UMCOR helps Bosnians rebuild in wake of war

by Franklin Fisher

Photo: The gathering for the ceremony at Ahmici on October 16, 1998. See also: UMCOR Rebuilds Houses in Bosnia: One Woman's Story

AHMICI, Bosnia -- On a fog-shrouded hillside, several hundred people stood in the morning chill as the president of the Bosnian Federation hailed a new beginning for this war-ravaged village and its people.

In his remarks at the Oct. 16 ceremony, President Ejup Ganic praised the humanitarian efforts of the international community, including the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. The church agency is playing a key role in rebuilding war-damaged houses and helping nurture the country to soundness with a wide array of social, agricultural and infrastructure projects.

On April 16, 1993, Croat forces shelled Ahmici, then went house to house, killing women, children, infants and livestock, destroying houses and barns. Every Muslim house in the village was burned. Some 110 people were believed killed in the attack.

It is only now, five years later and under the terms of the 1995 Dayton peace accords, that the surviving villagers have been allowed to return. And in Ahmici, as elsewhere in Bosnia, many of the houses left as gaping, gutted hulks have been rebuilt through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).

UMCOR has refitted 37 houses in Ahmici and has rebuilding projects under way elsewhere in Bosnia. The agency takes no sides in the recent conflict or its aftermath, and it distributes aid without regard to recipients' religious, political, cultural and ethnic identities.

"This is Ahmici," Ganic told the audience, "the story about suffering and return. ... If people can return to Ahmici, people can return to any place in Bosnia. ... Always remember the friends who helped us to begin with a new beginning. ...Today, Ahmici. Tomorrow, many other villages."

A view of Ahmici, with the foundation for a new house being built shown in the foreground

Besides the construction, repair and rehabilitation of houses, UMCOR's efforts extend to schools, hospitals and community centers, and emergency water and sanitation repairs. The agency provides shelter materials, food, hygienic supplies, clothing and other emergency help to refugees and displaced people.

The agency's projects also help war invalids, traumatized children and women who face the stresses of postwar life.

For Bosnian youth, for example, UMCOR has an outreach program that provides educational and recreational activities for 500 children ages 5 through 12. It offers such basics as arithmetic, reading and writing, effective communication skills, and workshops that foster an appreciation for ethnic diversity. The program was started in the fall of 1994 and is active in five municipalities.

A Women's Development Program was started in January 1998, working with women ages 18 to 50. Its services include educational and recreational activities, plus training in how to handle individual and family conflicts constructively.

In addition, UMCOR's programs have provided cows, sheep, horses, pigs, chickens and goats to needy farm families in rural areas.

UMCOR has also supplied large amounts of "in-kind" materials, more than $3.5 million worth in emergency medicine and medical supplies, clothing, blankets and hygienic supplies.

The Rev. Paul Dirdak, UMCOR's chief executive, was among the speakers at the Oct. 16 ceremony.

"I bring you greetings from 10 million United Methodists from around the world," Dirdak told the audience, which included Bosnian officials, United Nations representatives and other guests seated in front of the speakers' platform.

"We are people who will cross any boundary and insert ourselves into any circumstances where there are people in crisis," Dirdak said.

Noting his recent trips to other places where UMCOR is at work, such as famine-stricken North Korea and areas damaged by recent hurricanes, Dirdak said: "Their suffering and your suffering, their reconstruction and reconciliation, is also the same as yours. God does very good work. God makes people just as gorgeous as you, and God does it everywhere."

*Fisher is a writer for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Photo of ceremony courtesy of UMCOR. Photo of Ahmici buildings by Franklin Fisher. All photos copyright © The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church unless otherwise noted. GBGM is the official mission agency of The United Methodist Church. Source: United Methodist News Service, official news agency of The United Methodist Church.