The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2001, Side 16

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 56 #3
almost pulled the door of the jeep off as I
greeted the young soldiers. They told us
that things were pretty quiet in that area
and the Canadian base was nearby. Mostly
they were there as peacekeepers but more
like goodwill ambassadors. They even
offer assistance to people in the area who
are trying to rebuild their damaged homes.
There were three from Canada and the
fourth soldier was their Bosnian inter-
preter. They were from Winnipeg, Regina
and Thunder Bay.
We knew, when we left Canada last
December, that we were going to miss our
family and friends and this was especially
so at Christmas, when we spent a very
quiet holiday alone. So as Easter
approached we decided that we would bor-
row Alma’s new car, drive to the Coast and
spend the holiday in Dubrovnik. We had
been to Dubrovnik many years ago when
we travelled for 6 months in Europe and at
that time had fallen in love with this beau-
tiful old walled city. Going back was like
revisiting a friend. As we walked the steep
walls surrounding the city, it was obvious
just how bad the war damage was. Almost
70% of the roofs of the old buildings had
been replaced with new red tiles. The Serbs
had shelled this beautiful UNESCO World
Heritage City. Above the city the hills
were scorched where fires had been set to
the forests. We learned that on one day
alone in 1991 over 800 shells fell on the
city. The war continued there until 1995.
As we explored the narrow streets we
saw that the work going on to make repairs
was being done with the utmost care to
make it look as it was. This little city is over
1000 years old. The inhabitants and shop-
keepers are determined to make it as good
if not better than it was before, but one
wonders just what was lost.
The drive to the coast and back was
incredibly beautiful. This part of Bosnia
and Croatia is mountainous with valleys
full of fruit trees. When we exit the long
tunnels along the route we felt that we were
seeing villages that were very different
from each other. It’s hard to explain, but
each one is unique probably due to the
hundreds of years many have existed prior
to the building of the tunnels.
As we headed south for the coast, con-
voys of SFOR vehicles were headed north
from Mostar. There had just been problems
with Croats who were upset with
Internationals making some adjustments to
banks there. There is a hard core of
Croats who do not want to be part of
Bosnia and the SFOR troops had no doubt
been there on their peacekeeping mission.
We wondered why there were so many
heading north and later heard on CNN
that Cohn Powel was in Sarajevo. That
explained it.
At our first glimpse of the sea, Len and
I suddenly felt homesick. We hadn’t real-
ized how much we miss the ocean, but
when you live beside it as we do on
Vancouver Island it has become a part of
us. The drive along the coast to Dubrovnik
felt very much like our home in Canada
and was almost therapeutic. We went to the
little port just outside the walls of
Dubrovnik and found a small boat and
after some negotiating we were out on the
blue green water. The owner of the boat
spoke perfect English and asked us where
we were from. We told him that we lived
near Vancouver, British Columbia thinking
that he might not be familiar with our City
of Victoria. He nodded and said that he had
been to one of the most beautiful cities on
earth called Victoria. He went on and on
about how much he loved everything about
that city. What a surprise! Len didn’t tell
him that he had been the Director of
Planning for Victoria, we just sat back feel-
ing very happy as the waves danced around
us like diamonds in the sun. It was a very
good holiday.
The work that we are doing here has
expanded since we first arrived. We are
meeting more internationals and coordi-
nating our resources to make the projects
more successful. Our first task was to pre-
pare a new development plan, “Spatial
Plan” to serve as a tool for the management
of growth and development. As well as
working on the “Spatial Plan” with the
Urban Institute of Tuzla, we are assisting
the Minister of Social Affairs and the
Minister of Urbanism in better organizing
and training their respective staffs. By law,
here in Bosnia, 30% of those elected in the