Bosnian Roma People - The Others In Bosnia and Herzegovina you can be one of four things: Serb, Croat, Bosniak or "The Others". I Belong to The Others. The Others are: Jews, Roma, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, Romanians, Hungarians.. even Eskimos (Yes, Eskimos!). They my have lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina their whole their life, speak local language as a mother tongue, practice traditional customs, but because of a pointless bureaucratic mechanism the are only recognized as "The Others". Few years ago, two men, Dervo Sejdic, a Roma, and Jakov Finci, Jewish, sued the state of Bosnia for breaching human rights. It reached Strasbourg Court. According Bosnian state constitution, only a citizen of Serbian, Croatian and Bosniak nationality could become a candidate for a member of the BH presidency. Sejdic and Finci wanted to compete democratically with colleagues of other nationalities, but there was no legal basis for them to stand. The court ruled that it was absolutely necessary to enable everyone to have the same rights in that regard. Outside European Courts, a celebratory Mr Finci said: "Those who encourage national divisions say that they are doing that to protect their people, but to put it in other words – if you had a toothache you would look for the best dentist not for dentist of your nationality, because you are looking for an expert not for a member of certain nation." The ruling was not applied, election took place, a new president was elected. Mr Sejdic and Mr Finci could have asked for the voting to be repeated, they could have fought until their names were on the ballot papers, but, for reasons that are only known to them, they did not. Had they, Bosnia would have lost 12millions KM, the expense of holding a voting campaign. It’s not easy being The Others. Discrimination doesn’t affect life at a political strata, it filters down to every level of society. When the war was over, politicians talked about reconciliation and equal rights, but little has changed for for the ordinary man. In many villages and cities, children cannot sit in the same classroom only because they have different names, nationality and religion. Mixed marriages (unions between members of the different nationalities and religions) have been demonized. What is ordinary, normal and unremarkable practice in other democratic countries is roundly condemned in the media as unacceptable, filthy, and against God’s law. Of all The Others, Roma people are singled out for the worst discrimination. Constantly derided, with no jobs and prospects for the future, all the financial help they should receive is diverted to other people. The politicians will not succeed in repressing the spirit of those who do not think that the nationality and the religion of others are more important than anything else. We are all Herzegovians and Bosnians.

A matter of concern “I could do this job till the end of my life. True, it is dangerous and risky, but it pays off in the end”, says twenty four year old, rebellious “employee” of the illegal coal mine known by his nickname “Grof” (translation: Count). Work starts early in the morning, and sometimes if necessary it lasts all day. Very few people know about these mines. The authorities even buried some of them with explosives, and lately, inspection doesn’t even take place here anymore because those in charge want to buy social order. Most of the illegal coal mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina are found in the periphery of Zenica. The reason for this is the growing economic problems in the land, so people are compelled to do different jobs to survive, even dangerous ones. These mines, compared to the legal ones, owned by the State government, offer a kind of “benefit” to their customers, in relation to the bought amount of coal. There are more flexibilities to do business in smaller quantities. “Those that don’t have money for three tons of coal, but need only three bags of it, come to us”, says Grof about their business philosophy. The main preoccupations of these “Merry men” are money and women, and you can’t go to work without alcohol, of course. “I like a good drink. This job is very dangerous. Little mistake and in a wink you get buried without anyone knowing about it”, says Grof during the break, and playing with his big, sharp knife. He also explains the process of the coal mining. You dig with your bare hands, and the coal is dragged out to the surface in a bathtub found in a junkyard. After that, coal is separated, packed in bags and distributed by tractors to its happy customers.

National sitting volleyball team of Bosnia and Herzegovina By Jasmin Brutus There is a joke here in Bosnia...a Serb and Bosnian were arguing about who has better sports teams...and Serb said...We have great football team, great handball team, great volleyball team, great water polo team... What do you have? And Bosnian said...We have sitting volleyball team... They are European and world champions...And they won gold medal at Paralympics... Then Serb asked him... Yeah...you have...But who made that team... Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a population of about 3.5 million people. The Bosnian war, which lasted from 1992 until 1995, was devastating for country and its people. And now, more than 500.000 disabled people live in Bosnia and Herzegovina but they are hardly visible fromthe streets. Predudice, lack of understanding and above all stairs are what they are facing every day. Most of team`s members are lucky, they have regular jobs and normal problems. While the majority of their competitors in developed countries can focus fully on the game, the Bosnian players must work to find funds for their next contest. Bosnia and Herzegovina`s most successful team receives no assistance from the government for training or rewards for medals taken. For most members of Bosnian team volleyball the sport has brought back their life, mentally and physically. They are a lot more stable than the majority of persons with disabilities who are not involved in sports. Everything began in 1997 for this team, when they won their first medal – a bronze at the European Championships. Since then, there has not been an important sports festival that does not feature them on the podium. The National team holds six European championships, two World championships and won a silver medal in the Athens Paralympics, a gold medal in Sydney and a silver medal in Beijing. However, the importance of their medals is much higher than the same game. For the Bosnians, they will always be heroes: war, volleyball and life.