ROM and Trebinje and an unexpected meeting

 Ljilja and I travelled down to Trebinje to take part in some of the ROM conference on peacebuilding that was taking place there. It is a two week seminar, but we were only able to come for 2 days. But we lucked out that they took the offical photograph while we were there: 

We also caught some of friends being the speakers - Mirela and Bryan from Sarajevo. Bryan has been a part of our Faith and Conflicts and Mirela is also part of the board for EUS (InterVarsity), so it was good to catch up with them as well.

We really enjoyed the brief time that we were able to be a part, but we spent the rest of our time in Trebinje writing up project plans for our sponsorship project. Trebinje is a wonderful place to do that in, as you can go for walks to help refresh your mind in beautiful scenery and also, Ljilja's mom does all the cooking 😉

And then unexpectedly, while we were still there, my friends from South Africa, the Homanns, let me know they were were coming to stay in Cavtat, which is about 45 minutes away from Trebinje! I hadn't seen them since 2019 as they had moved during Covid to stay in the UK so weren't in SA when I was there this last time. I had zoom meetings in the morning, so could only go around lunchtime to go spend some time with them in the sea before heading back before dark, but it was so fun to see them and catch up! 

YWAM Enniskillen team and Faith and Conflict 2021

The YWAM team from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland arrived mid-October for 2 weeks of their lecture phase for the Discipleship Training School and then 6 weeks of outreach. I was supposed to teach the whole of the first week, but with my ongoing problems with my frozen shoulder, I taught Monday, Tuesday and Friday in my special chair (with arms!):

Then they took care of Wednesday and Ljilja and Sinisa shared with them on the Thursday. I of course didn't get a photo with them, but luckily Ljilja did:  

There are two girls from Lebanon, and we had to help get them their visas which was a lot of paperwork, but it all worked out in the end! There are also three from Northern Ireland and one from the US. And they are a very sweet bunch! 

After that first week it was time to take the show on the road and head to Tuzla for the 5th Bosnian and Herzegovinian Faith and Conflict. We were joined by others from Rostrevor, Northern Ireland, but it was the smallest group we have had (which was probably a good thing because of a) Covid, and b) my limitations because of my frozen shoulder!)

And actually, my wonderful colleague, Käte, came along from Banja Luka and it was mainly because of her that I was able to make it all work. She helped with the transport and logistics and it meant I didn't have to drive there (which is not possible at present). I also tried to be clever where I could - so when I wasn't presenting or translating for those who were, I was trying to rest. But I still ended up overdoing it near the end, oh well. 

But we still managed to have a great week, and managed to have many learning experiences. We learnt so much from the "Local Voices" sharing their stories of faith or from some gracious teachers who travelled up to Tuzla (or joined us on zoom), or being involved in a lovely concert by Alex Atwell: sharing some of his songs and stories of reconciliation. 

I also sent them to Srebrenica to learn more about that, and we enjoyed a lovely tour of Tuzla - here we all are (minus Käte) at the viewpoint overlooking Tuzla: 

Now the team is in Sarajevo, but they will be coming back to Banja Luka in 3 weeks to spend 3 weeks of their practical phase with us here. We look forward to having them back! 

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 9: Journey of Understanding

Part of my vague idea when I first came to Bosnia and Herzegovina was to try and bring needed reconciliation to the people of this country. This is a much-needed area in this post-conflict country where Muslims, Croats (Catholics) and Serbs (Orthodox) have a deep-seated hate and mistrust for one another. People here are often not able to distinguish between their ethnic identity and their religious background, so the mixed-background Evangelical/Protestant models a unity that is so needed in this country.

During my time in Zenica, I participated in a ministry with women who had been taught how to quilt by a Dutch lady. Once I left Zenica, and moved to Banja Luka, I continued my relationship with the group in Zenica, thinking I could maybe use it as a vehicle for reconciliation between the predominantly Muslim city of Zenica and the predominantly Serb (Orthodox) city of Banja Luka. 

Zenica Quilting ladies

Taking 3 of the ladies in our church in Banja Luka who had experience with sewing, but did not have steady employment, I started up a group here in Banja Luka. Our two little groups started marketing themselves under the motto “Peace Crafts: ‘sewing’ the seeds of reconciliation”.  The group in Zenica mainly worked on quilt production, and we tried to produce little Bosnian dolls for sale to markets overseas.

Unfortunately, over time, the ladies in Banja Luka eventually all dropped out for various reasons, and although the group in Zenica kept going, we decided to shut things down in Banja Luka. The group in Zenica work successfully for another 3 years or so, but in the end the 2008 financial crisis put an end to what they were doing. It provided employment for those ladies until it ended, but it didn’t really do much in the way of reconciliation. I was of course disappointed by the way things turned out, but trusted that the Lord would continue to guide me, and He did... 

A few years went by, and in 2014, an opportunity opened up for me to facilitate the first Faith and Conflict conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Youth with a Mission (YWAM) Ireland came and brought the content, and I facilitated the local speakers and logistics. 

Now we have run four of them, and over time it grew from us trying to teach reconciliation to the local people and instead has become a vehicle for foreigners to come in and learn from local people. We take people on a journey of understanding, listening to locals’ stories of faith in the midst of conflict and learning from them the true meaning of forgiveness. And each one has been unique and wonderful. 

Faith and Conflict 2019 in Mostar

And these Faith and Conflict journeys of understanding are an echo of my own journey of understanding since I came to this country. Coming as a white English-speaking South African, I thought I had learnt so many lessons through growing up in South Africa and how we overcame apartheid. I came with a sort of “white saviour” complex, thinking I would save the Bosnians from each other. My experience with the Peace Crafts group and then the Faith and Conflicts showed me that instead I had a lot to learn from the incredible Bosnian people. 

And the lessons I have learnt about reconciliation and forgiveness come straight from the heart of God. He is the one who forgave us first so we can be reconciled to Him. And He is the one who is faithful to teach us lessons if we are willing to learn from Him!

This is part 9 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Faith and Conflict 2020

This is the fourth Faith and Conflict which we have run in cooperation with YWAM Ireland... There were 23 people who came from YWAM in Switzerland, Albania, Greece, Serbia and Ireland. We also had some other lovely people join us from Sarajevo. We started in Sarajevo for 3 days and then moved to Mostar for the last 2 days. We listened to local stories, and learned from Jonny Clark and Alex Atwell from YWAM Ireland. Below is Alex sharing with us on the opening night:

 We also had a wonderful tour of Sarajevo with Sasa who is an amazing guide:

Even during last year's Faith and Conflict, the guys from YWAM Davos in Switzerland were talking about coming back this year, but during their "lecture phase" for their Discipleship Training School. We ended up running the F&C in February so they could come and do a snowboarding camp with the youth in Sarajevo (the DTS school focuses on snowboarding and free skiing). They also decided to come the week before to Banja Luka where I spent the week sharing my story and lessons I have learnt along the way - it was great fun!

Besides the YWAM Davos guys coming to Banja Luka beforehand, a team from YWAM Ireland came to Banja Luka afterwards. We had a great time with them...

Until they had to leave early because of Covid-19... More on that in this blog post

YWAM Davos Team

After the Faith and Conflict, I was back in Banja Luka for a couple of days before the YWAM Davos team (who were part of the F&C) came up to be here for just over 3 weeks. They are a great team and we had a fantastic time with them here. They were actually from the US, Canada, The Netherlands and Belgium, but all drawn to YWAM Davos through their love of snowboarding/skiing and extreme sports: Here they are at a place overlooking Banja Luka, where we spent time praying for the city: 

The first week, they surprised me for my birthday with a lovely birthday brunch: so fun!

They enjoyed hanging out with people at both English Classes and the photography workshop we ran while they were here:

We went quite a few times to the Children's Home, where they helped with our last few Book Clubs, and also on the weekends to entertain the kids:

 Making Ninja stars out of popsicle sticks:

 And making bracelets out of beads:

Of course, I don't have pics of the facepainting or football and other fun games or dramas (which I was translating) that happened... The kids loved the team, sometimes a little bit too much - as some of the girls ended up sending love notes to the boys on the team...  so cute!

They also helped A LOT to get stuff ready for future workshops. I get a lot of donations of things and it all needs organising. Here are Keelen, Dani and Caroline organising ALL the beads:

And they not only sharpened all my pencil crayons, but their OCD came out when they organised them into a rainbow... but actually it ended up being very helpful as I have now made two equal sets - one to take to the |Home and one to use for workshops in our classroom.

The team was also super handy, so they helped a LOT practically around the building: here are Nick and Tom enjoying the hardware store... buying stuff we needed to fix up and make the house great!

They helped also to clean out the container and get everything ready for our camp in August, and of course I don't have ANY photos of that... Or the before pic of this room which they totally cleared out, repainted and made completely new... the incentive was that they then could have the table tennis table set up in there... so this is them all setting it up! (you will just have to take my word for it, they did a LOT of work in there... the right incentive helps!!)

It wasn't all work and no play - I really am the "fun aunty" and for their days off organised one rafting trip on the river: (which I joined them in!) It was such a great day as the water was still quite high after recent rains, so there was quite a lot of white water adrenaline!

But for more adrenaline, they were also able to jump off this bridge... I did NOT join them in this activity:

And on another free day we went on my favourite hike along the river at Krupa na Vrbasu: 

We walked to the source of the river - which comes straight out of the mountain. You can't capture it in a photo, but it is so amazing to see how God makes something out of nothing!

I was very sad to see them go as they really were an amazing team - I even made them each Thank-you Cards to show appreciation for all that they did: We tell teams that they are each laying another brick in the building that God is building here, and these guys definitely placed many!!

Faith and Conflict 2019

Three days after finishing the Central European Staff Gathering, it was time for my next conference... yes, organising two conferences back to back was not a clever plan, but thankfully it all worked out!!

This is the 3rd Faith and Conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first one was held in 2014 and then the next one in 2018, but now we actually aiming to run them every year! This is a conference that is run in conjunction with YWAM Northern Ireland and they run them in Northern Ireland, Lebanon, the US and South Africa.

We started off in Mostar and we had over 30 people, because a team from Albania that was there joined us for our time there, it was great having such a large group of people who want to learn more about Faith and Conflict in this beautiful place. Here we are at the new "Old bridge": (the old one was destroyed in the 1992-1995 war and it was rebuilt in exactly the same way as the old one, finished in 2004):

We also went up to the "cross on the hill" over Mostar. The unfortunate truth is that the cross which should be a symbol of love and grace is seen as a provocation. The city is divided between Croats (Catholics) and Bosniaks (Muslims). The mortar shells which destroyed the Old Bridge during the war were shot from this mountain... and now the cross is standing on it, overshadowing the city and in a way, a visual reminder of that fact... we loved learning about the symbolism and hesitated to take the group photo, but felt it was a lesson learned that needs to be remembered - symbols can be provocative and we need to be careful what symbols we use in our lives...

During our time in Mostar, we were treated to a concert by one of the YWAM Ireland staff, Alex Atwell. He shared his songs and stories from Northern Ireland... about peace and reconciliation. It was a lovely evening:

The main speaker for the conference was Jonny Clark, leader of YWAM Ireland, and it really is great to work with him and his team from YWAM Ireland. Here we all are enjoying some of Jonny's teaching in the beautiful Kairos Centre in Sarajevo.

Here is a pic of Jonny and I enjoying the Bosnian speciality "čevapi" together in Sarajevo at the end (we took the photo to send to our mutual friend in Ireland "the other Belinda" to make her a little jealous as she looooves čevapi!)

In Sarajevo, besides great teaching and cevapi, we were also treated to a great tour of the city's war history with the pastor of the Dolac Malta Evangelical Church, Sasa Nikolinovic. One of the places he took us to is actually in the top 7 of beautiful abandoned places: the bob sled run from the 1984 Olympic games: (and I think this photo should be our album cover... we are too cool for school!)

In Mostar and Sarajevo we had local people come and share stories in segments we call "Local Voices". Some shared their stories about being in the war, others shared how they are working now in some area of peacemaking. I love this part as there is such a depth of wisdom here, and people who have gone through so much have a lot to teach us, and I love giving them a platform to share! And for many people, this is the part that impacts them the most.

The group was fantastic, and it was with heavy hearts that we said goodbye to one another, we truly became a pilgrimage community in our week-long journey through this wonderful land... 

Faith and Conflict 2018

We ran a Faith and Conflict in 2014, and Jonny Clark from YWAM Rostrevor has been on me ever since to run another one. I never felt it was the right time until this year. This year, the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that is being run in Croatia is focusing on Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia as well, and so we decided that this week long conference would be part of the DTS and we would also see if anyone else wanted to come along for this journey of understanding... and they did!

Even though Jonny couldn't come at the last minute, and he was supposed to be the main speaker, everything still turned out OK. We had great local input from different people telling their stories, from how they were in the army from the beginning to the end of the war without having a gun to dodging bullets in Sarajevo, to becoming a refugee. We also had two great speakers from Northern Ireland fill in for Jonny: Walter and Alex, and they shared more about the topic of reconciliation and the key role of forgiveness.

We physically (as well as mentally and spiritually!) went on a journey through Bosnia and Herzegovina, starting in Banja Luka: Here we are in front of the Orthodox church.

 Then moving to Sarajevo - where we enjoyed some better weather :)

We finished off in Mostar, and were so impacted by how divided the city still is. One of the people telling their stories said "here the war hasn't ended yet". It just brought home how much still has to change here.

For me, it was so impactful how we kept taking the BIG picture and then making it personal. So, conflict happens between people groups when there is an "us" and a "them" and the same thing is true in our lives. How much do I make a difference in my own life between a group I am part of and a group I am not part of. A silly example was when one of the girls started bragging how much better it was to be on the top bunk (we were sleeping in bunks in one of the churches in Sarajevo) and those people on the bottom bunks were all losing out... There was the us and them!

In our lives, we need to be living not with us and them, but just us... we are all in this together and need each other to get along. It is easier to build walls than bridges - but we need to build bridges to survive!!

It was a fantastic week, and even though there was a lot of work to organise all the logistics in 3 cities, it was worth it to show everyone the riches of beauty in this country - not just in the physical geography, but also in its people!

Geneva | Western European Leadership Gathering

Even though I am part of the Central European area of YWAM, as part of my role in leadership, I am invited to be a part of the WELG (Western European Leadership Gathering) which is held every other year. This year it was in Geneva. There were about 300 leaders from all over Western Europe (and about 20 of us from Central Europe). (See if you can spot me in the middle next to the lady in turquoise :) 

The key note speaker was Vishal Mangalwadi. It was amazing to hear his teaching again, as I was privileged to have him speak on the Community Development school I did in 1999 in South Africa. He spoke on two days, and the rest of the week we had other YWAM leaders sharing - from Jeff Fountain to Tom Bloomer - and it was a very encouraging time!

And we were definitely in Switzerland - the first night we were treated to some traditional music and raclette! (which for this amount of people was quite a task, but they did a great job!)

To keep costs down in one of the most expensive cities in the world, they told us we would be in bunkers... I thought WW2 bunkers that had been turned into a hostel or something like that... but no, we were in actual atomic shelter bunkers built in the 70s. This is the view of our room - my purple sheets on the left is where I slept in this room with 25 of my (now) closest friends! It was unexpected, but not as horrible as it seems... and now I have a great story to tell!

 Yip - I slept in an actual Bomb Shelter...apparently Switzerland has shelters for every one of their citizens. Each new building has to have a shelter and in every 10th house built in a village, the government pays for them to have a shelter in the basement for them and their neighbours.

We did get to enjoy some of the sights of the city - mostly on the tram on the way to and from the conference :) But it was still nice to get a feel for the city - and isn't this just beautiful! (thanks Jill for the pic!)

One afternoon I was part of a walking tour of the reformation part of the city with Tom Bloomer who is soon stepping down as the Provost for YWAM's University. It was amazing to hear about the reformation that happened in this city from someone who has been studying it for years! Here he is explaining about Calvin's role in the city's transformation.

We went to see where Calvin preached:

 And the chair he used:

 And the church where he did his preaching...

And our tour ended near an amazing place: what was literally the crossroads of Europe - during Roman times, this is where the main North South road met the main East West road, connecting all of Europe in this place!

And that is what this conference is for me - there are no pics of all the connections that took place with old friends and new, connecting me to people in Spain and Switzerland who want to send teams to Bosnia, connecting me with people from Czech and Greece so I can see how they are doing, connecting me with people from Ireland who are coming to run a Faith and Conflict conference in Bosnia in April, and most importantly reminding me how important it is to stay connected to God so that I can do all that I am doing!