Nachricht Nummer : 244 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 39 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ZER.sub.org Betrifft : Zagreb Diary 19 August, 1993 Erstellungsdatum : 27.08.1993 14:54:00 S+2 Realname: Wam Kat Zagreb Diary 19 August, 1993 Dobar dan, This morning the leader of the rebuilding committee of Pakrac on the Croatian side wanted to talk with me, he had heard to on Sunday three members of my home town visit his town and was a little angry that I didn't introduced them to him. I from my side tried to explain him that this was a some how informal visit, that I hope that my home send soon an official delegation, but this group only came to visit me to see the work of Suncokret and other projects, like in Pakrac. After that he offered me a whole list of possible projects, which could be pushed when I go in the end of September to the Netherlands. The most important thing in his eyes is not the rebuilding from the houses, but the rebuilding of the local economy. At this moment nearly all the people are depending on humanitarian aid, food and building material and only those who are so lucky that they have work (in the working brigades, the police and some of the shops) are at least a little bit better off, although that is also relative. Now the IMF has refused to give Croatia a loan the possibility that money will come from Zagreb for rebuilding the economy is rather low. Before the war Pakrac and Lipik had the good working tourist attraction in form of the Spa and the walking path in the hills, a wood, a glass and mineral water factory and some small industry. Most of the people outside the center had besides their work on the factory a little farm up to 3 hectares on which they produces for their own use. Now the spa, the wood and the glass factory are destroyed, the walking paths on the other side of the line and most families only have their small farm left over. Carefully not using the word "co-operation" he explained me how he thinks about a economy plan for the at least 300 families, with less than 3 hectare, on this side of Pacras, in which they join a kind of joint structure which provide them with small scale processing workshops for cattle food and products produce from fruit. In stead of small production of cheap vegetable he advises his fellow city members to turn over on more specialised things to plant, like fruit. My heart start to glow, what he introduces to me is precisely my idea when I decided to go to Croatia one and half year ago. Rebuilding a town and it's economy in the war area on the bases of ecological principles. We hardly used any pesticides or fertilisers around here he explains, first it wasn't needed, the soil is rich, but mostly since we couldn't effort it. And the biggest polluter in the area is the chemical plant in Kutina (were they among other things produce fertilisers), which is nearly 25 kilometer to the west, when the wind was wrong you sometimes could smell it. This town should not concentrate itself on big industrial projects, we never will get the money for it anyway. This fruit project we can start with 5 families and build up slowly. People, he tells me, think that it is too early to start with the economical rebuilding. Most of the people haven't a good house themselves yet, but when should start as soon as possible, you never know how long the emergency aid will keep on coming and how depending we are becoming of it. Without a working economy it will be also impossible to start the process of reconciliation (he uses other words, but the meaning is the same), most people are reminded every single day a couple of times on the war simply because of the fact that they lost everything and have to ask for food and we all know that it weren't them who started it, he finish his speech. We agree that as soon as his economic specialist is back from holidays I and him will have a talk about how to formulate all those ideas so I can use it on my trip through the Netherlands. In principle it is not much different from the story which the "major" on the "other" side told me over lunch a week ago. They both more or less agreed with the formula of ecology as magic word in the rebuilding, not as idealists, like me, but as pragmatic thinkers. When I ask him at the end of the conversation if he maybe knows a house for us, since although the school is good, we like to find another place. After 5 seconds thinking he comes up with an idea, according to his knowledge the mother in law of his assistant has a house near the opcina, which she didn't use, the roof is okay, but it needs a little repair on the walls and windows and he promised me the contact his assistance, which is also the person in charge of the economical reconstruction. After the talks we start to look around for places to build up a children playground on the Croatia side, a plan we decided upon last evening, in order to do more than only cleaning up destroyed houses, we want to give something visible to the town, also for ourselves to do something positive instead of carrying dust out of buildings they never seen how they were and never will see them finished rebuild, at least not in the coming year. The best spot we found besides the original children playground near the fire station was next to the children garden, which I visit with Lynette, she plays there a couple of times a week with the little children. That piece was however from the orthodox church and to use it we need the approval from the church authorities in Beograd or Banja Luka, so we concentrate our efforts for the time being on the old playground. Bok I Mir from Zagreb, Wam ------------------------------------------------------ Zagreb Diary can be found on a lot of different electronic networks, it is copyright free and can be ported to any network or other means of communication you like, but please drop my a line, you can reach by sending a message to wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de or wam@zamir-zg.comlink.apc.org. Zagreb Diary is dedicated to Tyche, Pjort and Rik, so that they found out what there father have been doing all that time in Zagreb. Financial support for Grassroot relief work in Croatia or BiH can be send to Kollektief Rampenplan (atn. Lylette, Postbox 780, 6130 AN Sittard, Netherlands, tel:. +31-46-524803 and fax: +31-46-516460 or to Zagrebacka Banka, Zagreb, accountnr.: 2440291594, to Kat, Pieter Jan Herman Fredrik, Brace Domany 6 6fl nr3, 41000 Zagreb. Please notify me if you send or have send any donations. ## CrossPoint v2.1 ##