From the President

The Community of Bosnia was formed by volunteers in Haverford, Pennsylvania, in late 1993, at a time when the survival of Bosnia-Herzegovina, its people, and its culture, was in grave doubt. Our initial efforts to bring students to the U.S. for study were carried out under emergency conditions, in which town after town was falling to an organized campaign of atrocity and "ethnic cleansing." In November, 1995, the Dayton Peace accords were signed by all major parties, and a NATO force, known as IFOR (Implementation Force) was sent to Bosnia to help implement the key aspects of the Dayton agreement: separation of warring military groups, return of refugees to their homes, arrest of indicted war-criminals, and the creation of democratic structures.

At first the implementation of the Dayton accords remained painfully slow, but in the past few months major progress has been made. NATO troops finally began arresting war-criminals, at which point other indicted war-criminals voluntarily turned themselves in for trial before the criminal Tribunal in The Hague. The arrest of war-criminals crippled the power of the most militant and extreme nationalists and more moderate leaders are beginning to emerge, with more serious commitment to the central issue in Bosnia today: the return of refugees to their homes. The critical importance of NATO is almost universally accepted in Bosnia as the key to continued progress. If the suggestions by some members of Congress for immediate U.S. withdrawal are heeded, the European NATO partners would also withdraw, and war and ethnic cleansing would begin again. Fortunately, continued NATO presence seems likely.

What does this mean for the Community of Bosnia and for our approximately 50 students? It means that every act we take, every talk given by one of our students, every student who returns with skills and vision for rebuilding a multireligious Bosnia is crucial to the future of the region and to the commitments, enshrined in the Genocide Convention of 1948,to oppose genocide. Bosnia is no longer in the news, but the stakes and the urgency are not less, and because of the lack of media coverage, our work may be even more vital.

After four years, our program has begun to grow roots in each of the local communities in which our students have been involved. Some educators from schools with COB sponsored students have decided to visit Bosnia in the summer of 1998 with students from COB. Others are working on sister-school programs between schools in Bosnia and schools in the U.S. that would allow direct communication and mutual support.

The following is an excerpt of a letter from the parents COB students Amira and Azra Kurtovic who are currently students at Friends Central and the Germantown Friends School

...We miss them very much and we are often very unhappy because of that. Sometimes, we wonder why children and parents have to be apart and what kind of consequences that can have on children...But we think that it is better for them to grow up in a country with a normal situation than to be in Bosnia. Unfortunately, the situation here is very complicated. There is no fighting, but there are a lot of problems that appeared as a consequence of this terrible war. The people are very exhausted, they have no jobs, the economy is not functioning, communications of any kind are very limited. The state isn't functioning, the politicians do not get along about some basic issues. The people are confused, they do not see the possibility of any progress in the near future.

We are at a turning point. Our first group of students are beginning to return to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Last year, Suad Slipicevic, a young man from Mostar who finished high school at Germantown Academy and who lived with Pat and Warren Witte in Philadelphia, decided that he wished to return to Mostar for law school, despite the fact that Mostar University had been divided and partially demolished by religious nationalist militias who still controlled much of the city. Suad has become an example of what we, at the Community of Bosnia, aspire to do.

He has returned to a shattered city, with a deep and fully realistic understanding of the depths of the tragedy and the divisions that have been sown by religious nationalists. Suad, his mother and his sisters, have been instrumental in helping us identify and accept three superbly talented new students into our program. He left us with a set of essays (published by COB) which is a testament to the human spirit. In that booklet, Suad describes the attack on the Muslim community of Mostar, the siege, the death of his father, and his meditation on the fragility of the fabric of peace, not only in Bosnia, but in every society. He describes the reactions of survivors at the death of their loved- ones with a sensitivity and profundity that move to the core of what it means to work for non-violence. He describes the symbolism and importance of the great bridge of Mostar in a manner that few commentators have been able to capture: as a bridge between cultures, religions, and ethnicities. That bridge was targeted and destroyed by religious nationalists on November 9, 1993 and is now in the process of being reconstructed.

The Community of Bosnia was formed on the premise that the most heroic survivors of genocide and ethnic cleansing-those who have refused to give into the pull toward militancy and own-group identification-have as much to offer us and we to them; that our multiethnic and multireligious society, like that of Bosnia, has deep wounds and, despite those wounds, a common culture; and that individuals who wish to resist genocide can make a difference, a profound difference, even though their resources may seem small in relation to the enormity of the problem.

The widening ripples of understanding and reconstruction emanating from Suad and the other fifty students in the COB program, their host families, their individual networks of supporters, have demonstrated to us the validity of that premise. We believe the direct contact and commitment, between local schools, host families, and support communities, and heroic survivors and witnesses for peace from area of genocide and ethnic cleansing, can and do offer a realistic way of people to resist the evil of genocide and work for a multireligious and multiethnic society.

Michael Sells

During 1997 the Community of Bosnia continued to speak out on issues of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the need for international support for the rebuilding of a multi-ethnic Bosnia.

Andras Riedlmayer, COB Board member and Bibliographer at Harvard University, was invited to Mauritius in the spring. This multi-religious nation off the coast of Africa is comprised of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and others. While the world's major powers vacillated about apprehending indicted war criminals, Mauritius took action and became one of the first nations to detain a suspect whose name was on the International Tribunal list of indictees. Riedlmayer gave numerous slide-lectures, including a charity dinner to raise funds for COB at which the President of the Republic was guest of honor.

Michael Sells, COB President, was particularly active. During the year he:

• spoke at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on religion and genocide in Bosnia
• met with the congressional Human Rights Caucus and testified on religious persecution
• organized a symposium on Bosnia at the Middle East Studies Association.
• hosted a symposium at Haverford College on religion and genocide in Bosnia, Rwanda, and East Timor.

COB President Michael Sells' new book, The Bridge Betrayed, Religion and Genocide in Bosnia (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), was awarded the 1997 prize in historical studies by the American Academy of Religion. The book provided Sells the opportunity for interviews on Voice of America and National Public Radio stations and has been reviewed in dozens of journals, worldwide.

Community of Bosnia Students continue to be powerful educators of their peers and the wider community. During the 1997 Azra and Amina Kurtovic, Suad Slipicevic, Dubravko Biruski, Vanja Filipovic, Emira Imsirovic, Aida Premilovac-Filipovic, Amra Sabic, and Tahija Vikalo all gave public address or made public appearances, discussing their experiences on television, radio, at assemblies, or at book reviews. The Community of Bosnia's site on the World Wide Web (www.students.haverford.edu/vfilipov) continued to be updated during 1997. It has become one of the major international resources for information on Bosnia.

The heart of the Community of Bosnia is its student program which, since 1994, has brought more than 50 students to study in the United States. The Community of Bosnia identifies full scholarships in private high schools and colleges and selects students. Most high schools students are in the Delaware Valley area; college students are more widely scattered around the country, drawn by scholarships and community support. In 1997 the Community of Bosnia reaffirmed its commitment to the student program, bringing 5 more high schools to study in the United States. The program will continue as long as conditions in Bosnia make it dangerous or difficult for students to continue their educations. Students are chosen on the basis of their need and the degree to which they were affected by the war, their demonstrated ability to work in English in American schools, and their commitment to a multi-ethnic Bosnia.

A note from Deborah Cooper, COB Coordinator of the Student Program: Behind each of these students and their host families are caring individuals, frequently acting inconspicuously, giving financial, emotional, and professional support. We have received hours of free psychotherapy, dental care, and tickets to theater and operatic events. In one case, an article in a local paper stimulated someone to call saying she couldn't have a student in her home but had $5,000 she wanted to contribute.

Many of the students have won academic and other awards.

In addition to excelling in school, students have a powerful impact on their classmates and schools. Suad Slipicevic, who graduated from Germantown Academy in June, 1997, composed and read to his class a series of essays about his experiences during the war. One was included in the school literary journal and all have been published by the Community of Bosnia in a booklet A Young Man's Accounts of War. Anthony Garvan, Head of the Upper School, wrote after his graduation:

Frankly, when I was first asked whether Germantown Academy would take on a young Bosnian refugee as a full-time student, I was scared, but Suad's three semesters here have since erased all fearÖ. As Suad's tremendously moving writings for David Leshan's English class reveal, the students at Germantown Academy gained, thanks to Suad's time here, an incomparable personal contact with a tragic war, with a piece of history, and above all with a peer who had suffered acutely and persevered with dignity. From time to time students still as me questions about Suad. From their rapt attention to my answers I can tell Suad has made a permanent impression on their beings.

The connections and understandings of COB are enriched through travel of its members to Bosnia.

• Many of the COB-sponsored students spent the summer of 1997 with their families in Bosnia, something that is encouraged by the Community of Bosnia as a means for them to maintain ties with families, communities, and developments in their country. Among those who returned last summer were Vanja and Aida Premilovac-Filipovic. It was Aida's first chance to see her family in five years. Mirza Filipovic, Vanja's father who has spent time in the United States and worked with COB, has returned to live in Sarajevo and is now an editor at a Bosnian publishing house.
  
• Gregg Jaeger, professor of history of science and physics at Boston University (and advisor to COB on its WEB page) worked at the University of Tuzla over the summer, helping Bosnians to rebuild their educational programs.
  
• Lyn Back, host parent of Edita Zulic of Tuzla, spent extended time with the Zulic family and with the family of COB student Dunja Hodzic of Belgrade as part of an extended visit in the Balkans region.
  
• Andras Riedlmayer traveled to Sarajevo, where he met with individuals working to rebuild libraries and museums in Bosnia, part of his and COB's interest in helping to rebuild the cultural heritage of Bosnia.
  
• COB Board Chair Warren Witte and his wife Patricia, traveled in May to Mostar to meet the familiy of Suad Slipicevic, the student who was living with them at that time. With assistance from Suad's family, they met with school officials and teachers and interviewed Mostar high school students for participation in COB's program. Three of them were selected to receive full scholarships in private U.S. high schools.
  
• At the end of 1997 the COB Board of Directors began investigating the possibility of a 1998 summer program in Bosnia. It will involve COB students returning home for the summer as well as COB Board members and staff and the heads of two host high schools who will be visiting in the country during the summer months. The focus will be to investigate the nature and scope of continuing educational needs in Bosnia at both the high school and university levels. Information obtained will help COB determine the future focus of its student program. Participants will also explore opportunities for further linkages between Bosnian schools that send students to the U.S. and the host schools in this country, with dual aims of providing assistance to Bosnian schools still recovering from war and furthering the education of U.S. students about the war and reconstruction.

The Education Committee of the COB planned a series of retreats for the students in the COB program. The first was held over Thanksgiving weekend.

It had become apparent from our contact with students and their host families that the COB needed to address more actively the transitions into a new culture which are challenging and stressful, and particularly so when coming from a war torn country. The goals of the retreat were: to support the students with socialization activities among their Bosnian peers, to teach them about how to identify and manage post traumatic stress symptoms, to begin a dialogue about peace and justice with emphasis on the return to Bosnia, and utilizing leadership skills to rebuild the homeland.

The retreat was structured by committee chair Dr. Julie Linden and other volunteers to encourage interaction between students, to build support groups, and to begin a dialogue about their experiences during the war, in their new culture, and in the transitions between cultures. The students met in both large and small groups with trained facilitators and had organized activities as well as free time to drink coffee, watch movies, take walks and dance together. Many students left feeling that their experiences were understood and that in the sharing with others the painful experiences were less burdensome and less stressful. The weekend focused on creating sources for hope and well being.

From retreat participants Amina and Azra Kurtovic:

Over the Thanksgiving break 34 Bosnian high school and college students from Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey gathered in the small town of Burlington, New Jersey organized by the Community of Bosnia. Students arrived on late Friday afternoon at the Burlington Meeting Conference Center equipped with their three-day necessities and enthusiasm to have a great weekend

The retreat included making friends, speaking Bosnian, making Bosnian jokes, staying up all night, partying, college counseling, feeling of being back home, getting a break from everyday life, sharing experiences from the U.S., and talking about host families and future retreats.

Although there were some painful and stressful moments and memories to bring out, students found support in each other and in psychologists and social workers. At the end of the workshop, everybody sat in a circle. A thread was passed around from person to person...The idea was to throw the thread to the person you value and respect, connecting everybody into the web.

The past year has been one of growth and development within the Community of Bosnia. As the program entered its fourth year, it became apparent that a working board of directors was necessary. A group of people, mostly in the Delaware Valley and all who have had direct engagement in the work of the Community of Bosnia, were formed into the Community of Bosnia Board of Directors.

During the latter half of 1997 the Board has laid plans and shaped goals for the program's future. It began to develop practical policies that are intended to assure responsible funding and operation of the student program. As new Board chair Warren Witte said, "Our effort is to preserve the energy and responsiveness that have marked this effort's work to date, and to develop clearly stated objectives and policies that will allow us to move forward effectively and responsibly. What has been accomplished to date, with very little organizational structure, is truly astounding! That legacy of timely action is a model as we look to approaches that solidify the organization so that it will be able to meet future challenges."

Stephen Cary, Haverford, PA

Chair, American Friends Service Committee Board of Directors, 1979-1991; Vice President (retired) Haverford College.

Lisa Darling, Wilmington, DE (Secretary)

Head of School, Wilmington Friends School. 20 years in independent school education; 16 of those years in Friends Schools. Host family for student in the COB program.

Vanja Filipovic, Ardmore, PA

Junior, Haverford College, Political Science; Bosnian and human rights activist; student representative of Haverford College and board member of Students Against Genocide. Bosnian citizen.

Tom Fisher, Philadelphia, PA (Treasurer)

Social studies teacher (retired) Harriton High, Rosemont, PA, 1964-1993); Assistant Professor of economics, Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, 1967-1985.

Lyn Groome, Villanova, PA

Psychotherapist specializing in relationship therapy; affiliated with London Marriage Guidance Council, Penn Council for Relationships, and Centra. Volunteer counselor to Bosnian students.

Laurie Hart, Haverford, PA

Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Dept. of Anthropology, Haverford College. Special focus on religion, ethnicity, nationalism, and population displacement.

Julie Linden, Philadelphia, PA

Psychologist in private practice for 25 years. Formerly Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Temple University School of Medicine. Volunteer counselor to Bosnian students.

Aida Premilovac-Filipovic, Ardmore, PA

Senior, Bryn Mawr College, Psychology and German, Bosnian citizen.

Andras Riedlmayer

Bibliographer in Islamic Art and Architecture, Aga Khan Program, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University. International expert on Bosnian libraries, museums, and culture. Special focus on programs to reconstruct library and manuscript collections in Bosnia.

Michael Sells, Haverford, PA (President)

Emily Judson Baugh and John Marshall Gest Professor of Comparative Religions, Haverford College; founder, Community of Bosnia; author, The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia, (University of California Press, 1996), recipient of the American Academy of Religion award for excellence in historical studies for 1996

Margaret Shapiro, Philadelphia, PA

Assistant Director of University City office of Penn Council for Relationships. Psychotherapist for twenty years. Volunteer counselor to Bosnian students. Participant in University of Pennsylvania Transcending Trauma Project on the Holocost.

Don Silverson, Erdenheim, PA

Senior Managing Consultant, Public Financial Management, Inc. Twenty years experience in public sector finance and management; host family to Bosnian student.

Warren Witte, Philadelphia, PA (Board Chair)

Executive Director, Friends Services for the Aging, former staff person (30 years) of the American Friends Service Committee. Host family for Bosnian students in the COB program.

Mark Auslander, Emory University

Amila Buturovic, Sarajevo and York University, Ontario, Canada

Roy Gutman, Newsday (winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on Bosnia)

Ann Lesch, Villanova University

Aida Mysan, Sarajevo and New York University

Lucius Outlaw, Haverford College

David Pincus, Board of Overseers, CARE

Irvin Schick, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Barbara Wall, Dean, Villanova University

John Whitehead, Chairman, International Rescue Committee, former Undersecretary of State

Nineteen hundred ninety-seven was an impressive year for the Community of Bosnia, as people from around the country continued to provide financial support. The donor base expanded to nearly one thousand people who have provided the essential base for the organization's work. A few committed granting agencies have also provided invaluable and timely support.

COB ended the year with a fund balance that allowed it to move into 1998 with confidence that it can meet its commitments to students currently in the program and bring a limited number of additional students at either the high school or college level.

As in prior years, the funds that actually passed through the Community of Bosnia tell only a small part of the story of generosity and commitment on the part of hundreds of people and institutions. Cumulatively, the value of the full scholarships provided by private schools, the contributed professional services of counselors, physicians and dentists, and the support provided to students by host families far exceeds the funds raised and spent directly by the Community of Bosnia.

This wider circle of support is only possible, however, only because of the Community of Bosnia support structure and the contributors that make it possible.

COB student Enes Ramosevic wrote the following about his experience studying in the U.S. Enes is now a student at the General Motors Institute in Detroit. These two years at Wilmington Friends School have been the most beautiful experience of my life. Not only have I learned about American culture and Quakers, but also I learned about myself, my culture, my religion, and my place in the world. People were so caring no matter how different I was. They showed me that it is possible to live in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. Even if I already believed in these principles, there is no doubt now that they can be reality in my country, too. I want to thank all of my friends who helped me become what I am now.

Resources Available from the Community of Bosnia

Killing Memory: Bosnia's Cultural Heritage and its Destruction, an internationally acclaimed video by Andras Riedlmayer of Harvard University and member of COB Board of Directors. 42 minutes. $49.95 plus postage.

The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia, award-winning book by COB President Michael Sells. University of California Press, 1996. $20.00.

A Young Man's Accounts of War, a booklet of essays written by Community ofBosnia student Suad Slipicevic, of Mostar. Published by the Community ofBosnia. $7.50 plus postage.

These items are available through the Community of Bosnia. Shipping cost is $2.50 for the first item, $1.00 each for additional items. Overseas: $7.00. Sales tax for Pennsylvania residents: 6% of sale price.

Proceeds of all sales benefit the Community of Bosnia.

The Community of Bosnia is a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, EIN #23-2742932. All contributions are tax deductible.

The Community of Bosnia, c/o Department of Religion

Haverford College 370, Lancaster Avenue Haverford, PA 19041-1392

Visit the Community of Bosnia Website at: www.students.haverford.edu/vfilipov