A thoroughly engaging, well-read and opinionated man who said 'hello' on the train to Sarajevo when he saw my flag on my pack. Having been raised in Bosnia and survived the war in the 1990's he was an especially interesting and, to my benefit, willing guide.
Although we had a train ride and entire evening of intellectual conversation regarding a broad range of important topics below is just a small selection of poignant thoughts paraphrased from the dialogue concerned with the war.
"I grew up with MTV!; we never believed it would come to arms.. During the first few days we'd be sitting in a cafe with shells flying overhead but it was too surreal. We hadn't come to terms with what was actually happening."
"It didn't make any sense. Families were fighting on both sides. My family lived in a catholic part of town but we weren't catholic so we were forced out. My mother had to move to another village. After a year of conscripted service I fled in the tank of a tanker truck while my Croatian friends smuggled us over the border. Worst off, my father was sent to a concentration camp. One day in there is too long - he was there for four months."
"Being on the front line didn't matter - we didn't have any weapons anyhow. We were in our trenches and they were in theirs."
"From Croatia I was able to go to Italy. Fill out the forms and they'd let anybody in but they wouldn't provide for you, not like Canada does. I saw Africans in the streets unable to get a job and I thought 'I can't end up like that' but without the language I couldn't work. In the end, myself and a friend went over the mountains and snuck into Switzerland where we at least had a chance."
"Humans are tribal. If it's not religion it's colour, or ethnicity, or language. We'll find something to separate us and that always leads to violence."
No comments:
Post a Comment