The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2001, Síða 12

50
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 56 #2
hummers with machine guns at the ready.
But in actuality, we feel very safe and we
have found the people here to be very honest
and friendly, in our dealings with them. We
were annoyed at first when we found that
there were two prices for everything here.
One price for Bosnians and a larger one for
foreigners. Amazingly enough, after the first
week or so, our sights were set not on the
damage caused by the war but rather the
incredible restoration and building that is
going on. It’s like everyone decided on the
same day to renovate their homes and busi-
ness’.
Finding a place to live was not easy. There
are so many people looking for housing and
so many buildings were damaged that we had
a hard time finding accommodation.
However, we did find a clean, warm and safe
2 bedroom apartment which is actually the
second level of a new alpine-style house with
a large balcony overlooking the valley and
hills, about a half hour walk from our office.
The house is owned by a couple who have
two sons, aged 8 and 11. The wife is a doctor
and he is an engineer. They are originally
from a Serb dominated city, Banja Luka, but
had to move to a Muslim area. After the
Dayton Accord the country was divided into
areas for Serbs, Croats and Muslims. They
apparently traded houses with someone who
took over their place. Eventually, they wish to
return to their original city but under the cir-
cumstances, this may not be possible. They
are wonderful to us and with her limited
understanding of English, and much determi-
nation, we are able to communicate. The rent
that we pay is $700 CDN per month. Even
though these people are professionals, their
salaries are somewhere around $800 to $1000
CDN per month, so this rent is most helpful to
them. Electricity and heat come from coal,
which they have in abundance. The downside
is that, with Tuzla being in a valley, the burn-
ing of coal causes air pollution and it is
uncomfortable to breathe. Frequently it is like
a fog outside due to this. A clear day is to be
celebrated.
We are set up in the Canadian Urban
Institute office, which is one room within the
Urban Institute of Tuzla building in a busy
downtown location. We have a delightful, fun
loving and competent 25 year old Bosnian
woman working for us in our office and she
translates for us. Very few people here speak
English, so having Alma with us is a necessi-
ty. Alma’s father is Muslim and her mother
was a Serb. The CUI brought her and the
Director of the UIT over to Canada to Toronto
and Victoria for 2 weeks, so we were able to
take them to meet our colleagues in Victoria
and arrange for them to see some of our beau-
tiful west coast. This turned out to be most
helpful, and we really feel like a team.
We have traveled about in the countryside
a bit, to see the Tuzla Canton which is made
up of thirteen municipalities. The country is
beautiful, and as we are so close to Austria,
we can almost see Julie Andrews dancing on
a mountain side singing “The hills are alive
with the sound of music.”
But, there are many farm homes which
have been destroyed in the country. We are
told that many of them belonged to Serbs,
who, when told to depart after the Dayton
Accord, blew them up rather than have any-
one else live in them. There are an estimated
4 million land mines in Bosnia and it will take
a very long time to remove this problem. We
are advised to walk only in safe areas or on
pavement.
North of Tuzla, on the Bosnian / Croatian
border, is a market with thousands of stalls.
Interestingly enough it is called “Arizona.” It
is an outdoor bazaar and anything that you
can think of can be purchased there. We don’t
know where the merchandise comes from as it
is a “black market” and the Bosnian govern-
ment is leaving the owners of these shops
alone for the time being. During the war these
same merchants were killing each other and
now, with the ability to make a living, they
appear to be getting along. Eventually, the
Bosnian government will collect taxes from
them.
We are about 3 hours drive north of
Sarajevo, which hosted the 1984 Olympic
Winter Games and we have been there a cou-
ple of times. This beautiful city, in a valley,
was very badly damaged, and some buildings
such as a museum which housed a thousand
years of Muslim history was totally destroyed
with all the historical information and arti-
facts. Losses such as that will never be recov-
ered. The drive from Tuzla to Sarajevo is
beautiful, with rolling hills and low moun-