Work camp number 4
and again in a region where I had never been before: I did not know anything
else of the former Yugoslavian republics than the awful war stories I had read
about in newspapers and eyewitness reports. However, I had never realized that
these stories were located in such a beautiful country. The Croatian coast is
probably one of the most beautiful in the Mediterranean region. Bosnia also has
very beautiful landscapes: although it lacks coastal areas, Bosnia features
green hills and many lovely little rivers. Our base camp was a hostel in
Medjugorje, a village of worship since the Virgin Mary had appeared to some
young shepherds. We did repair works in decayed houses of elderly people.
Camp
Description
During the
Yugoslav civil war most people fled their country to safer areas. Elderly people
and the disabled were left behind. After the war most families returned to their
houses but many never came back: they had died during the war or had found a new
existence in the West. The elderly people of those families are now housed in
awful conditions: there is no government support and their houses are decayed or
even inhabitable. Every week the American sister Muriel comes to visit them and
brings their weekly food-parcel. This is the only human contact they have. For
those people, the sister is now constructing a retirement home. Meanwhile Frans
Verleysen has started a project to repair some of the houses of these people.
The volunteers will assist in these repair works and will do the groundwork for
the construction of some prefab structures.
Last
Spring, Sister Muriel and Mary Walsh found 2 handicapped sisters (Melena
and Ankica) living in a barn-like building in the woods outside Klobuk.
One sister is mentally handicapped and the other is physically
handicapped. Their living conditions were terrible. They had virtually
no electricity and they needed to walk a quarter of a mile to get water
from a cistern.
In August, Sister Muriel and Belgian
volunteers built a new home for Melena and Ankica. The new home,
which is made of prefab wood and cement siding, has running water, a
kitchen, a modern bathroom and 2 bedrooms. A concrete patio and walkway
around the house will also be built so that Melena can get around in her
wheelchair. A septic pit and a water cistern were also provided. A Belgian
crew of 16, led by Frans Verleysen, dug the foundation and
repaired 4 other homes in the Klobuk area. The home was completed during
the first week of September, 2001.
On behalf of Melena and Ankica, St.
Joseph, the Worker would like to thank you for making this possible.
Words cannot express the deep gratitude in their hearts for what people
have done for these two women. As we find more people living in
conditions such as this, we become ever more determined to work harder
to help them.
