A house being built in Canton 10, Bosnia-Herzegovina, as part of a CWS-supported shelter project. Photo: Vitali Vorona/CWS

Bosnia: Rebuilding Continues

Story by Chris Herlinger/CWS

In the ten years since warring parties signed a peace agreement for Bosnia, many baleful signs remain from the war.

Near the border with Croatia, in an area known as Canton 10, many homes are still vacant, having been bombed, burned, or looted. Some are partially destroyed, others burned down to their foundations.

This area is now known as the "convertible homes" area, for you still see many houses without roofs, laments Teo Jakic, program manager for the CWS Balkans program.

It is a heartbreaking sight, as many refugee and displaced families still cannot return home to their communities.

One affected area is the municipality of Drvar, overtaken by the Croatian military in September 1995. Among those living in Drvar before the war were Zdravka and Dragan Vekic. Both were employed with a local paper factory. Life was prosperous -- and good.

But the war intervened -- and with it came displacement: In their case, living for a time in the city of Bosninski Shamatz in the Republic of Srpska. After three years in Shamatz, they returned to Drvar in 1998, but found their home destroyed.

A full ten years after their displacement, the couple has a new home, one of 20 built by Church World Service and its partner in Bosnia, Refugee Return Services (RRS). It is a project of much importance to CWS, said Vitali Vorona, CWS Balkans representative, who notes that good coordination and relationships between CWS, RRS, the United Nations, and local and regional government officials made it possible.

Zdravka and Dragan got the key to their new home in September: At a ceremony with other families moving in, the couple stood in front of their home with a new sense of joy, a new hope, and their faith in humanity strengthened. Zdravka still can't believe it.

The couple knows there are many challenges still ahead, yet they see this as the beginning. They have dreams again, dreams of a garden by their home. They also have hope now -- hope for a healthy life, hope for peace, hope that someday life will be similar to what it was before the war.

You can be part of vital rebuilding that is healing hearts and lives in the Balkans and elsewhere. Individual and congregational contributions may be made to the Tools & Blankets Program of Church World Service.