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UMCOR wraps up 13 years of work in Bosnia and Herzegovina

LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS file photo by Pat McNichols

The Rev. Amy Gregory of East Avenue United Methodist Church, Norwalk, Conn., visits with village children in Gubin, Bosnia, during a 2004 mission trip.
April 11, 2006

By Linda Bloom*

STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) — After the 16th-century bridge in Mostar was destroyed by Croatians during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Methodist Committee on Relief oversaw construction of a temporary footbridge to reconnect the two sides of the devastated city.

The bridge — a symbol of reunification and healing between Bosnian Croatians and Muslims — has since been rebuilt and UMCOR, after 13 years in the country, has officially closed its project there.

Bishop Edward Paup, UMCOR’s president, and the Rev. Paul Dirdak, chief executive, toured some of the work areas and took part in closing ceremonies there in mid-January.

United Methodists will continue to be involved in the region through volunteer teams and financial support for projects, such as the youth houses.

The horror of a war that included ethnic cleansing was all too evident to Paup when they visited a cemetery “that contains the bodies of thousands of Muslim men and boys massacred by the Serbs,” he told UMCOR directors during their April 4 meeting. The bodies were being identified and reburied, and the cemetery is now considered a “sacred space,” he added.

The three-year war ended with the Dayton peace accords in 1995, which divided the Balkan country into a Muslim-Croatian federation and a separate Serb republic.

Over the years, UMCOR donors, representing both church and government sources, funded programs costing $133 million to help restore households and rebuild communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The effort of UMCOR is not only about assisting individuals, but also trying to provide communities that work,” Paup said.

100,000 people benefited

LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS file photo by Bill Phillips

United Methodist volunteers mix concrete for living quarters and a barn in Gubin, Bosnia.

Work began in Zenica, and the office there became the agency’s first permanent in-country operational office outside the United States. Activities included the distribution of hygiene kits and blankets and the creation of small-scale rehabilitation projects. After the Dayton agreement, UMCOR shifted its focus to helping displaced people return home.

“Returning people to a home without holistic support was seen as counterproductive,” noted the 2006 Bosnia and Herzegovina Final Report. “So UMCOR support for returnees began with housing unit and infrastructure reconstruction but moved on to income-generation assistance to improve sustainability prospects for beneficiaries. Community development focused on peace building and reconciliation, youth and strengthening the viability of civil society.”

In total, UMCOR staff designed and managed 140 different programs, benefiting both individuals and communities. An estimated 100,000 people benefited from those programs.

For example, Sakib and Jasmina Maljisevoc and their two children were among the minority population returning to the village of Hrastovac. Sakib received a grant for one milking cow and 10 sheep, and the family was selected for housing reconstruction assistance. The family repaid their grant by giving a 4-month-old calf to another family and also gained an additional 10 lambs and a new house.

Grants also went to micro-credit organizations serving vulnerable households in the poorest communities and to associations and cooperatives involved in group efforts at income production.

A place for healing

Youth houses — designed to help protect children, provide a healthy environment and increase the engagement of youth in community life — have been an important part of UMCOR’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS file photo by Bill Phillips

Dosta Pajcin helps United Methodist volunteers rebuild her home in Gubin, Bosnia.

In Gornji Vakuf-UJskopolje, the youth house helped heal a community where the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Catholic communities had fought each other across the town center for two years. In 2003, the thriving center negotiated a 33-year free lease from the municipality.

That youth house will host future United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, who have worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1996 on a diverse range of projects.

For the last three years, UMCOR has focused on improving the sustainability of civil society organizations “by developing their capacity to raise funds domestically rather than rely on external or international support.”

Major donors to UMCOR’s programs over 13 years were the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Royal Netherlands Government, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Action by Churches Together International/World Council of Churches, UMCOR and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance/Canadian Military Disaster Assistance Response Team and Hilfswerk der Evangelischen Kirchen der Schweiz.

Other donors included the Swiss government, Interchurch Organization for Development Co-operation, United States Institute of Peace, Christian Aid, Methodist Relief and Development Fund, Conference des Eglises and the United Nations Development Programme.

Donations to support the youth houses can be designated to UMCOR Advance No. 333640 and mailed to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

 
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