Differences Make Zlatica’s and Muhamed’s Lives Richer
A married couple from Sarajevo, Zlatica (55) and Muhamed (58) Kljuno are celebrating 28 years of happy marriage this year. Their life has been filled with love for each other and their two children. They believe that their different religions have brought a lot of prosperity and happiness into their life. They say that the key to their successful marriage is that their differences complement each other perfectly – what one of them lacks the other one has.
It’s Not the Name That Matters, but Love and Respect
Olga and Zijad will celebrate 40 years of happy marriage this year. Despite being born in Banja Luka, their wedded bliss and commitment to bringing up two daughters have not been broken by ethnic and religious divisions; not even by the war that raged in Bosnia and Herzegovina for almost four years. The key to the success of their marriage is, as they say, love, respect and compromise, above all.
A Second Chance for Mostar?
Mostar is famous for its Old Bridge, but also, sadly, for ethnic divisions and a dysfunctional government that hasn’t held elections for 12 years. Now is the time for Mostar to stand up and show that something can be changed. With local elections scheduled for 20 December 2020, one of the 14 priorities for the country’s application for European Union (EU) membership has finally been satisfied.
Can Bugojno Overcome War-time Divisions?
In Bugojno, a town in central Bosnia, war-time divisions remain strong even twenty-five years after the war. Although it is not an administratively divided city, Bosniaks and Croats live almost completely separate lives. Schools are divided, but also catering facilities. Everyone knows exactly who can come in and who cannot.
Tolerance as the Key to Survival
Unity in diversity and mutual tolerance have always been present as a modus vivendi in Bosnian society, even during desperate times. The story of two religious leaders in Tuzla testifies to this, as they found a solution to a common issue, despite their differences. They had the same issue which was bigger than the differences between them – the question of human lives and death. And the solution to this issue was the mass burial of the victims of the massacre at Kapija, which was a mutual proposal by Muhamed effendi Lugavić and fra Petar Matanović.
A Lullaby for Mladenka: Remembering Grabovica
Both documentary and poetic, the new play, ‘‘The Lullaby for Mladenka,’’ takes crimes against Croatian civilians from the village of Grabovica in September 1993 as its subject. Members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) killed 33 Croatian civilians, the oldest of whom was 87 years old and the youngest four. Play’s author is Sead Đulić, and it’s performed by the Mostar Youth Theater (eMTeeM).