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| Ambassador Moon at the Youth Center. |
Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje (GVU) suffered terribly during the war
and is often seen even today as synonymous with ethnic division. But my recent visit to the Youth Center there
again proved to me that there are young people in the community – helped by
some friends from North Carolina and Serbia – who are jumping these divides and
working to knit the community back together.
The Youth Center in GVU brings together young people from the Croat and
Bosniak communities.
The American volunteers stay with local families and
integrate themselves within the community.
They told me that coming to Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje was a life-changing
experience and many of them have visited multiple times. They spend their summers in GVU organizing
crafts and summer activities for Bosniak and Croat children with the help of
older youth, most of whom participated in the summer activities when they were
younger.
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| Ambassador Moon meeting with American volunteers and participants at the Youth Center. |
I was very impressed by the teenagers who organize and
participate in activities at the Youth Center, as well as the student
volunteers from Sombor, Serbia. One of
the Serbian volunteers said that through this experience he learned that “we
have different customs, but in essence we are all the same.” These young adults are making a statement
just by being at the Youth Center; they are building bridges within their own
community and with the rest of the world.
While there is a long road ahead before wounds will heal in
Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje and other divided towns, thankfully there are places like
this Youth Center to help forge the path.
They show us that even in the most divided of towns people can steer
away from the past and open their doors both to their neighbors and to visitors
from across the Atlantic Ocean.
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