The Sarajevo Project
Enduring the Darkest Moment and 
Beginning to Trust that Life Holds Forth Promise.

By Michael McClanen

Being in the presence of those filled with despair, bitterness and loss was not new for me. Though I'd seen first hand poverty and the dehumanizing oppression of structural adjustment policies in Haiti and Nicaragua in the mid-80's, nothing could have prepared me for seeing the bombed-out, bullet-ridden, gutted skyscrapers of Sarajevo in the late fall of 1996.

Over 11,000 people were killed in the 1,395 day siege of Sarajevo. Fifty thousand were wounded. To this day the shell impact-depressions that remain have been filled with red paint in memory of those who died. I learned that most shell explosions impacting pavement cause surrounding smaller gouges and nicks that fan out concentrically, giving the impression of flower petals. The citizens of the city honored those who died in this way, naming those places Sarajevo Roses.

F. S. and her mother are two of the women of Sarajevo Phoenix. They, like their co-workers, are refugees, having been "ethnically cleansed" from their home in eastern Bosnia. F.S. is forty-one years old. When I first met her in the fall of 1997, her hands and face were covered with a red rash (reminded me of my younger daughter's seborrhea). As long as she chain-smoked, her body didn't shake. The doctors said her illness was a reaction to the trauma of having witnessed her father being killed, then being made to watch as his body was mutilated by Serb militia. Because F.S. couldn't speak, her mother related all of this, interspersed with periods of sobbing.

Having the privilege of sitting with these folks was preliminary to finalizing a survey in which the 14 women were identified who would become Sarajevo Phoenix, an embroidery cooperative. The first order of religious alter cloths and liturgical stoles was commissioned.

On a return visit in May of '98 I was amazed to be greeted by F. S. as the women of Sarajevo Phoenix gathered to discuss their efforts in producing the stoles for the United States' religious community. The red rash covering her body had cleared up. She wasn't smoking in order to stop her body from shaking. She was engaged in conversation with the other women in the group; and, according to Bella, the Managing Director, F.S. was the best embroiderer she had. Obviously, every person has their own timing process as they heal, but to see this totally opposite behavior in such a short time was most gratifying. I trust and believe that an important impetus in her healing has come through the opportunity to have meaningful work.

The courage and will to survive of the women of Sarajevo Phoenix is rooted in the diversity each brings to the whole, like the fabric they embroider. The variety of colors and motifs in the fabric coincides with diversity in age, ethnicity and economic self-reliance of these women as they seek to reweave the fabric of their lives within their communities.

You are invited to support the 14 women of Sarajevo Phoenix by ordering a custom made altar cloth, liturgical stole or wall hanging. For more information and an order form, please contact: Sarajevo Phoenix Project, c/o Hands Raised Together (HaRT), 11315 Neelsville Church Rd, Germantown, MD 20876-4147

Telephone (301)428-9560, Fax: 301-428-9573, Email: HaRT9444@aol.com; or contact our Website: http://members.aol.com/hart9444