Srebrenica Will Always be Part of My Life

Lars, Yolanta and I first arrived to work in eastern Bosnia - the Bosnian Serb Republic - Republika Srpska- in the cold of March 1997. Lars is Lars Nopp of Sweden, and Yolanta is Yolanta Deutschova Hristova from Bulgaria, and me, myself - Marian - "American from the United States"; Black American. I step back a moment to say that's who I am. Black American is the fact and foundation of my experience and of my people's experiences as human beings in the US and the Americas, and in much of the world. Yolanta, Lars and I were there with OSCE; first, to prepare the logistics for upcoming voter registration, and then to help prepare the terrain for 1997's first post-war municipal elections in Bosnia. Not long after we arrived we made our first car trip to Srebrenica. Sometimes I call it "Sreb" for short. My most recent trip back to Srebrenica [sreb bren NEET suh], Bratunac [BRA too knots], Zvornik [ZVOR nick] and Sekovici [SHAY koh vih chee] was July 2002. The weather was dangerously, godawful hot. On the day of the now-annual memorial like everyone else I stood on the roadside, unsheltered, in the hot sun, for the July 11 service that takes place on the right hand side of the main road as you enter Srebrenica. I know I wasn't the only person praying to please not pass out. One returnee woman (i.e., a Srebrenica Muslim) fainted and was taken away on a stretcher. Thousands of Muslims came back on maybe a dozen, maybe 2 dozen or more buses. I don't remember how many buses there were but there were a lot. I'm sure someone out there remembers those details. I keep asking myself, if terrible issues and events permeate a country or a place and those issues are not completely resolved, can people - can the international community - intervene for awhile, then turn and just walk away? Just as importantly, "where" are the people of Srebrenica now? Including and not only the town's Muslim exiles. I mean in their hearts and in their heads; what do they think, feel and want? The women and the youth as well as the men; what are they willing to do and what are they willing to share with each other to negotiate and build mutual peace?