Nachricht Nummer : 483 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 41 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.zer.de (Wam) Betrifft : Zagreb Diary on 21 April, 1994 Kopienempfänger : /REG/NEWS/DIARY/WAM, /APC/YUGO/ANTIWAR, /CL/EUROPA/BALKAN, /SOC/CULTURE/BOSNA-HERZGVNA, /SOC/CULTURE/CROATIA, /SOC/CULTURE/YUGOSLAVIA Erstellungsdatum : 03.05.1994 22:10:00 S+2 Zagreb Diary 21 April, 1994 Dobar dan, A few days ago I went with BJ (our former hell angel) to the orphanage in Lipik, he told how he was driving convoys before to the refugee camps on the coast of Croatia and than decided to do more and so he ended in Lipik just at the moment that our project was starting last year. Nevertheless it took three months more, after he return back to the UK go find out that he actual had been eating together with us and that he was able to return back to that place to do something. The orphanage look brand new now, they have been building on it for nearly one and half year, but on the walls are hanging the pictures how it use to be just after the war, not more than a few wall with a lot of burned and destroyed material inside, not much of the old equipment could be saved, the kids were displaced in the early days of the war to Zagreb. The photo's show how Captain Cook, the first UNPROFOR commander in Sector West had found the place. He was so shocked by the destruction that he gave up his work in the UK Army and decided not to rest until the building stood again and now it looks better than it ever was before. On the photo's you see him and his soldiers busy with the same hopeless work as we are doing often, cleaning up a totally destroyed building in the hope that one day the money will be collected to rebuild it. Cook used all the media and contacts in the UK he had and was able to get it all together. If you walk through the building you see every where little name tag from the persons and organisations who have donated a part of this complex. There is also a photo from a young British journalist in middle of a large group of children taken somewhere in the middle of a desert. BJ explained me that it was the last picture which was taken from this guy, a few days later he was killed when he drove from one refugee camp to another. His mother collected money to get his landrover, in which he was killed, back to the UK, there it was repaired and repainted and now it stands on the parking place of the orphanage here in Lipik. All the time I keep looking at BJ and how the little kids play with him, this strong body builder, with all his tattoos, who is already grand father himself playing with kids in a place he never ever heard of about a year ago, but who is totally in his element. When a few weeks ago some police agents from his home town came with an aid convoy to Pakrac the first thing they said was that back home some warrants were laying for him, for not paying the poll tax (a special local tax in the UK), but that they now cam to help him with his work. Half of the town is now still eating the food they brought. A few days ago also on the breakfast television on HTV a short item was shown about our work in Pakrac, I was on "the other side" when it was shown and when BJ went their for the first time since he is here in Pakrac (already since December) it was clear how many people on that side are watching that programme, everywhere he came they recognised him from that programme. Of course when he left one of the houses he used one of the only Croatian words he knows "Bok" (which means something like Good-bye, or God depends how you say it), but since "Bog I Hrvati" (God and the Croats) use to be a greeting of the Ustase and also used a lot during this war by extreme nationalistic Croatian fighters, this word and greeting is everything except beloved on the "Serbian" side. It is that people know that he is a volunteer, else it could have made some problems. On that side they say "Zdravo", which is of course wrong to use on the "Croatian" side, although it use to be before the war a normal word to greet eachother in Croatia. Today we went over with more volunteers since we organised at 4 o'clock this football match between the volunteers and "the sixth fleet", as we thought we lost with 10 to zero, but it was worth it to see Dzakula in his football clothes, since he stood on goal he didn't had much to do. The field was by the way so wet that it more looked like a waterpolo match than football. After the match we had the after match in the building which hopefully ones will become a real club house for the real football team here, which is still called "Hajduk", also on the "Croatian" side Hajduk is again existing, but in the weapon of arms they now have made a small but clearly visible Croatian checkerboard. One of the coming days I will take it back to this side to show the old players from Hajduk. During the talks we came on the topic of the concentration camp, where the Ustase have killed Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and other political enemies during the second world war. The amounts are rather different from person to person you talk to, often their is a few hundred thousand persons different. Dzakula promised me that he will visit that camp (it lays in the Serbian Krajina controlled part of the sector) together with me in the nearby future, although he don't like to go there since a part of his family is killed there. On the way back to the "Croatian" side we stop at a house from a friend of mine which is now studying in Beograd, I promised him months ago that I would help him with his study and a few days ago I earned some money with my diary so I left it at his parents. Mir from somewhere in Hrvatska, 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.ztn.zer.de . 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 (postbox 33), 41000 Zagreb. Please notify me if you send or have send any donations. Old numbers can be found by sending a message's with as subject "FILES" to pakrac.info@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.zer.de, to order a file send a message with subject "SEND " to same address. ## CrossPoint v3.0 ##