It is quite an international crew, with Lukasz hailing from Poland and Andrea from Germany. The remaining three, Michael, Tamiko and MC, all call the United States (and more precisely Michigan) their home. They have a wide variety of interests, including photography, publishing, theater, drumming, art and music. They have incredible energy. And they have their hearts in the right place.
for all that they did for us and on such short notice. We wish them the best of luck with their program in Mostar. It is work like theirs that is going to help to heal the wounds that still exist in the area.
Place of the Day: Mladi Most
- ASF-Mladi Most
- 55 dr. Mile Budaka
- 88000 Mostar (via Split)
- Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Email: mladimost@geocities.com and mladi-most-mo@zamir-zg.ztn.apc.org
- 55 dr. Mile Budaka
Tech Fact of the Day: shrapnel and "sidewalk roses"
They are created when a mortar or artillery round explodes against the pavement. If the pavement is made of blacktop (asphalt), it is peeled and chipped away in pieces (by the exploding shrapnel) from the center in a way that forms a flower shape similar to a rose. 
(Corinne saw something similar to this on the road leaving Dubrovnik.) They are remnants of the fighting that occurred during the Yugoslavian War and a constant reminder of how brutal and random the war was. We have seen these "roses" all over the former front lines but also in random corners of the cities.
Group Dispatch, April 17
During the summer of 1992, this newspaper publishing skyscraper was hit again and again by inflammable shells fired from Yugoslavian and Serbian forces' positions. Day by day the building was slowly destroyed with the objective being to stop the publication of Sarajevo's newspaper of the same name. In spite of this constant onslaught, the printing presses kept running in the basement of the building and the daily production of newspapers never stopped throughout the war. It was not uncommon for the journalists who had written the articles to assist in the printing and distribution of the newspapers, often carrying them from the burning building in their own hands. Since the end of the fighting, there had been some discussion of leaving the building as it is, a monument to the brutality of the war, but now many feel that it should be razed. 
and many of our least favorite things (for which we were at least mentally prepared): tunnels. 
or back up the valley the way we had come. 
Snow-capped hills almost always framed our views and the Neretva River, famous for its remarkable opaque blue-green color 
was with us all the way.
Oh yeah, and let's not forget the rain. Buckets of the stuff poured down on us. Before we were half way to Mostar, we were soaked. By the time we arrived in Mostar, we were basically biking puddles of water. At least it was not a freezing rain....
Today, members of SFOR troops guard both sides of the bridge and control traffic (the bridge repair only allows one-way traffic). But these bridges were pretty much an exception. Ethan remarked that, in general, conditions were vastly improved. Some of the bridges we crossed were brand new. When Ethan had driven to and from Sarajevo two years ago, many of these bridges had been completely demolished. So what did cars do? The bumped and lurched slowly along narrow, dirt, alternative paths that followed the contours of the land (sometimes many kilometers out of the way) and crossed at different smaller bridges. So, yes, great strides have been made in many places.
Originally founded by Turks in the 15th century at an important crossing on the Neretva River, Mostar in the 20th century was "instant" Islamic culture for the thousands of tourists that used to flock to the Dalmatian coast. This all came to an abrupt end in 1992 when a Bosnian Serb attack was commenced. It was successfully repelled after two months by the united Muslim-Croat forces defending the city. Then, in May of 1993, Croat forces in the western part of the city turned on their former allies and started a siege of the Muslim quarters along the western edge and on the east side of the Neretva River. For 10 months, the Muslim quarter was the site of random artillery attacks and sniper harassment. The Croats pushed thousands of Muslims from the west bank of Nervata and killed hundreds more. Eventually, all of the town's 16th and 17th century mosques were destroyed. And, finally in November of 1993, to the chagrin of the whole world, Mostar's most famous bridge, the Stari Most (or Old Bridge, also called the Turkish Bridge), once a symbol of unity that had spanned the Neretva River for more than 400 years, was destroyed.
Artillery and shrapnel attacks (see the Tech Fact of the Day) on the buildings had reduced them to mere shells of what they had been. 
Today, this area is inhabited by only a few brave souls who share their neighborhood with burnt out vehicles and cats. 
, the group was impressed by the open cafés, restaurants and stores that signaled a return to normalcy even though just 100 meters (109 yards) away the burnt out shells of the front line were a constant reminder of the war.
Well, actually she led them over the suspension bridge that has replaced the Stari Most. 
The actual Stari Most, built in 1566 and arching 20 meters (66 feet) over the River Nerevta, was the last bridge standing at one point during the conflict in Mostar. For a long time it was the only way for locals to cross over from the western mostly Bosnian Croat side of town to the eastern Muslim side. (Tamiko did make it clear to us that the divisions spoken of during the war were not as clear as the international media had made them seem. For instance, the river was not the natural divider that everyone took it to be. The Muslims actually held the Kujundz(h)iluk area on the [mostly Croat] western side of the Stari Most throughout the conflict.)
Despite this success, when the full-scale bridge was unveiled, the designer was nowhere to be found. He seemed to have thought that it might not work. Well it did. For more than 400 years. Until modern weapons brought it down.
We could not help but wonder if this would help repair the divide between people as well.
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Questions? Ask Anthony 
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