Welcome to the Bosnia International Servant Trip
Srebrenica (& our) Prayer
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2011 Bosnia IST Travel Team
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Other information
Friendship Camps 2011
Send a Camp to Kids!
A Ministry of Healing † Hope † Peace for Bosnia and the whole World
You DON'T have to belong to Facebook to see the page!This is a ministry of the New Jersey Synod, ELCA, striving to bring peace to Bosnia through the wonderful children of this beautiful country. On this website you'll see much from the past ten years of this ministry.
THE 2011 BOSNIA TRIP IS June 22 - July 3, 2011
Please meet our great 2011 TRAVEL TEAM!
HOW TO DONATE!
Please send your financial donation of any size (tax-deductable, of course!), to: Bosnia IST, New Jersey Synod, 1930 Highway 33, Hamilton Square, NJ 08690. If possible, please include this donation form.
HOME TEAM 2011
The Bosnia IST Home Team is made up of individuals, families, groups, organizations, congregations and businesses who provide material, financial or prayer support for the trip. WE STILL DESPERATELY NEED FRIENDSHIP CAMP SPONSORSHIPS! Please visit our Friendship Camps page for these items.
If you have any questions, or wish to help, please contact our Home Team Captain, Rev. Kent Klophaus.
2011 TRIP DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Each year we use a Trip Devotional Guide that provides a daily prayer/devotional experience for all those a part of the trip, both Home Team and Travel Team members. You're invited to use this throughout the trip! Many thanks to Rev. Wendy Abrahamson (Travel Team 2005) for the guide!
Guide in WORD
Guide in PDF
How soon to the 2011 Bosnia IST?? We're counting!!
FACEBOOK
The best way to follow us online is on facebook! Search for BosniaIST and like us, or just click here.
CAMP SUMMARIES 2011 Sarajevo (6/24/11)—Lynn (North Team)
The Sarajevo camp was the first friendship camp for almost half our team. We had children ranging in age from about 3 to 12. Many of the teachers stayed to help and participate in the camp. Today was the first day for Larry's songs, which very quickly stuck in your head. The majority of the children at this school were Bosniaks but all of the country's ethnic groups were represented, including the Roma, perhaps the only school we visit where that's true.The camp also included special needs children from the “Joy of Life” program, which works to provide education for the children and support for their families. The key for the first day was flexibility as the schedule evolved from the expected format. The children and teachers were a joy and contributed to a great first camp experience. Vojkovici (6/24/11)—Andrew (South Team)
What a great camp to start up the South Team's experience with! Despite it being a quick camp, the kids truly got the full message out of our friendship camps. All four color groups worked well for the first camp and it made us see where we needed improvement and also what we needed to continue.The children were able to find a peaceful solution to the problem in Drama’s play, and the solution worked for everyone. The children were happy to be able to spend the day with us and be active in the camp. The camp was a huge success, and it gave the team a glimpse of what the trip would unfold unto its members. The ministry had a profound effect upon this town, which is clearly seen in the smiles of these children! Mostar (6/25/11)— Bihac (6/27/11)—Kendall (North Team)
Today's camp started out smoothly and ended without problems. The kids loved playing with their new sports equipment and of course with the parachute. They jammed out to "my brother eats bugs" and really loved all the music. When it came time to make their peace videos (the servant project), they all surprised us with their talent to act and sing and with their views on peace. Today's camp ran without much hesitation, and I think we all want camps like this one again. Foca (6/27/11)—Katie (South Team)
Not gonna lie, this camp was a challenge. Because of split in our little team, we only had 4 americans and 3 interpreters for 200 children. At first, it seemed very overwhelming when we had 100 kids per color group activity and I was thinking that our servant project of making peace videos was never going to work. But, their videos ended up being really great! We had some kids who decided to sing, some danced to Bosnian folk music and there were a few short skits. After the morning was over, I got to watch the drama group (who traveled from Gorazde to Foca!) and the kids were just mesmerized. They loved it and gave great suggestions to the group's questions about the play. It was somewhat a relief at the end of the day that we pulled it off. We did what we had set out to do that day - give the kids a good experience no matter how frazzled we were. Gorazde (6/27/11)—Hannah (South Team)
This camp was great because there weren't a lot of kids so we could really connect with them. Even though we didn't have the whole team and there wasn't music for the kids, we managed to make the camp enjoyable for everybody. The kids especially enjoyed the drama group, they were laughing throughout, and that's the important thing. In the servant project the children made up songs and dances that they were excited to preform in front of the camera. During the games activity and the rest this camp they had a high energy level, and the kids had a lot of fun! Kozarac/Trnopolje (6/28/11)— Srebrenica (Leptir Camp) (6/28/11)—Meg (South Team)
I have been looking forward to coming back to the Leptir school since we left Srebrenica last year. This is by far my favorite camp. The Leptir school is a school for children with special needs and this camp is always done as one whole group. We had just under 60 kids this year, which seems to be a good number for the main room that we were in for most of the day. I was most looking forward to seeing my friend Nada at his camp whom I met last year. Nada means hope in Bosnian. We got to catch up a little before camp started and she was telling me about their new school building that has heat in it now. One of the big things that this means for them is that during the winter they can now receive their medical treatments and therapies during school instead of the doctors having to make house calls. Nada gives me hope for these children that they will continue to improve their school as the years go on.
During camp the kids were particularly enthralled by Dino's "Funky Monkey." (Dino was one of our interpreters.) They enjoyed singing and dancing and pretending to be monkeys with us. As usual, the parachute was a huge hit. The children especially loved when we would lift the parachute up and call out a color group and run under the parachute to the other side. I made a new friend this year. While playing with the parachute she reached up and grabbed my hand when our color was called so we could run to the other side together...it was so sweet. She was glued to me side for the rest of the camp. Overall, Leptir is always a fun camp for everyone to relax and really get to enjoy being with the children, and today that was exactly what we did. Prijedor (6/29/11)— Visoko (6/29/11)—Victoria (South Team)
Todays camp was one of my favorites so far. As soon as we arrived at the camp, all of the children were waiting outside for us waving! This was the first full camp of our trip where ALL of the team members were together, and it ran so smoothly. All of the children eagerly participated in each part of the camp: games, music, drama, and the servant project. The videos that the children made were fantastic and really got their message across for world peace. Altogether, the camp was enjoyable for both the campers, and the travel team :). Sanski Most (6/30/11)—Cindy (North Team)
This camp offered a challenge to Team North from the time we arrived. Road construction meant the bus couldn't park next to the school so it looked as if we'd have to carry the team gear several blocks to set up. But our intrepid bus driver Salco found a way to maneuver across a soccer field, and with the kids' help, we were soon up and running. We were expecting a large camp of up to 200 kids, as in years past, but this year's turnout was quite a bit smaller and a bit older. The team struggled at times to get the older children to react, sing, discuss and participate, but there were rewards along the way. Many of us were happy to welcome back Emina, a special needs student who comes every year and brightens our day with her enthusiasm. The director told us the students had looked forward to the week when "our Americans" were coming back. We truly feel wanted and needed in this community. After camp, we stopped at the Krajina region Identification Center for Missing Persons, which is using DNA identification and other scientific methods to identify the remains from mass graves in the region. The work is slow, frustrating and full of dead ends. Nearly 20 years after the end of the war, some 2,000 people remain unaccounted for in this northwestern portion of Bosnia. This center works to give their family and friends some kind of closure. Banja Luca (6/30/11)—Beth (South Team)
Our team hadn't been to the school in Banja Luca for a few years, so as we approached it was hard to know what to expect. What we got were 90 of some of the nicest kids we've had the pleasure of spending the day with. There were children of all ages and they sang and danced and laughed and played together with a contagious enthusiasm. They loved Dino (an interpreter), our funky monkey, and it was a special treat for all of us when they all gathered and sang their school anthem for us. One of our interpreters, Jana , had gone to primary school there, and we could see the pride on the teachers' faces to see her in a leadership role. Something that was striking to me was how beautiful the school was. The facilities were some of the nicest I'd seen. Framed student artwork was displayed proudly throughout the hallways. Such a striking difference between this and some of the schools that still have obvious war scars is reminiscent of U.S. schools before Brown v. Board of Education. It does seem to have a "separate but equal" feel to it that is disconcerting when we are going there in an effort to promote peace and equality of all people. I wonder if the children of the Banja Luca school know what the schools look like less than an hour away? Sipovo (7/1/11)—Leslie (North Team)
We pulled into Sipovo a little before dark on Thursday night and sat down to a wonderful dinner at a restaurant with tables in little open cabins set over the river. We had the freshest trout along with lamb and veal. And of course salad, which resembles cole slaw in the States (one does not survive long in Bosnia if one does not eat cabbage) and the most wonderful tomatoes (rate up there with NJ beefsteak) and of course French fries. As we left it started to drizzle, the first rain for the North Team, during the night it poured, but thankfully cleared by Friday morning for camp. We slept in host homes, which ranged from very nice to scant, as Sipovo is a poor town, where many of the young people are forced to leave as there are few employment opportunities. But our hosts, rich or poor were open and friendly offering wonderful repasts for breakfast. The former school director’s wife (the host home where Cindy, Lynn, Elizabeth, Una, Emir, Lazar, Petar and I stayed) offered some of her handiwork – crocheted linens and appliqués, which Lynn and I readily purchased. She also gave each of us a pair of the wonderful knit slippers worn by the locals; one does not wear out door foot dattire indoors in Bosnia, Sipovo may be poor, but it is beautiful!! As with many of the small towns we visited, it is nestled in a valley surrounded by hills and mountains which are so green. I don’t think I have seen so much green in one place before. It was hard for me to focus on camp activities if there was a window in the room, as I was taken away by the beauty of the hills – they certainly are alive. With houses nestled about. The only downside was the apartments situated down the hill behind the school that looked like the Bosnian rendition of projects. Wow, our first big camp. There were about 300 children, though at times it felt like 3,000. They were massed around the door as we walked down the hill from our host home and the bus arrived with the rest of the team, who had stayed closer to the center of town. We broke the four color groups of kids into smaller groups as we started up the day’s activities. Seemed like every child in town was at camp. They ranged in age from 2 to about 16, which added challenge to many of the activities – trying to make the activities applicable to the very young and the teenagers. But to see the smiles on their faces made the challenge and frustration worth it. Most Bosnian families go off on vacation in the summer, but not these children, so we were vacation and for one day we brought a change and excitement to their normal lives. After camp we visited St Michael – the Serbian Orthodox church up (another) hill behind the school. The original church had been destroyed during the war, and the town’s people are very proud of the new church. Beautiful icons hung on the walls. There are no pews or seats, so parishioners stand for the 2 hour service. (And we check our watches when our services approach the one hour mark!) Unfortunately the priest had been called away for a funeral but one of the women proudly explained as much as she could. And Petar explained the prayer bracelets. Seems a man once tried to keep track of the number of prayers he offered every day by tying knots in a string. But at night as he slept the devil would come and untie his knots and the frustrated man would wake up daily to an unknotted string. One night an angel came to the man and showed him how to make a seven sided knot that the devil could not untie. So now the Serbian Orthodox wear these knotted prayer bracelet, very similar to the idea behind a rosary or the Muslim prayer beads. Petar also told of his surprise on a visit to the States, where he stayed with a Roman Catholic woman. His host’s sister has also been raised Catholic, but had converted to Judaism when she married a Jewish man. According to Petar, one does not convert in Bosnia; whatever you are born, you stay. After a group picture, a little time of reflection just taking in the serenity, with the bus already packed up, we loaded up for the two hour drive, which turned into a four to five hour drive, because of construction on the main road, back to Sarajevo. More twists and turns on two lane roads that go around, over and through the many mountain ranges and rivers of Bosnia. Truly a beautiful country of such beautiful people. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is Saturday, our last day in Bosnia. While in the midst of the ten days it seemed as there would be no end and now that the end is approaching it is hard to believe that it went so fast. Jajce (7/1/11)—Steve (South Team)
Our final South Team camp was held at Jajce, and it ranks among the all-time most memorable camps. This camp had always been somewhat of a challenge because it was one of those "two schools under one roof" schools where the Muslim kids and the Croat kids are taught on separate floors of the building. It traditionally had also been a small camp with fewer than 60 children. This time around, the situation was further complicated because the Croat children were still in school (until July 9) due to a teacher strike during the school year. Therefore we had limited use of the building and had many kids attempting to "crash" our camp as a way to skip their classes throughout the day. Our official count for the day was 230-250, which made for a high stress, high energy, and high reward adventure. In previous years, the lines of segregation ran so deep that not so much as a chair could be borrowed from one school for use in the other, and bathrooms were designated by both sex and ethnicity. The camp was especially wonderful and fulfilling for our team because we saw those lines being broken throughout our camp day, with signs of cooperation evident from administration, to the teachers, and, of course, through the children. I kept thinking throughout the day of the song written and sung on the Bosnia CD by Christel Lankhorst that says "and the walls keep tumbling down." Dobro! Bravo! If you are looking for the 2010 summaries just click here.
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Posted by rick on July 11, 2011
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