Sarajevo native Amila Buturovic arrived at Haverford in December as a Visiting Instructor of Religion and a touchstone for the College's efforts to assist her people. Fresh from her Ph.D. program at McGill University, Buturovic has already lost her sister, father, and many friends to the "ethnic cleansing." While teaching no fewer than three courses on Islamic history and culture, Buturovic worked with Associate Professor of Religion Michael Sells, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Laurie Hart, and Janet Marcus to found the Community of Bosnia Foundation (COB).

The Community of Bosnia supports a multicultural Bosnia and assists Bosnian survivors of ethnic cleansing in many ways. Their most immediate project is obtaining scholarships for Bosnian students at colleges and universities in this area and around the country. Sells finds that the Bosnian refugees value the opportunity to study above all esle--as a means to remain in touch with the larger world and to keep their culture alive. Christie Lindberg ('94) and the Collection Committee brought Bosnian students to Haverford where their stories of terror and their determination to rebuild their lives and country received an overwhelming reception. So far Rosemont College is offering two scholarships to Bosnian students, with Bryn Mawr, West Chester, and Villanova promising one each. Sells hopes that Haverford, Swarthmore, and other institutions will find funds. The Class of 94 is donating part of its class gift to support a Bosnian student at Haverford. COB is working to meet any expenses scholarships cannot cover.

Assistant Professor of Physics Suzanne Amador is coordinating contacts with local refugee resettlement groups, Bryn Mawr Senior Sarah Aird coordinates contacts with women's groups, and Bryn Mawr Senior Jennifer Bacelic works on medical evacuations. Sells is asking for volunteers to translate for newly arrived refugees and working for a more humane refugee policy on the part of Western governments.

The Haverford chapter of COB has adopted the Bosnian city of Foca as a "sister community." Foca (pronounced F—-cha) was a Muslim-majority city whose Islamic heritage was annihilated in 1992. Professor of Philosophy Lucius Outlaw has obtained a software data base and is helping enter data on former residents, testimonies of war crimes, and photos of the Islamic monuments that graced the city, including the famous "Colored Mosque" (built in 1550), a masterwork of European architecture. Erica Lurie 96' is working with Hillel Director Mindy Shapiro and Sells to make armbands with the names of former Foca residents, to symbolize that they have not been forgotten. Nationalists now deny that there ever was a mosque or a Muslim in Foca. Sells believes such people should not control memory.

Over100 students, faculty, and staff have contributed in other ways to numerous to mention. In February, Haverford hosted a talk by Andras Riedlmayer of the Fine Arts Library at Harvard on Bosnia's Multicultural Heritage and Its Destruction. In March, it hosted Bosnian architect Amir Pasic who in 1986 won international acclaim for his restoration of the beautiful city of MostarŅa city he is now working to restore again.

Haverford's Community of Bosnia dedicates its work to Aida Buturovic, Amila's sister. In August1992, the National Library in Sarajevo was shelled for three days as part of the cultural aspect of "ethnic cleansing." Aida was killed while rescuing precious manuscripts from the library.