Greta: Why should I be afraid? I never went to the cellar when there was shelling. Even in Auschwitz I was confident. I don't know why. I'd lost everybody. But even when my strength was gone, when I was nothing but bones, I still didn't want to die.

Alenka: This is a country you have to love and hate at the same time…. On one side such hope, and on the other side so much hopelessness.

Nada: Things will get better. After all, they can't be worse. Do you know what my name means in English? "Hope."

Kada: If nothing else, we can at least try to be sure that all we experienced in Srebrenica isn't forgotten.

Swanee: Well, Amna, thank you for telling me all this.

Amna: I hope you make something happen with it.

****

I have two confessions. First, I'm one of those Americans who paid attention sporadically to the Balkan people over the past years. When I had the time or the inclination, I focused on their plight and gave them support. But most of the time I was an observer, a spectator, a voyeur, curled up with a book, coffee, and cushions as I watched war correspondents on TV or read through political reports of the unfolding horror these twenty six women were encountering.