Traveling along the Silk Road, Report #1: Sarajevo

Associate Dean Linda Wagener Reports on Journey from Bosnia to China :: 07/14/08

For six weeks this summer, Dr. Linda Wagener—along with a small group that includes two graduate students in Fuller's School of Psychology—is traveling on a journey roughly following the east-west route known as the Silk Road. For centuries, even before the birth of Christ, this route has been followed by unknown numbers of traders, merchants, soldiers, and many others, on a trek that links China to the Mediterranean Sea.

Best known as a trading route for silk, the Silk Road has also served as a communications and information highway, helping connect distant cultures and peoples.

Today, Linda Wagener is traveling with her group on a "Silk Road journey" that will take them through villages and cities in Bosnia, Jordan, Turkey, and China.  Their goal along the way is to connect and communicate with—and better understand—young people in distant cultures.

As they become acquainted and talk with young people along the way, they hope to learn about our points in common and our differences.  Further, they hope to better understand how young people handle difficulties and hardships, even during particularly challenging times and circumstances. What helps young people survive and even thrive in a difficult world?

As Wagener travels along this journey of the Silk Road, we'll feature ongoing journal entries and pictures of her trip.  Her first entry is written from Sarajevo.

Journal Entry #1:
Meeting Haris and Nedim in Sarajevo

We have arrived in Sarajevo and, so far, our trip has gone very smoothly. Today, we met Haris (age 16) and Nedim (age 15), sitting on the edges of a ruined tower overlooking the old town of Sarajevo on one side and the beautiful and dramatic green hills of the countryside on the other.

On summer vacation from school, Haris and Nedim came up to the hills above the city because it is so peaceful.  In very fluent English, they spoke to us about their lives and their culture.  Like many adolescents in the U.S., Haris likes sports and hobbies, and thinks about his future education.   He is a competitive swimmer ranked #1 in Bosnia in the 150-meter freestyle.  He wants to attend college soon in London.

Unlike typical teens in the U.S., however, Haris has many friends who lost their parents during the genocide.  Though he was only four years old during the conflict, Haris remembers the gunfire and the time when his roof was on fire.  During the siege, he was carried by his father through a tunnel that was the only lifeline for the city of 400,000.
The tunnel was dug from the garage of a neighbor's house and exited on the other side in the city of Dobrinje. The tunnel became the symbol of resistance and survival for the city.  Today, even with signs of reconstruction everywhere, there are still many buildings in ruins from the longest siege in modern history.  Tragically, there seem to be as many graveyards as cafes.

As we talked with Haris and Nedim, we were impressed by how well informed—and opinionated—they were about politics in the U.S.  Both expressed their surprise when they met U.S. students online who did not know where Bosnia was located.  They called themselves "democrats, not republicans," and felt strongly that the war in Iraq was "very wrong."

The boys walked with us through the hills, as we passed by the army training facilities high above town.  There is no Bosnian army now and the facility was closed two years ago.  Left behind are remnants of barbed wire, gates, and empty military buildings.  Though confident in the newly elected government, Haris considers a long-lasting peace unlikely: "Bosnia has a war every 50 years or so."

Haris and Nedim have friends who are Serbs and Croats, and the three ethnic groups now cooperate in the governing of the country.  Haris says he does not hold his Serbian friends responsible for the genocide. "It was the government at fault."

Haris describes his generation as positive and hopeful for the future, in part because they have few memories of the war. Those a few years older and those who lost parents have more reason to be angry.  Haris shares that life in Sarajevo today has its typical urban problems, including drugs, gangs, and pervasive graffiti.

But there are also signs of hope.  The city is growing and the boys feel they have good opportunities ahead.  Both want to live their lives in Bosnia, with Nedim hoping to eventually take over his father's successful business and Haris hoping to return to Bosnia after college.  Both of these young Muslim men said that girls in Bosnia, including Nedim's 17-year-old sister, have equal rights and opportunities as boys.

As we paused in the hills over the city, the call to prayer could be heard from the dozens of minarets across the city. We sent our own prayers to God for the cause of peace, for the well being of the young people of Bosnia, for hope for the future, and for our new friends in Sarajevo, Nedim and Haris.