Djamila
Bosnjakinja
gracie said:
You're a wise woman, gracie. Reading what you write, one can easily recognize how many layers there are in your thoughts and, right or wrong, that's a very good thing.
I want to comment about what you've said here. I agree it is very important to go into these situations respectfully.
The American soldiers in Bosnia did so. The only complaint that has ever been lodged against them (I mean in public opinion, not legally) was their - and every other country involved with UN - using brothels in which the women were known to be Romanian sex slaves held against the will.
Everything else was quite good. They were extremely respectful of the input from Bosnians. For example, a single mother in Dobrinja wrote a complaint the the commanders at the base in Butmir saying when they drove their tank near the district, her two young children had seizures (post traumatic stress disorder) and it made her other relatives and neighbors uncomfortable as well. They stopped, I'd say, within five minutes of the letter being opened.
They used to explode the landmines and other unexploded weapons they collected in Sarajevo in large depots, all at once, once or twice a day. And it created such a fuss among people, understandbly it terrified them, that they brought in more expensive chambers to lessen the noise and started doing the detonations more frequently so they weren't as large.
They sponsored widows, single women, and so on in every village they patrolled. They arranged for... materials to start weaving businesses, farm animals, suits suitable for working as receptionists and things in Sarajevo, just everything you can think of.
They spread their money out (this one makes me sniffle) and would go to a different restaurant or bar in each village each day, just to make sure they spread around their own money to help as many people as possible.
They allowed Bosnian school children into their tours with famous American celebrities. As many 14-year-old Bosnian girls got to see Mariah Carey as American troops when she was here, free of charge.
They're just so respectful. They all know a handful of phrases in Bosnian, they all... respect traditional women. I don't mean to say they aren't getting any in Bosnia, because they are - and lots of it. But if a woman is walking down the street with her arms covered, or even wearing a veil, they treat her like a lady. Even me, and I hardly dress conservatively. I've been carried across puddles, I've been given flowers from those whose positions I used to pass every day.
I could just write a book about this. That's how you win people's hearts and minds, not but sending rush shipments of weapons to the people bombing them.
