Friday 25 May 2012

Tram of chocolate and buildings like swiss cheese

Sarajevo it is still showing how hard is to overcome the process of reconstruction after a war. 
The generation of  kids that where risking their life just crossing the streets to go to school are now in their thirties. They face a city where a tram can be "made of chocolate" because of the latest up to date Mars campaign while their  kids  are growing calling "swiss cheese" the buildings which still carry  severe signs of bullet riffles.





Sarajevo. Bullet holes on the map of the ski resort on the Igman Mountain, erected for the 14th Winter Olympics held in 1984.

Fahrudin Radoncic's new Twist Tower, near the Sarajevo bus station,Radoncic is the owner of the Sarajevo daily newspaper Avaz

Sarajevo. A boy in a car on his way to school.
During the Balkan conflict the school run was a very difficult journey it was something that everybody feared for their children. 

What remains of the former Yugoslav Army's barracks in Sarajevo. 

Advertising Banner of Sarajevska water it is what remains of the tennis court of the former Yugoslav Army's barracks in Sarajevo. The building was destroyed during the first months of the 1992-1995 siege of the city.

Latest  Mars campaign: "tram of chocolate". In 1885 Sarajevo had the first full-time tram line in Europe, and the second in the world,the first being San Francisco. It was operated by horses.

Land mines warning sign on the Igman Mountain, 23 kilometres South West of Sarajevo. More than 600,000 unmarked landmines and other unexploded ordnance remained throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina after the war. These devices are still killing people since 1996.

On the way to Igman Mountain

Some of the 10 members of the Zeciri family live on Igman Mountain.  There is no running water, electricity or sanitation.  Water is collected from a well during the winter time, but during Summer, the well dries up and the family have to walk into the town to get supplies.  


Igman Mountain

Belma and her brother.
Belma’s family was separated just before she was born.  Her father, suffering from post-traumatic stress, had brought home a live bomb, leftover from the Balkan conflict. The authorities moved Belma’s brother and sister to an institution for their own safety.  

Now, the two older children  Belmin and Selma, have been reunited with their mother and Belma.  The family make regular visits to the hospital to see their father and it is hoped that the family will soon be safely reconciled permanently.


 kids call buildings like those "the cheese buildings" because of   bullet-riddles looking like Swiss Cheese.



Belma playing hide and seek.