Peace Week

CIM PIS (peace)

Last week I was involved with CIM’s (Centar za Izgradnju Mira or Center for Peacebuilding) International Peace Week in Sanski Most. It was the second year of Peace Week, however, this year was even more beautiful and inspired than last year. In my opinion, this was due largely to the excellent balance of ‘cognitive’ and artistic elements. The latter included singing, dancing, meditation and even a swim in the Sana (which was not part of the program). There was meditation and ‘selfhelp’ in the mornings with a trainer who taught us to feel our energy fields and to give back our parents’ ‘baggage’.

self-help session in CIM's shady garden

CIM staff hosted painting for peace in the park at mid-day, for children of all ages. And in the evening, we learned international songs and dances for peace from Sylvia Laumen, a German Catholic nun who lives in Switzerland at St Katarinawerk. I can’t decide which was my favorite: the meditative native American morning greeting to the earth, sky, and world facing east, south, west and then north or the beautiful Sufi song with the words: ‘Your light is in all forms, your love in all beings, hu Allah hu Allah hu Allah hu.’

song and dance

Of course we also engaged the mind at Peace Week. Jurgen Lembke presented ‘his story’ – how he incorporated his German family history – of victim and victimizer – into himself. This involved not only the mind, but also the heart and imagination.

Amra and I, with Sylvia, also presented an interreligious dialogue about Mary (in Christianity) or Merijam (in Islam). We spoke about what we know of her and what she means in our traditions and personally. The most interesting thing about that discussion was realizing how each of our traditions and scriptures provide different parts of Mary’s story. The Qur’an tells about Mary’s parents, who dedicated her to the temple while she was still in the womb. But because she was a girl (a great surprise when she was born) there was consternation about how to fulfill the vow of her dedication. The Qur’an tells how Zechariah, her uncle and a prophet, allowed her to enter the temple and he devoted himself to care for her there. So she grew up in the temple, according to the Muslim tradition. The Qur’an doesn’t have the story of Mary’s journey to visit her aunt Elizabeth (Zechariah’s wife), so I shared this special interaction of two women and their beautiful words of blessing about their unborn children and their praise to God. The Catholic tradition has more content about Mary than the Protestant ones, and Sylvia told us about what Mary means for her own faith: how Mary is an example of one who says ‘yes’ to God, even when it is difficult, unknown and relatively scary. Muslims see Mary (Miriam or Merijam in Bosnian) as an example of purity and devotion to God. She is the only woman to whom a whole book (sura) of the Qur’an is devoted.

Last, but certainly not least, was the very special concert of traditional sevdahlinka music, which was performed in the natural space of Hrustovo Cave.

entering Hrustovo cave

A candle-lit path led the audience into a large cavern where more candles illuminated a chilly but magical space where a quartet performed lovely local ballads (see video, below, for images). It was quite a unique and amazing experience, and I take my hat off to Vahidin for his vision and capacity to carry it out.

some of CIM's young volunteers

A beautiful thing about being in Sanski Most for Peace Week this year was seeing how much CIM has expanded and strengthened over the last two years since I lived there for the summer as an observer and participant/volunteer. CIM’s office (a house) has a very different look and feel: it is very alive with people, especially young people/volunteers, coming and going plus the rooms are rearranged and feel used and the grounds are well-cared for. On the one hand, it is strange to not recognize most of the volunteers, but on the other hand, it is exciting to see the vibrancy of the constantly changing youth who participate. And of course it was great to see Vahidin in good spirits and with the strong support of these volunteers, but also his co-founder Mevludin, who now works full time for CIM.