in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, I am also here to show you how events happening across oceans and over mountains affect you and why they matter. The Balkans offer us an incredible chance to relate and see the dangers in ignorance and radical ways of thinking that can be applied to conflicts across the world and in our own backyards. On the flip side, it can also provide us with an inspirational model to follow and a chance to appreciate our culture of values we too often take for granted.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >No Society Is Immune</span></i></b><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >The Balkans were and are an integral part of </span><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Europe</span></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. From hosting the 1984 Winter Olympics in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Sarajevo</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > to lining their streets with cappuccino serving cafes, the people of the former </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > indulge themselves in the same enjoyments as you and I. They are a modern society who listen to pop music and drink their Cokes as second nature. Yet they were capable of being plunged into war and still face the danger today. It's easy to think, "that will never happen to us." Well, the people of the former </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > felt the same way. Even when discussing the war today, most people shake their head in disbelief. They talk about it as if happened 50 years ago, but it was only 15 years ago when the recent violence exploded. Violence can find itself turning your corner if you are not aware of the political situation and motives of your own leaders. Allowing yourself to be informed and gathering the energy to stretch outside of your bubble to support or reject your local and national leaders is of vital importance in providing a secure world for yourself. The Balkans can provide a lesson for each citizen of this world on what can happen when the wrong people gather power, civil society is quiet, and desperate situations are allowed to arise. Bottom line is no society is immune to conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Weapons = Potential</span></i></b><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >There are only two weapons people are capable of acquiring to arm themselves: knowledge and the motivation to use it. We are privileged we live in a society that provides us with the rights to use these weapons freely. We should take advantage of this opportunity to determine the type of environment we want to live in…from our world as small as our private homes to as large as the universe stretches. I hope that I am able to provide you with some insights into the situation facing our fellow world citizens so we can learn from their achievements and mistakes. It's up to you to first gather the energy to read not only this, but others' writings and continue to follow various news outlets. And it is ultimately up to you to gather the motivation to use this knowledge. Having this writing to look back on as a means of capturing all I felt while I was here will serve as a constant motivator for me. I hope this will act as a learning tool and some form of an early warning signal for each of us if we don't realize the potential power we possess.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h1 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >I Thought</span></i><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></h1> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Why am I interested specifically in the former </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > (i.e. the Balkans)? My rehearsed interest areas will be explored below. But there is a more basic, underlying reason that has emerged as a mixture between my pre-departure idealism and current experience in reality. Before I arrived, I thought the Balkans represented this haven of democratic hope. I thought the area represented a group of people who were led into war by mischievously radical and expertly manipulative minds. I thought the war was a 10-year period of hell in which the common people were forced to suffer through. I thought the peace agreements had saved the Balkans and the people would rejoice in human rights violators being brought to justice. I thought their experiences would push them through a graceful transition period and the Balkans were the only hope for the near future to see a true democracy fostering an engaged civil society. I thought it was a pivotal example of how war can end and a society can move forward together looking over the differences I thought were created by the evil sheepherders. I was wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >The Harsh Truth<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >The truth I have come to discover is that the war never ended and the beginning is lost in historical myths and distorted facts. The 1990s were just a violent showing of an historical buildup. The region is far from stable and realizing this is a great disappointment that makes me disgusted to have to acknowledge. What makes me sick is the façade put on that the region is moving forward when in fact the war is still flourishing and another violent uprising is not unimaginable. The peace agreements brought an end to the violence, and it is commendable that people are no longer being physically killed in large numbers. But this was just a band-aid, a short-term fix. This is better than nothing and I can only hope that it stalls the violence long enough to find a final solution. But the act that everything is okay is what enrages me. Everyday people suppress the issues as they go on sipping their coffee hoping they have enough pocket change to pay for it. The visionary souls picking society up email by email, report by report, person by person take the shape of NGOs. </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >'s impressive step forward in the civil society field is providing the hope I was so eager to find upon my arrival. Although the other Balkan countries' civil society activities are not invisible, they are restrained. All in all, my picturesque notion of a stable Balkan region has been shattered but the pieces are slowly being picked up by the brave and initiative filled Croatian NGOs.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >History Puzzle<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >History plays an instrumental role in explaining the 1990s and textbooks and citizens alike, when attempting to explain the past and current situations, often note events from as early as the 6th century. Such a prevalent and personally attached notion of history is something that was difficult for me to relate to. The streets of </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >California</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > aren't exactly lined with war hero statues and road names are a constant reminder of our geographic distance to </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Mexico</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > rather than prominent players in my country's history. My school textbooks' timelines don't date earlier than the 1700s. And my knowledge of what war or what side my ancestors fought is limited. The roots of how people came to settle in the Balkan region are well known and were a decisive factor in life or death in the 1990s and today in one's quality of life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Trying to understand the recent history of the Balkan wars is like trying to put together a puzzle where the pieces don't quite match up. Writing an accurate description of the history would take years of a tediously circular thought process and thousands of notebooks, so I will do my best to highlight the necessary points as the most basic history lesson. Starting in the 6^th century two tribes, the Serbs and Croats, migrated from the Polish/Ukrainian area to settle in the Balkan region. Both were of Slavic origin and spoke virtually the same language. Over the centuries the Croats came to identify with the Catholic Church and the Serbs with the Orthodox Church. The region of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, stuck ethnically and geographically between Serb and Croat regions, came to be the most mixed and when the Ottoman Turks arrived in the 1300s, eventually many Bosnians willingly converted to Islam. So the conflicts to follow took on both an ethnic and religious nature. The list of events from this point to the 1900s is exhausting and includes different periods where the 3 entities were at one point separate countries and at another one country with 3 states. These times saw all 3 temporarily absorbed by local nationalist revolts, heavily intertwined actions in both world wars, and periods of peace and harmony.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Unity Under Tito…What It Could Have Been<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >A united </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, the term referring to the area as a whole, was technically divided into republics and each republic had a dominant nationality but was essentially mixed. The question of nationality was given minimal attention and intermarriage was hardly given a second thought, most especially in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. Although the multiculturalism often brought disturbance to the Balkans throughout its early history, Josip Broz Tito saw a hope and beauty to this unique feature. During his 35 year rule, he attempted to balance the various national and religious interests under one state (Yugoslavia, formally established in 1943) to be "neither Serb nor Croat nor Muslim, but Serb and Croat and Muslim." This goal was achieved and people lived in mixed communities without even realizing it. Rather than completely suppressing nationalist thinking, he provided small, though carefully watched, measures for such expression by providing a limited degree of autonomy to the various regions. When I ask people about Tito, everyone refers to him as a great man with a great vision. Even though the 90s saw tearing down of his posters, I feel as though he has been idealized today. People make it very clear that Tito led a socialist, not a communist, state and that he placed </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > in a favorable position during the Cold War – friends of both West and East. Everyone is proud to note the fact that his funeral was attended by all but two world leaders. People also associate his rule with a time where everyone had a job and visiting a doctor or dentist was free of charge. Mirjana, now in her late 40s, told me that today she passes by a public kitchen on her way home that provides food for the poor and the line gets longer each today. But she said during socialism such kitchens couldn't have even been imagined. She sees the biggest problem approaching </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > today is poverty because it is an unknown concept and people will not know how to comprehend or deal with it. People in their 30s especially praise Tito and when questioned about their nationality, they tend to say that they are Yugoslavian but because that country doesn't exist anymore, after a headshake, they say that according to their papers they are either Croatian, Serbian, or Bosnian. There are several claims that Tito ruled with a harsh hand and his dominance was not the ceremonial bliss referred to in my conversations with people. But to people today, his leadership offered at least a hope of what the region could have been. The period is referred to as the good days when all people needed and wanted, and therefore had, was a job. They were happy and satisfied and didn't need or want to be bothered with inter-ethnic conflict. His death in 1980 left </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >'s reigns open and vulnerable to other visionaries' takeovers.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Identify the Enemy<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >The 1990s ushered in the breakup of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. To me, the word breakup is a worthy description of the following events because, depending on your point of view, staying together and working with its differences could have given it the chance to become a prosperous and influential world power, or breaking up could allow each player to seek its own course and concentrate on improving the lives of its own citizens. In the end, I see the breakup as the best option because it was inevitable to happen – then or later. If it would have waited any longer, the nationalist ideologies could have spread further and deeper thus allowing the breakup to be even bloodier. After Tito's death, the weak decentralized structure started to show its flaws. The 1980s saw an economic downturn and people were beginning to feel lost without their long-standing leader. Political elites in each republic started to turn the popular discontent toward their neighbors. As discussed with Melina, a Greek citizen who has worked across the NGO spectrum, it is natural to want to find someone to blame for your problems, especially if you are faced with situations that seemed unimaginable only a couple of years before. Once this enemy is identified, you can then seek to destroy them in order to rid of the problem. The dilemma was that each republic used each other as a scapegoat and this took the form of nationalism, essentially threatening to collapse </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > from within. Tito's idea of Yugoslavian unity was framed as an unwanted and troublesome concept.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Takeover or Preservation?</span></i></b><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Slobodan </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Milošević</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > came to power in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and today the ultimate blame for provoking the wars is placed on him. Most people believe his goal was to create a "Greater Serbia" and takeover as much land as possible for his republic. But some others see that he was fighting on behalf of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > to keep his republic as strong as possible by fighting for areas believed to be rightfully Serbian. Being in </span><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Eastern Croatia</span></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and having the chance to talk with people of both sides, I have come to at least understand both positions. I see </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Milošević</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > as foreseeing the breakup of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > as a defeat for </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and he was willing to do anything necessary to preserve what he could. The problem and loss of respect for this ideology comes with how </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Milošević</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > approached the takeover or preservation process (depending on the perspective). He undoubtedly led a campaign of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing and arguably of genocide. For </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Milošević</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, the way to preserve </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > was to rally all Serbs in one territory and rid it of all other ethnicities. To everyone outside the category of Serb, this meant violent killings and expulsion from homes. With his unfortunate recent death, a court will never be given the opportunity to complete the trial to convict him of such crimes.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >The Bloody Breakup</span></i></b><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >The first republic to declare independence was </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Slovenia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > in 1991 after a brief 10-day fight. I believe </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Milošević</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" > </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >let </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Slovenia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > go relatively quickly and easily because it was the first, had a small Serb population, and was geographically and historically the furthest from </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. But when </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > decided to declare independence later in 1991, this break away wouldn't be so easily accepted. While </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > was led by </span><st1:place><st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Milošević</span></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, </span><st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > was led by </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Franjo Tuđman</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, who is arguably as guilty as </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Milošević</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > when it comes to leading campaigns of ethnic cleansing and subsequent crimes against humanity (he also died and will therefore never go to trial). Serb populations within </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > rallied as both a response to harsh treatment by </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Tuđman's</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > government and nationalist rhetoric from </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > were fighting over territory and this played out in the Eastern part of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > (where I have been for the past 2 ½ months) and all along the Eastern border. Both attempted to claim land was theirs by wiping out the other ethnicities – thus both resorting to vicious acts, from prisoner labor camps to rape to flat out mass murder. By the summer of 1991, a full-blown war was in effect. In 1995, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > regained most of the territory taken by </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > through 2 brutal offensives against both the Serb army and people. These areas then came under United Nations protection and through the </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Erdut</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > Agreement in 1995, the regions were guided back into Croatian hands by 1998. Because my efforts have been focused on </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and for the sake of readability, I will not delve into the extremely complicated situation of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. But I will say that it is often seen, and is my belief, that it was the ultimate victim of the wars. </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > had and has the most mixed ethnic and religious population and ironically was the most tolerant with a high number of mixed marriages and thus mixed individuals. </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > was stuck in a tug of war between </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and was forced to take a stand despite the fact that Bosnians were somewhat deaf, although not blind, to the nationalist rhetoric due to its mixed nature and way of living. Although NATO bombings and the subsequent Dayton Agreements halted the surrounding forces, the current Bosnian situation remains as unsure and fragile as ever, posing the greatest danger of slipping.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >A Small But Large Country<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Relatively speaking, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is a small country with a population of a little over 4 million. But looking at the geographic dimensions, the country appears to be much larger. Taking this into account hints at the wide range of experiences during the war and thus at the current post-war circumstances. Looking at the northwest region, it was least affected by the war physically. Both </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Mihael</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Nikolina</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > were in this region during the war and these are the two who had the most indifference in their voices and talked and acted as if they were separated from it all. </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Nikolina</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > was one of the most upbeat and well-dressed people I talked with, enjoying her expensive whisky coffee and fine tobacco cigarettes. And Mihael's demeanor implied that he was talking about some shameful misbehaving relative rather than his own brother. But they both reminded me that they were attached to the war one way or another. Mihael remembers refuges arriving and soldiers leaving to go fight. And </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Nikolina</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > mentioned her grandmother was in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Sarajevo</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and she had other relatives in Serb surrounded areas. When questioned a little further, she lit a cigarette and with a shrug responded nonchalantly, "people get used to everything." Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to speak with anyone from Southern Croatia, but the general consensus was that this narrow strip of land's eastern half was occupied by the Serbs and war brinked ever closer to the west. The precious medieval city of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Dubrovnik</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > saw an attempted siege and there was sporadic fighting all the way up the coast. The northeastern region experienced the heaviest war presence where certain towns were held in violent limbo between being Croatian and Serbian territory. The bullet holes in buildings and cracks in the street are a constant reminder of how close some towns were to being overrun and flattened.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >With It's Head Above Water<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >The country as a whole seems to be moving forward and is on its way to officially becoming a member of </span><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Europe</span></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > with a seal of approval from the EU. Overall, most people claim ethnic relations are quite good and the war is slowly being inscribed in history rather than present in every day life. In other words, as Melina put it, the country needs "time not to forget but to digest," and it is digesting. Now, I have spent the past 2 ½ months in the northeastern part of Croatia interacting with those who feel the aftermath of the war most severely and some time visiting with the most prominent NGOs to discuss the country's current status. Clearly these types of relations determine my impressions. With that said, I see </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > floating with its head (</span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Zagreb</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >) above water and despite a great weight pulling on its leg (post-war trauma in the northeast), it is quickly inching toward the great land mass that is </span><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Europe</span></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Unemployment<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >From </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Zagreb</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > to the most obscure village and everywhere in between, the answer is always the same in response to the question, "what is the biggest problem facing </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >?" Without doubt or hesitation, every single person said unemployment. It is becoming more and more expected that young people attend a university before entering the workplace. However, people will study something of interest to them and then realize there is no demand for employing people in that field. For example, Jelena told me over coffee and éclairs that her husband graduated with a degree in chemistry, but now works in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Zagreb</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > as a Subway manager. Apparently, he is lucky to have any job at all. On the other hand, </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Milan</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > identified the need for agricultural engineers and as we walked down the dirt road in </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Beli Manastir </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, he told me he therefore decided to pursue this field of study and now has a promising job offer. It is a discouraging pattern on the one hand to be forced to study something outside your interest area for the sake of having a job or on the other hand following your true interest only to be shut down by employers. Other countries, including the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >US</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, are not immune to this trend; however, what makes the scene bearable in other countries are that there are ways to gain experience and establish a foothold in a specific sector to either start your own business or make yourself desirable with an extended resume. In </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, starting your own business is virtually impossible because the culture lacks initiative and the society lacks the appropriate infrastructure and has too many obstacles too many people see as too high to climb. And the chance of building a resume is bleak as volunteer and extracurricular activities are not considered as a worthy means of gaining experience; and no one will hire you if you have no experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >So where are you to get experience and avoid this vicious cycle? Sanja let out a gawking laugh over her plastic cup of instant coffee when I asked about internship programs. Crediting the leftover socialist mentality, she said it was unimaginable for someone to work for free. This leaves people on a basis of permanent unemployment with a chance to take odd jobs here and there to cover immediate expenses. Again crediting socialist attitudes, people are not used to saving for or thinking about the long term because they are used to things always being provided for them. The unemployment problem crosses over to the older generation as well. Job security is now something of the past and older people are regularly being dismissed or passed over for younger workers who are more familiar with technology and English. There are the obvious consequences of a society with a high unemployment rate: constant insecurity and paranoia, damaged pride, hungry days, and general boredom – in Saša's words, each day is a "clone" of the day before. Such dire economic conditions are partly to blame for the war's escalation in the 1990s and if there are not improvements soon, it is a frightening thought to think how people will choose to channel their discontent. This is already evident in the recent elections when the right wing nationalist party was elected, both nationally in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Zagreb</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and locally in northeast </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, while the middle/left parties were ousted.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Ethnic Separation<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Searching for the subsurface problems, I didn't have to dig too deep. </span><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Northeastern Croatia</span></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is still mixed with Serbs and Croats who either survived the war or recently returned. Imagine living across the street or buying your fruit from someone who was labeled an enemy only a few years ago. Some may not only bear a label, but may have even been participants in the killing of fellow community members. Overall time is slowly forgiving the suspicions and justice being served is healing the wounds. But Saša, a Serb living the village of Dalj, still feels more comfortable talking about the war and current sensitivities in the Serb owned bar despite the fact he regularly attends and has better friends at the Croat owned bar. And Nikolina admits that she doesn't think people would intermarry and may even have problems working under someone of another ethnicity, whereas this would not have been the situation before the war. Another constant reminder of separation is the fact that Croats attend Catholic Church and Serbs attend Orthodox Church. Getting tours of the various towns, no matter how small, there was always at least one of each. Vukovar is perhaps the most extreme example of keeping the ethnicities apart where they actually have separated schools teaching separate histories and instilling separate visions for the future. It's hard to image such a blatant display of intolerance in modern </span><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Europe</span></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Language<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >A simple question I had upon arrival had one of the most complex answers and symbolizes the issue of separation: "What language do they speak in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >?" When the region was </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Yugoslavia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, the official language was Serbo-Croatian. With the breakup, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >'s language became Serbian and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >'s language became Croatian. Following this logic, when discussing the language issue with people, I asked if they speak Bosnian in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. Most people chuckled and said they supposed so, "whatever Bosnian is." Basically all three languages are the same with subtle vocabulary and grammar differences and thus identifying them as separate seems absurd to most people. Although Jelena was one adamant believer of this absurdity, she told me that </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > recently adopted a new law establishing an official Croatian grammar and that </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is also proposing similar laws. She said a communication gap is becoming more and more visible between children and adults as sometimes they need to explain the meaning of new or old words. She even went so far to predict that the languages will be totally different in the next 15 years. Lejla, who is from </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, said already today she finds that she shifts accents depending on where she is. So what happens if you are a Serb living in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >? You are faced with the dilemma of adopting the Croatian way and may be considered a traitor giving in or you adapt the Serbian way therefore making yourself stick out and potentially labeled as resistant. Language is an intricate part of every aspect of life and the imposed separation poses yet another threat to harmonizing ethnic relations for the sake of living as one community.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Laundry List of Issues<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >In addition to unemployment and ethnic separations, there are a slew of other problems facing </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > that I only had time to touch upon, though they are worth mentioning. There is the issue of resettlement where the expelled Serb population faces extreme difficulties, stemming both from the political bureaucracy and suspicious social state, in returning to their homes. There is the physical rebuilding of destroyed structures where there is a difficulty in recruiting skilled employees and finding funds. There is the challenge of de-mining fields that pose a danger to the workers and an abundance of wasted land. There is the presence of leftover firearms and weapons in households. There is the issue of healthcare with inadequate providers and infrastructure. There are the underlying consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder of returning soldiers. There is the overwhelming grief of families whose relatives died, fled, or are still missing. There is the pending achievement of bringing war criminals to justice and the partnering task of establishing an efficient and uncorrupt judiciary system. There is a looming political climate that is neither transparent nor accountable. There is the threat of selling too much land and putting too many investments in the hands of foreigners. There is the fear the country's natural beauty will be overrun with tourists. There is too slow of a movement to help the country as a whole face the past in order to bring a healthy closure.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >"Limited Optimism"<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >These various dangers, along with unemployment and persistent ethnic divisions, can neither be considered a national epidemic nor isolated incidences. Nevertheless, their combined existence has enough potential to push </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > into another war. People like Mihael see this as a plausible result because he believes the children are being brought up in a society identifying differences. He also pushed some blame on the media for constantly highlighting various anniversaries and replaying tapes of murders and mass grave discoveries thus stirring nationalist sentiments. With the children essentially being "taught to hate," he foresees this plus a dire economic situation could equal a violently disastrous future. But even Mihael didn't seem entirely convinced by this hypothetical. Similarly, Nioklina acknowledges there are still Croats willing to go to war; however, they will need to be seriously provoked before gaining any influence. In her opinion, and I agree, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > has no more power or energy left. Although reluctantly, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > has been forced to recognize </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > as fully independent. </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is now preoccupied with loosing its other territories of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Montenegro</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and Kosovo. Most people I spoke with couldn't realistically see </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > falling into war again because it is so concentrated on rebuilding by expanding the tourism industry and making appropriate internal changes in order to join the EU. So with no threat coming from </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, along with the current Croatian/European relations, and general social improvements, I agree with Melina's "limited optimism" in believing </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > does not have a war in the near future, but solid actions must occur in order to make this prediction a certainty.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Along For The EU Ride<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Joining the EU, in my opinion, is the best means for </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > to overcome threatening situations and build an appropriate infrastructure for dealing with its internal problems. Although it is an inevitable process, expanding the EU is not without criticism. The most common concern involves the free movement of people because the EU is a region with open borders that make it easier for people to move within the EU. Some fear that citizens of poorer nations will emigrate to richer countries and be willing to work for low wages, in turn threatening job opportunities for the citizens of richer nations. This is a valid concern and is already all to visible in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >England</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >France</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, and especially </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Germany</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. The benefits of expanding the EU are more apparent when thinking long term. Harmonizing techniques, collaborating information, sharing values, and merging markets will lead to economic prosperity and security for European citizens. The EU also places human rights on the same playing field as economics and politics in that expectations in all three realms must be met before achieving membership status. Nikolina had a good way of putting it when she said her government has a habit of doing things when it is forced to. There is a significant minority in potential member states that are against joining the EU. Mostly they are afraid of being absorbed into European identity and loosing a national sense of culture. From my conversations with people here, it seems as though this fear is consistent but people see there being no choice in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >'s accession. If </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > doesn't join the EU, then its economy will be eaten and buried alive while it will be isolated from the European community and the attached benefits of being a world player. Vlasta, widely educated on the political situation, had an intriguing response to these fears. She quoted </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >'s tourism slogan: "The </span><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Mediterranean</span></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > as it once was." She sees tourism as an opportunity to highlight local customs by providing traditional festivals and foods. Nikolina also mentioned this point and saw joining the EU as an encouragement to keep culture in order to make itself more desirable to tourists. She noted that other countries in the EU had not lost their sense of national identity, but rather they have seen it reinforced. Overall, people tend to have an opinion on the EU when questioned, but they see the process as being far away from their every day lives and out of their hands. They see it as something that is happening and they are willing to go along for the ride.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Reinstated Confidence<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >I must admit I was slightly shocked to find </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > not convincingly showing democratic pride and stuck with a socialist mindset preventing them from forming a society free from plaguing issues. I was even more disappointed to concede to the fact that it has not yet taken a full step forward in economic rebuilding or repairing an ethnically separated mentality after the war. But talking with various NGOs reinstated my confidence in the country and its potential for the future. Although there are reports that there are up to 20,000 organizations in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, the fact is that there are only a rare few visibly active. It seems as though this is the best model for the country because each organization has its niche, which allows people to know where to go for a specific issue. Also, the funding can be directed for large-scale projects rather than spread thin. NGO activity again hints at the small but large feature of the country. The sector is essentially dominated by </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Zagreb</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > where most headquarters are located. The southwest region is limited in its ability to mobilize people because the villages are spread further apart and many are preoccupied with working in the tourist industry: and surprisingly, there are a significant number of NGOs in </span><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Eastern Croatia</span></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > mostly because this is where there is the greatest need. Spending time with representatives of various NGOs, I am pressed by their solid visions and ability to produce results. They deserve the credit for pushing their country forward, providing hope, and instilling democratic values in its citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Visions and Achievements<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Working on behalf of women's rights, I met with Melina in a quaint café complete with a fireplace and couches. She represented the organization B.a.B.e. that addresses issues ranging from reproductive health to domestic violence. They provide services to women in order to offer them free legal advice, assist them in dealing with issues of rape, help them find safe places to stay, and advocate on their behalf on the national level through lobbying efforts and gathering media attention. It is a well-known organization and it wouldn't be a rare event if a woman stumbled into the office afraid to go home.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Tackling the issues facing young people, I met with Sanja in the smoking room of her organization, PRONI. They are able to get funding in order to actually employ young people who can then gain experience in a variety of responsibilities and build their communication skills. Young people face a near impossible task of establishing credible experience because they can't get hired without previous experience. PRONI is able to help stop this unemployment cycle by providing a starting point for a straight path ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Srđan</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, a gray-bearded visionary spouting philosophical quotes and articles, met with me to discuss the work of the Croatian Helsinki Committee, an organization that is "not liked but is respected." People approach them, with an average of 8-10 new cases a day, with problems such as ethnic discrimination, resettlement difficulties, and employment disputes. The organization helps victims by sending firm letters with diplomatic threats and visiting field sites to meet with people in order to document the untold stories of human rights violations that took place during the war and continue today.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Over a fresh cup of coffee and dose of enthusiasm, I met with Goran and Mirjana from the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Peace</span></st1:placename><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Studies</span></st1:placename><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, an organization with an overreaching educational agenda as well as programs making concrete improvements in local communities. They aim to get people to talk about issues important to them and then take action to solve the problems. For example, the organization helps refugees acquire proper documentation from their home countries proving they have graduated high school, which in turn will make it easier for them to get jobs. The organization staff also pays visits to refugee camps in order to help the staff with tedious paperwork and facilitate the refugees in engaging activities. One telling story is that during one activity, a woman confided in Mirjana that that was the first time she had danced in 15 years. Another example is in the small war/torn town of Pakrać where a mixed group of people has been meeting together to discuss simple every day life obstacles as well as sensitive and deep running issues of ethnic division. Thanks to a trickle down effect, it is no longer a strange sight to see a Croat and Serb having coffee together here. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >In a primly located and neatly arranged office, I met with Vlasta and Dragan of GONG, an organization committed to election education and monitoring. Luckily, they don't have to take on the issue of voter registration because people are automatically registered when they turn 18. Instead, they help make the election process and government structure more understandable to young people by arranging for trips to the Parliament. Additionally, they make the government more accessible to communities by arranging for open forums where people can ask government officials questions or make suggestions, totaling 700 hours in the past 5 years. Election monitoring involves an outrageous number of 15,000 volunteers who go through trainings and are then stationed at polling locations to ensure standards of freedom and fairness are met.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >In an inspiringly small office outside the comfort zone of central </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Zagreb</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, I met with Sunčana from the organization IGRA, which works on more of an individual level then some of the other groups I met with. The organization, in partnership with welfare agencies and recruited volunteers, has a strong presence in poor elementary schools helping children with special needs and encouraging children with gifted talents. IGRA takes this assistance into the homes of the children paying visits to parents and observing home environments first hand to gain a better understanding of the children's situation. The organization's volunteers also spend time in orphanages teaching teenagers how to cook, write a resume, and be aware of their rights before they leave the institution to establish lives for themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >At an outside café, I met with Nikolina from CEDI. This organization is relatively inactive but rather it offers itself as a resource for students and public officials because it collects documents from the EU bodies on legal issues and statistic numbers.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Every Tuesday and Saturday, I would travel to the small town of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Beli Manastir</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > to teach English in the school's special needs class and then to a group of interested community members. This was arranged by an organization, Luna, and my main contacts were with Duško and </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Milan</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. Luna is focused mostly on helping the Roma population, which makes up about half of the special needs class. It has an established two room office with meager furniture and dial up internet to provide a place for Roma children to gather in order to participate in dance and art activities. By organizing the population, Luna is able to foster values of education and sexual responsibility often absent from Roma home life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >On Mondays and Thursdays, I would travel to the village Dalj to teach a class of older students. The space and set up was provided by a local organization, GORD. In addition to organizing English classes, GORD provides computer classes thanks in part to a donation bringing in about 15 computers. A number of women from Dalj also meet in the office, and with materials bought with a donation from the Japanese Embassy, are able to hand make clothes, bags, and rugs to sell.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >And finally, my office time was spent in the Center for Peace, Non-Violence, and Human Rights' spacious and equipped office in the center of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Osijek</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, where the smooth running is a result of Jelena's competence. The organization has a well-structured means of running its programs as each project is independently led. The </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Volunteer</span></st1:placename><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, headed by Tanja and Lejla, recruits international and local volunteers to participate in a variety of activities, with the overall goal of instilling values of volunteerism and community service. There is also the Building Bridges program, led by Nena, which uses churches as a means of organizing different ethnic groups to realize their common ground in humanity and brotherhood in order to foster better relations. Another program is the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Mediation</span></st1:placename><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, arranged by Sonja, that advocates for the use of non-violent mediation techniques to help settle disputes and avoid drawn out court cases often resulting in harsh and unflexible consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >A Common Challenge Hindering Progress<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > One problem all NGOs are facing is one that is difficult to resolve because it is the most engrained with an obscure source, and that is the leftover socialist mentality. Nena first got me thinking when she mentioned that under socialism, people were organized by other people for the only purpose of the socialist brotherhood. Now that people have the opportunities to organize around issues that are relevant to them, they are hesitant because they are still waiting for someone to organize them directly and tell them what causes to join. Vlasta commented that under socialism people were taught to not ask questions and to just go with the government's orders and policies. So today when GONG provides citizens with a chance to question government officials, it is a foreign concept to them. She finds herself needing to foster feelings of confidence and promising safety in order for citizens to gain the courage to pose questions or suggestions. Srđan told me that NGOs can fight all they want to improve the democratic process, but the real problem lies in society's mindset where people "magically" think and act the same. Melina explained to me that under socialism, NGOs were outright illegal and the concept of civil society, as we know it today, was unknown 15 years ago. Summing up the difficulties presented with the socialist leftovers, she told me she and her colleagues are not only working for each specific issue, but also for a culture of valued and encouraged active citizens. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Too Much or Not Enough</span></i></b><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >A more blatant challenge facing predominantly human rights organizations is that of violent threats to its staff and their families as well as its workplace and activities. On my first day in the Center for Peace's office, the staff was meeting to discuss how to respond to threats to its founder, Katarina. Although the situation seems to be improving, human rights organizations in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > are seen as suspicious because some see them as secretly fighting for the Serbian cause. This stems from the fact that human rights organizations are trying to document and deal with human rights violations by both sides – including that of Croatians against Serb populations (which isn't always a popular cause in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >). But organizations such as GONG, who deal with specific election rights, only face criticism for not doing enough. And even smaller organizations like IGRA are only asked to do more and increase their availability to help more children.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >$$$</span></i></b><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Across the board, funding is an issue tackled each day for each organization. Melina told me that immediately after the war, funding for human rights and democracy NGOs seemed endless. But now donors are starting to phase out because they see other countries in the region as needing the funds more and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, almost in the EU, as reestablished and rebuilt. Also, she mentioned that when international donors see the EU stepping in, it is their chance to step out. This results in organizations applying for funds; however the "money pie" is decreasing. A related problem Melina brought up is that funding is available only for short-term programs and not for long-term vision plans. This means organizations are constantly worrying about applying for the next program rather than concentrating on implementing the current project and sometimes it results in organizations applying for more individual projects than they can adequately handle. I was surprised to see that nearly every organization I met with not only had funds from the EU, but also had a good relationship with it. A very small amount of the funding came from local donors. The only organization in an opposite position was IGRA where </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Sunčana</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > told me that she received no funding from the EU and nearly all their funding was from local agencies and governments. No matter where the funding comes from, NGOs tend to feel slightly agitated by the pressure from donors to deliver, but they have also come to accept this responsibility and respect the need to set expectations. Understandably frustrated, Srđan said donors want solid results and have the illusion that they always exist. Donors have a hard time providing funds for five-year plans or being satisfied with the accomplishment of an abstract goal. This leaves NGO staff burdened by unnecessary paperwork and constantly filing reports and writing progress updates. He made an excellent point that I truly took to heart, by declaring civil society should be "autonomous agents," not "contractors" of the donors.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > Leaves the Others in the Dust<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >With its head high and proud, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > has distanced itself from the political situation of the rest of the Balkans. </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is too focused on developing itself and securing its place in the EU to be bothered by the turmoil holding its neighbors back. But due to its close proximity and potential for lesson learning, it is vital to be aware of the obstacles facing the rest of the region. Presenting the most unstable situation is </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, consisting of two additional sub-regions of </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Vojvodina</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and the additional </span><st1:place><st1:placetype><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >republic</span></st1:placetype><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > of </span><st1:placename><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Montenegro</span></st1:placename></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Vojvodina</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is in the north of Serbia and most people view this region as the last multiethnic area (with 20+ ethnicities) in existence to be prosperous and live in harmony. Some go as far as to predict that if war were to erupt here, it would be the bloodiest due to the deep mixture of communities and marriages. However, I met with Marija, an ethnic Slovak native of the area, and she started telling the story of how the region is slowly entering a period of ethnic conflict and intolerance, namely between Serbs and other minorities (especially with Hungarians). All in all, she sums up the area as posing the greatest potential or the greatest danger to the region. Thus far, the independence movement for </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Vojvodina </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >has been minimal, although it is not unimaginable that it may take shape in the future, especially if ethnic conflict continues.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, on the other hand, is located in the south of Serbia and is currently in a struggle for independence from Serbia. Serbs are putting up a bitter fight to not loose the region based on reasonable arguments of historical attachment from the battle of 1389 against the Turks, rightful ownership over the territory, and fear of how the Serb minority would be treated in an independent Kosovo. In addition to burned homes I saw first hand last year, another prime example is the </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > Electric Company that used to empty 4000 Serbs in 1999 but in 2005 employed only 29. The majority of the population in </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is made up of Albanians and some Serbs see their fight as ridiculous considering Albanians already have their own country – </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Albania</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > (which borders </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >). Saša asked me to imagine Canadians moving into the </span><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Silicon Valley</span></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, having huge families to increase their population numbers, wrecking havoc on the Californian population to push them out of the territory, and then declaring they deserve national independence as a new state. Despite the Serb attachment to </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, the international community has essentially promised </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > independence, mostly based on the fact that the region saw the most extreme campaign of ethnic cleansing, and arguably genocide, by </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Milošević</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. The area has officially been a UN protectorate since the end of the war but remains under Serbian control and talks are now underway to determine its final status. Opinion in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, and around the world, tend be split on </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > with a slight majority favoring independence. Realistically, it is on its way to that final status and it will be up to the international community to ensure the Serb population does not face further discrimination and violence by the Albanian majority.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Montenegro</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is its own republic within </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, giving it more autonomy than the regions of </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Vojvodina </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >and </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, with its own currency and tax system. There is a growing movement in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Montenegro</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > to establish complete independence from </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and this May will bring a referendum to determine this option. The Serb arguments against this move are to me less convincing than that of </span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" lang="HR" >Kosovo</span><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >. Some claim that </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > should be happy to see </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Montenegro</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > break away because it will be one less burden to worry about. On the other hand, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is facing losing nearly half of its territory and has legitimatey practical as well as pride issues in letting these territories go.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >While </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > may be the most unstable, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is perhaps the most unpredictable. Right now there is no structured government and foreign ministers run the country. It could end up as one cohesive state with three groups – Serbian, Croatian, and Muslim – sharing power. Or it could end up into two states with the Serbian eastern half joining with </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > while the Croatians and Muslims remain as one state. Or it could even end up in three pieces if the Serbian part joins with </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, the Croatians either join with </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Croatia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > or establish their own autonomy in the region of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Herzegovina</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, and then the Bosnian Muslims will have their own state. It is also foreseeable that if the international community pulls out in the near future, a three way civil war will erupt. Believe it or not, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > has more basic needs right now rather then trying to untangle these issues. Seeing the most blood and destruction during the war, it needs to get back on its feet before it starts to walk forward and the international community will hopefully keep its own feet inside </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bosnia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > for the next couple of years.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Macedonia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > is yet another country that is not without conflict. An astonishing 76% of the population predicts there will be military conflicts in the future. It is in a constant name battle with </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Greece</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > and faces unrest between the Slav majority and Albanian minority that could escalate any day. It has come exceptionally close to outright civil war, but has miraculously avoided it thus far.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >In addition to the unstable borders and unsettled ethnic issues, all of these countries (along with the other Balkan nations of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Albania</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Bulgaria</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >, and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Romania</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >) face extremely high unemployment rates and visibly corrupt political leaders. Even still, countries – especially </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Serbia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > – are under intense pressure from the international community to turn over war criminals, bring other perpetrators to justice, and help their citizens deal with issues of the past while still facing the old and new challenges of today.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Where Am I? – Opening the Door<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >While these 2 ½ months that I have learned about the Balkans' history, identified the challenges facing the region, and discovered the state of civil society, I have grasped a better understanding of what all this means for me and where I see my place in the world. There will always be international disputes and local conflicts and I want to apply my gained skills and future experiences to solving these issues through a diplomatic means rather than see societies find themselves in such a hopeless state that war is allowed to erupt. Or where war has already occurred, I want to help the environment toward practical reconstructions to prevent further violence. The only place such solid solutions can occur is in people's mindsets. And for me, being a part of this process either comes in the form of government or civil society. However, I can't bring myself to be a part of governments that are forced to endorse empty promises and put on picturesque facades. Realistically speaking, I understand that such government tactics are sometimes unavoidable and even necessary to maintain short-term peace and order. But being in a constant state of bureaucratic tug of war and unable to implement any significant changes could be too frustrating for me to bear. So I see my place in civil society. But civil society won't function properly if only a minority of the population participates and I want to help people realize the potential they hold on influencing government policy. I believe most people are followers by nature, but those of us with the vision of believing a difference can be made must lead and mobilize society to mobilize themselves around their demands. In developed democracies, people have the luxurious opportunity to make these demands specific to improving their own quality of life – from labor regulations to environmental standards.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >But what about those societies that have not yet achieved such a freedom? These are countries where a constant violation of human rights is taking place and where I am ready to channel my efforts. Human rights are what individuals inalienably possess by the mere fact of being human. Life may be physically lived without human rights, but it cannot be mentally or emotionally enjoyed if a life of dignity is not given a chance to come to fruition. International NGOs must first exert pressure on repressive governments to provide their populations with life's most basic needs of food, shelter, and health. Once people are not living just to survive, then civil society activity can be sparked. I'm not advocating that at this point NGOs rush in and tell people what to fight for. Although I do value such issues as equality and democracy – I also strongly believe these values cannot be imposed. NGOs must instead provide self-help tools, foster a dialogue to uncover relevant issues, train people how to organize, and most importantly instill confidence that they can be the change they want to see. It is up to the NGOs to build this confidence by helping civil society lead themselves to achieve tangible results and learn from failures. It is also a responsibility of NGOs to keep pressure on these governments to ensure civil society activity can take place in a safe manner and people will not feel threatened for participating.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <h2 style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Off to </span></i><st1:place><st1:placename><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Law</span></i></st1:placename><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" > </span></i><st1:placetype><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >School</span></i></st1:placetype></st1:place><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></i></h2> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-size:10;" >Thinking practically, I need to know how to speak governments' language in order to help break down the barriers preventing a productive civil society from both being born and given a chance to grow. The only international language is that of the law. Nearly every single country has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights committing them to uphold human rights. And every country has signed various other legally binding documents to the same effect. Even though promises are made, follow through is rarely seen by repressive governments without economic threats or world pressure. By gaining the knowledge of law, I will know what governments are responsible for enacting and legal means of making them act accordingly. Additionally, I will come to better understand the theory of law and what goes into creating laws. With this knowledge, I can then pass it to new civil societies so they can in turn know how to make laws they want and how to hold their own governments accountable.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388490707734130?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1153884294443330642006-03-30T20:22:00.000-08:002006-07-25T21:23:59.773-07:00<div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font>Dobar dan!<br /></span></p><font><font><font> </span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font>Alas, my final days in Croatia have come to a close.<font> And I have had a tremendous time soaking up with last sights, sounds, and flavors of the area.<font> In this email, you will find a quick run down of how I spent the last week and then, without further ado, I have copied my article below.<font> Although it isn't perfect, it was essential I organize and condense my thoughts into a comprehensive document.<font> I hope you will find the time and curiosity to explore it…</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font>Last weekend I ventured to Kopaci rit…a nature reserve…but really the biggest swap in Eastern Europe.<font> I took a bus to a small town Bilje and upon arrival I received obscure directions from an old man with an Australian twang of an accent.<font> I walked along deserted roads with an occasional car and endless farmland for about an hour.<font> Just when I was starting to question the directions, I saw a sign that signaled I had reached my destination.<font> I found the hut that was a tourist office and they directed me how to get to the boat docks.<font> Another older man drove e around in a tiny fishing boat equipped with binoculars to see the swamp and gaze at the famous black storks and white swans.<font> It was extremely peaceful and untouched…not a sight of trash.<font> Afterward I ate my meagerly packed lunch along with the birds and bugs and began the hour walk back in the last remnants of daylight.<font> When I got back to the village I obediently went to the bus stop and took the "I want to be picked up" stance.<font> But the driver looked at me point blank and shook his head!<font> What the hell!<font> The dude left me in the dust and who knew when another bus was coming through town.<font> In shock and refusing to panic, I went to a nearby gas station to ask for advice.<font> After some discussion and phone calls to the main bus station, the ever so helpful man behind the counter waved down someone driving in the direction of Osijek and arranged for him to drive me!<font> Considering the next was time was unknown and night was approaching, I took the ride.<font> All was find and good and the rescue driver of course wouldn't accept any money.<font> Oh my, I was exhausted after that excursion.<font> But I gathered the energz to go out with my Dalj coffee buddy for a few drinks in Osijek's old town.<font> And the next day I went to Tanja's house for Sunday lunch and spent the rest of the day cleaning and packing!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>Monday afternoon I took a 4 ½ hour train to Zagreb.</span><font> It was a pleasant visit with lots of coffee and outdoor music, shopping, a museum, and even a trip to the Botanical Gardens.</span><font> I often found myself with a coffee in one hand a book in the other basking in the spring sun thinking, "I'm fucking here."</span><font> One night I ventured out discovered a jazz club.</span><font> I went in and had the most lovely time listening to live music and drinking excellent wine.</span><font> After that fantastic night, my fondness of the city grew tremendously.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></s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</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>My last full day in Zagreb I went, with Goran (a friend I had made during my interviews), to a refugee camp about 1 ½ hour southeast of Zagreb near the town of Sisak.</span><font> On our way there he briefed me about the camp and told me there was an Iraqi family and an Albanian family from Kosovo.</span><font> Interestingly, he asked me how I felt about being introduced to the Iraqis as an American and if it was okay to tell them I was a peace activist.</span><font> Upon arrival, there was a somber mood in the staff area and I soon learned the Iraqi family had fled the camp.</span><font> Goran guessed they were basically tired of waiting and after two years of not getting anywhere, they decided to escape in the middle of the night.</span><font> The group was clearly saddened by the news and left with the awful feeling of helplessness.</span><font> In the camp there is absolutely nothing to do.</span><font> The men can't work, the women can't cook, and the children are lucky to go to school.</span><font> So Goran visiting them is the highlight of the week and their time to socialize, welcome people to their homes and feel some sort of normalcy.</span><font> We did have a chance to meet with the Albanian family from Kosovo and they were all smiles and hugs.</span><font> After seven years of waiting, the parents and four children finally received visas to immigrate to Canada.</span><font> The youngest boy was born in the camp and knows nothing outside his two room house and favorite bike that is way too big for him.</span><font> The joy and relief on their faces was contagious and they will finally have a chance to live a quality life.</span><font> They will have simple things like a park to sit in or books to read.</span><font> Although clearly elated for them, Goran told me he is selfishly sad to see them leave because they have become ore than just friends…they have been a constant presence and inspiration for him.</span><font> Even though this family had next to nothing, the other was still insistent on not letting me leave without gifts of tea and candy.</span><font> She kept saying it as their tradition to give guests gifts.</span><font> Plus, with a laugh, she couldn't take it all the way to Canada!</span><font> The trip to the refugee camp was an eye-opening touch of reality that again makes me thankfully appreciate all that I have.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></s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</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>So with these final adventures, I now find myself in London!</span><font> Croatia was an excellent and irreplaceable learning experience where I set my goals for myself and accomplished the.</span><font> 2 ½ months was a perfect timetable and I am now anxiously awaiting my arrival in Ghana!</span><font> I am at my friend Dhaval's house right this minute typing up my final Croatia thoughts.</span><font> I am having a surreal and lovely time hanging out in London with Dhaval.</span><font> More on those thoughts to come in the future…</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></spa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</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></s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</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>Ciao!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span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</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> 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</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p style="font-family: georgia; text-align: 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style="text-align: justify;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> 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</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span><font>Pictures: </span><span lang="EN-GB"></span><a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmKq" title="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cNmKq" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://share.shutterfly.com<wbr>/action/welcome?sid=8AcOWbVq3cN<wbr>mKq</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24127349-115388429444333064?l=marleesf.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Marleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198999424294067412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24127349.post-1142596827072493252006-03-17T03:58:00.000-08:002006-07-25T21:24:39.946-07:00<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;">Hi everyone!<br /><br />Well, as usual, it has been a busy (and snowy!) couple of weeks leading up to my final days here in Croatia...<br /><br />TRAVELING HERE AND THERE<br /><br />I attended an International Day of Prayer service, which proved to be quite interesting. The church is actually an old temple, one of the only ones to survive World War II. Nena, the woman I was with, casually explained that there were no need for synagogues anymore, so they converted it into a church. It was an unbelievably strange sight to see the 10 commandments in Hebrew right above where they hung the cross. International Day of Prayer brings people from different religions together to join in commonly agreed upon prayers and songs. In Eastern Croatia, this is an extremely important and brave step. Croats are Catholics and Serbs are Orthodox, so for the two to come together in a church means crossing both ethnic and religious lines. Such an event would not have been imaginable 5-10 years ago. Also, each year a country is chosen (this year it was South Africa) to learn about their church activities. Overall, it was a quaint little ceremony and it was refreshing to see the community merging together.<br /><br />My English classes have been going well, as usual. My adult class now knows enough English were I can make them laugh with silly comments such as, "no underwear" or "pleasant backside." One older man, who spoke virtually no English, now comes up to me before and after every class waving his one short finger at me saying, "No Africa!" It is so sad because I know that another volunteer won't be coming here for a long time, and I am trying to find someone who speaks English well enough to continue the classes. And the kids are as hyper and adorable as ever. I gave them each a free mechanical pencil the other day (from my enormous stash I'm saving for Ghana) and they were in heaven.<br /><br />Last week I ventured off to Zagreb to collect information for my article that I have been trying desperately to write. I say desperately because there is such a vast amount of information, and I am trying my best to keep it short and somewhat readable. Although I'm not achieving the short goal, I think it will turn out to be quite readable. Zagreb was so great, and I met such incredible people. I met women activists, peace activists, students, community leaders, election organizers, philosophers, civil society veterans, and my friend Alex. One of the women I met, Melina, even invited me to her apartment to meet her boyfriend and dog. We stayed up drinking domestic brandy and talking about anything from our love of dogs to Croatian tourism. In addition to meeting fantastically insightful people, I got to travel around Zagreb much more than last time and therefore enjoyed it much more (this was helped by the lucky presence of a sunny day). Being the capital of Croatia, I could really feel the Washington D.C. type vibe going from meeting to meeting by tram and side streets. Each and every person gave me materials and much food for thought. I spent the 3 hour train ride back to Osijek pondering how I was going to try and organize it all. But organizing is my middle name!!<br /><br />Last week I also decided to hop on a bus and head 2 hours east…to the most eastern town of Croatia, Ilok. There was a slight break in the weather, so it was a perfect day to roam around this practically unforgotten town. I climbed up the hill and wandered around the Turkish fortress where I was able to capture a view of Serbia, just right across the Danube River! My mission was to find the popular wine produced here, and mission accomplished! Now, lets see if that bottle will make it all the way back to the States.<br /><br />LET OUT A BIG SIGH<br /><br />So the biggest news story of the week is Milošević's death. I'm not sure what the coverage is like everywhere else, but international CNN is nonstop. Even though I can't quite tell what the local stations are saying here, I know it is a constant presence because I can hear his name and see his picture. I first heard about the death when I got back to my flat from Ilok. I was about to sit down and enjoy a lovely lunch I had prepared for myself, but was instead in total shock and just sat staring at the TV. It is an absolute shame that he died. He will now be written in history's textbooks only as an accused man rather than a convicted criminal. For many victims, seeing Milošević tried in The Hague was their only hope for closure, for justice. There are stories flying all over the place that he was poisoned or some other absurd concoction of a rumor that he was killed. This is ridiculous. The people in The Hague are the people who wanted him alive the most! The only way he was going to be served with justice was to be alive! It is definitely believable that Milošević died of a heart attack and this could have been brought on by his constant anxiety of being accused of genocide and stress of choosing to be his own defense lawyer. But if Milošević died of any other way than natural causes, then it was brought on by himself. I could easily believe that he took certain medications to make himself sicker in order to build his plea to be transferred to Russia for medical tr