Nachricht Nummer : 462 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 38 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.zer.de (Wam) Betrifft : Zagreb Diary on 28 March, 1994 Kopienempfänger : /REG/NEWS/DIARY/WAM, /APC/YUGO/ANTIWAR, /CL/EUROPA/BALKAN, /SOC/CULTURE/BOSNA-HERZGVNA, /SOC/CULTURE/CROATIA, /SOC/CULTURE/YUGOSLAVIA Erstellungsdatum : 12.04.1994 00:15:00 W+1 Zagreb Diary 28 March, 1994 Dobar dan, I leave the Croatian side early in the morning, but as always I pass by Skorpija, it is a philosophy to do all my movements over the border as open as possible, I don't want to betray anybody and everybody should know were I am going to avoid rumours and talks behind my back. In Skorpija they tell me that tonight gain some mortars shells and anti-tank grenades have been fired from Serbian Krajina positions on the Zadar- Biograd and the Sinj-Drnis front-line in the north of Dalmatia. They tell me that it wasn't real serious, but still grenades are grenades and one is one too much. Especially now so near to the possible peace agreement it is not always clear why. A simular thing I had earlier this morning with Ulla, the mother of my sons, she asked me how it was possible that there was so much talks about peace in BiH and that you also still hear about last fights and shellings. I explain her that peace is a very relative word, peace in BiH don't mean that all people suddenly start to love eachother, it only means that the heavy fighting is maybe over, at least for some time. For the rest it will take a long time before they all sit in the same bar again, look at Pakrac. But I can tell her that I have heard that the first people in Sarajevo already got speeding and driving through red-light tickets, a symbolic penalty, since hardly nobody has money, but still. I walk over and find the Beograd volunteers in their house sitting in their room making a 500 piece puzzle. Yesterday evening they wanted to go out but there was a shoot out in one of the pubs and now they all close at 10 o'clock in the evening. So they started with the puzzle. We continue for a while and totally forget the time. We had an eat appointment with Dzakula at around 1 o'clock at my house, but at that time we were just putting in the last pieces of the puzzle. Of course we miss Dzakula, but he didn't missed his lunch at my place, so we drive back to the football place. Their we see him surrounded with all his family and the workers from his former forest industry, for as far they ended up at this side of the line. It is a football match between Hajduk Pakrac (which was before the war and still is a mostly Serbian football team. almost all the teams are living on this side) and Red Star Okucani. Hajduk is clearly the better team, in no time the Okucani team is far behind and the trainer from Hajduk invites long before the last whistle everybody for a drink in one of the pubs. The football team pub seems to be the only pub in this area which was already there before the war and is there for somehow a more or less organised placed. Dzakula comes sitting with us and after half an hour talking about football and seeds I asked him about the village I visit yesterday. His eyes suddenly starts burning, "not a good idea Wam Kat" he says. He is obvious suddenly very angry on me. Slowly via a thousand different small talks I cool him down and we talk normal again. From what I understand I can make up that the Serbs on this side, from which some are coming from that village have decided tat the village is NOT getting rebuild, at least not before all the other Serbian village at the Croatian side has been rebuild. More I can't find out it is obvious a topic nobody wants to talk about. Than the whole pub decides to sing, I buy a round for everybody and the peace among us is signed again with beer and wine with Cola. A little later Dzakula takes me out and shows me the stable of the place, they want to make a discotheque here and he wants to know what I think about it. He is proud on the work of his friend and more or less I have to laugh, in the back of my mind I think that when pubs and discotheque have to be build they get it organised, but when houses have to be repaired nobody is willing to lay the first stone. We continue talking a bit about the large grant we have got to buy seeds and other things for the spring session. He promises me some days ago that he would be able to get everything organised in time if I came up with the money. We make an appointment to talk it over tomorrow and he also say that he will be able to move our kindergarten containers soon. Problem is that one of his friends who is in charge is not there at the moment. Dzakula is obvious in his element surrounded by his friends and workers he has to highest voice. When they start singing you can hear his dark deep voice rolling along. Every time when I hear and sea this I get impressed by their way of sitting in the pub and singing together. We have lost so much of that in the west, even most of our songs, which are as old as this ones, we have forgotten somewhere down the line. During the singing an old toothless grandfather who put his hand on my neck to feel if I make the right sounds in the right way explains me where his house in the town of Pakrac is, or rather was standing. He asked me if I am willing to find out if his neighbours are stilling willing to talk with him. He is just one of the many examples of people we keep on meeting, up to know most of the work on this side, beside playing with kids and teaching english is restoring old contacts. 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. 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