Sonja Raljevic, an ethnomusicologist has been offered a full graduate student fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. This was accomplished through the support of Professor Marina Roseman at Penn, and with the help of Professor Amila Buturovic at Haverford who translated part of Sonja's BA thesis that was critical in her winning the award.
Bryn Mawr has offered a full scholarship to a Bosnian Student, Aida Premilovac, a promising student who was in her first year at the University of Sarajevo when the siege of Sarajevo and the "ethnic cleansing" of her home town of Stolac forced her and her family to flee. Her father and brothers were held in the infamous concentration camps run by the HVO (Croat nationalist defense force). She has continued to study in exile, under the most tragic of circumstances, and has impressed everyone who knows her with the dedication to learning. I cannot say how thankful we are to all the Bryn Mawr adminstrators who played a central role in this heartening decision: Mary Patterson MacPherson, Judith Shapiro, Karen Tidmarsh, Nancy Monnick, and Betty Vermey.
Villanova and Haverford are have joined to bring another Bosnian Student, Irvana Kapetanovic, to a supportive educational environment. Villanova has offered a full tuition scholarship. Haverford Professor Sid Waldman and Kay Waldman will offer housing at their College Circle home. The Community of Bosnia Foundation has begun an Irvana Kapetanovic educational fund to raise the other expenses (meal ticket, books, insurance, spending money) for Irvana, which we must raise before she can register at Villanova. Some Haverford and Bryn Mawr students have already pledged to contribute to this effort. Irvana is from Prijedor. While she studies at Villanova,she will also be at Haverford helping us at the Community of Bosnia Foundation find scholarships for other Bosnian students.
Swarthmore has offered a full scholarship to Dzevad Sukilovic from Bijeljina (a stronghold of the "ethnic cleansing" movement) who is now in a refugee camp in Hungary. The U.S. Consul in Budapest has indicated he may refuse Dzevad a student visa (on the grounds that since his town is in the hands of gangsters and killers, he cannot prove he will return to his home town after his studies), a position we find deplorable. We are working to clarify the situation and, if the position of the consul has been represented correctly, to persuade him to change it. We will not give up on this and if necessary will go to all legal lengths to make sure Dzevad is given the opportunity he deserves.
Two Bosnian students from Sarajevo will be at Rosemont College. And Suljo Linic, from Bosanski Petrovac and Bihac (one of the 6 declared UN "safe havens" being shelled continually), will be coming to West Chester University which has offered him atuition scholarship. The Community of Bosnia has started a Suljo Linic Educational Fund in West Chester to raise his other expenses.
Finally, not really in our area, another student, Alma Hakirovic, has been offered a full scholarship at Duke. We have found that the bigger the institution, the more difficult it is to get action on these pressing issues. Alma's scholarship had us all on edge for months. This is a special moment--an opportunity for another superior young scholar that was fought for and struggled for by people at Duke, Haverford, New York, and in between.
Next year we hope to place students at many other colleges around the country. Our goal is at least 100. In the face of the tragedy of genocide in Bosnia this may not seem like much. But each student placed offers hope and promise not only to the student, but to her or his entire extended family--a reconnection to the world. These are the people who want to rebuild their country. These are the people with a memory of a multi-religious, multi-cultural Bosnia. They are the possibility of a future nation of religious and ethnic pluralism. I want to send the most sincere thanks to all of your, on behalf of the Community of Bosnia Foundation, for your support.
There is a book entitled Haven, by Ruth Gruber, that tells the story of 1000 refugees from Nazi persecution who were allowed into the U.S. toward the end of WW2 and who were transported on one large ship from Italy to New York State. Those of college age went on to make contributions to humanity far beyond any statistical probability. They had been given an opportunity in midst of devastation and were determined not to waste a particle of it. The Bosnian students I have come to know show the same determination. I am sure we will be immeasureably enriched by their presence within our community.
Michael Sells