About A Bridge to Bosnia - A Musical Journey

From Oprah to Bosnia

Several years ago, I happened to catch part of an Oprah show. What caught my attention was an organization called Women for Women International. Before I knew it, I was sending $25 a month to help train a woman in Bosnia, and was also writing her letters. Halida is a mother whose young daughter was shot down on the way home from a playing field. She lives in a remote village, a village like so many in Bosnia, which still suffers the after-effects of genocide. Halida, her husband Semso, older daughter Sakiba, and young son Kemel, were struggling to survive financially and she attended the training sessions primarily to receive approximately $5 a month, part of what I contributed. Her husband has heart and kidney disease and cannot work.

Over several years, Halida¹s family has become my family, too. In August of 2006, my husband and I spent 3 weeks in Bosnia, staying in their home, visiting all their relatives and helping them as much as we could. I can¹t begin to describe the warmth, the affection, the gratitude and joy of this family and their relatives, and the bond that we have all formed. They are Muslim, we are Jewish but we find God¹s love in each other.

In April of 2007, we returned to Bosnia, this time to see how we could help other Bosnians. We found a man, Chris Bragdon, a dedicated American who has been working in Bosnia for over 11 years. He heads a small charity called BILD (Bosnia Initiatives for Local Development ). During several days, Chris drove us to remote villages to show us some of the projects his charity supports. It was an amazing trip, bouncing in the back of a van, over winding dirt roads, to remote hillside villages, to a memorial and graveyard where 8,000 Bosnians were slaughtered, to the home of a young father whose face was destroyed by a landmine, to a ravaged schoolhouse where one classroom was restored, to a halfway house for postwar trauma victims, to womens¹ groups. In every case, BILD is helping and always, the goal of BILD is to build self sufficiency and provide independent ways for Bosnians to support themselves.

One of BILD's projects that especially touched our hearts is providing baby chickens for women belonging to two women's groups. These women and their children remain some of the most vulnerable victims of the war; many were raped and forced to bear the children of rape, many lost husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers and still do not know what happened to them.

Many live in poverty, surviving in bomb-damaged houses. BILD provides the chickens and feed for these women to raise and eat, barter, or sell, enabling them to elevate themselves to a degree of self sufficiency.

Chris alternates between Bosnia and the U.S. where he earns money through his own labor and raises money by speaking. He works tirelessly for Bosnia. He is a dynamic force for good, fighting corruption and bigotry, and a fountain of knowledge of the past and current Bosnian situation. When we left Bosnia, we invited Chris to come to Seattle, hoping to have him appear at our temple. He did just that in November of 2007. After his visit, some of us organized to help continue Chris's work here in Seattle.

Through the generous donation of time and talent, we will be holding a concert on April 13th at 3 P.M. The goal of the concert is to bring together people of all ethnic origins, faiths, and races to cement our bond in Seattle and in the process, help BILD continue to do its wondrous work.

I hope to see you at the concert!
Eleanor Reynolds