Bosnian Women Talk of War (excerpt)
by Verna Noel Jones
Rocky Mountain News
November 19, 2004

One day, they lived among a mix of ethnicities, their multiculturalism one of the great strengths of their society. Then, without warning, a furious conflict broke out, leading to torture, rape, forced labor and ethnic cleansing.

Half the population was displaced; housing was destroyed; and utilities, factories and transportation systems were heavily damaged.

The place was Bosnia, whose independence from Yugoslavia in March 1992 led not to happiness and prosperity but to years of violence and turmoil. Throughout it all, the women of Bosnia found a way to endure. As the fighting wound down, they didn't abandon their cities, but sought ways to rebuild a better nation.

Over seven years, Swanee Hunt met with and interviewed 26 Bosnian women to discuss their lives during the conflict and what they now are doing to help reconstruct society. The women she chose, who are represented in the author's new book, This Was Not Our War, prove as diverse as their stories. They span 60 years in age and are ethnically mixed. Some are rich, some poor. They are mothers, doctors, journalists, politicians, students and advocates.

In their own way, these intelligent, action-oriented women are working hard to heal the war-torn country they love.

Hunt met the women included here through her diplomatic and humanitarian work. A former U.S. ambassador to Austria (1993-97), Hunt is founder and chair of Women Waging Peace, a global policy-oriented initiative working to integrate women into peace processes.

She is a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations and the director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Locally, Hunt started the Women's Foundation of Colorado, which promoted economic self-sufficiency for women

Hunt believes it is imperative for women who have "their fingers on the pulse of their communities to join the war makers around the decision-making table" so that they may offer new insights

She introduces women such as Tanja Ljujic-Mijatovic, a Serb who grew up in Sarajevo. She was a professor of landscape architecture and a member of parliament before her comfortable, predictable professional life became one of simple survival when the war broke out. "When we were shot at, we were more protective of our plastic water jugs than our own bodies," she says, "because water was so hard to get

Mediha Filipovic, a Bosniak orthodontics professor, remembers that staying in Sarajevo during the four years of war was like being in prison. "The city was a huge concentration camp, with no electricity, no water, and constant shelling."
Each day, as she left her home to see patients and students at the university, she'd say goodbye to her son Bojan, wondering every morning if it would be the last time they'd see each other. "He went to work in one direction: I went the other way. He'd always look back, and I'd watch him and pray to God I'd see him again. Those were long, long days . . ."

The author succeeds in offering a historically detailed account of the war and the women's experiences. Her narrative is heart-rending and filled with revealing pictures of the women's strength, courage and leadership.

The book can be gripping at times, as the outspoken women bare their inner thoughts and the depths of their pain and grief. More importantly, the women make clear that, despite their diverse ethnicities and mixed heritages, they differ from warring men in that they have no problem making peace with one another and working together toward the common good.

Says Valentina Pranic, 30, an ethnic Croat married to a Bosnian Serb, "All women are alike, no matter their ethnic tradition. In this war, we went through the same things: we suffered in the same way, and we were brave in the same way.

Verna Noel Jones is a freelance writer for the Rocky Mountain News, Chicago Tribune and various magazines. She lives in Aurora.

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