Church World Service director visits the Balkans

In Branco Pesic school. Photo: Tatiana Dwyer/CWS

By Tatiana Dwyer/CWS

In October and November 2007, Rev. John L. McCullough, Church World Service Executive Director and CEO, visited Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to see Church World Service programs there.

Since opening an office in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1993, Church World Service has been working with local people, helping them rebuild their communities. Everywhere Church World Service works in the region, children and youth remain a major focus and priority. Church World Service programs aim to benefit children and youth through improved access to education, water, health, income-generation activities for their families, and the provision of marketable skills.

In 2006, Church World Service consolidated its development experience in the Balkans into two major initiatives. In Serbia, Church World Service designed a Roma children’s initiative to aid the Roma communities suffering from extreme poverty and discrimination. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Church World Service developed a multi-year integrated community development initiative entitled Build a Village: Balkans

Republic of Serbia

While in the Republic of Serbia during the visit, Rev. McCullough visited Church World Service-supported programs and met with government officials, UN representatives, and Church World Service local and international partners. Among other topics, he discussed the current situation of the Roma and progress in conditions for refugees, internally displaced people, and ethnic minorities. In addition to children and youth, these groups remain a primary focus of Church World Service in the region.

After visiting the "Branko Pesic" school, Rev. McCullough said, "Focus on Roma children is exactly where we should be concentrating. The needs are clear and obvious, and Church World Service can help these children to have better opportunities in life. For me, the school project is a durable solution, which can serve in the future not only Roma children, but also other socially marginalized children."

Church World Service designed the Roma Children's Initiative to assist the vulnerable Roma communities in the Zemun district of Belgrade, Serbia. In 2005, the pre-school Roma children and late entrants who participated in a Church World Service pilot preparatory education project showed excellent results in their tests and easily transitioned to school. Church World Service not only built on the results of the project, but also supplemented it with income generation activities for Roma families struggling to keep their children in school. Currently, the program prepares Roma children to enroll in school, provides grants and business training to Roma families, and offers recreational opportunities to the Roma children who otherwise would not have such opportunities.

JOhn and others
Visiting Šaciri Adnan in his workshop.
Photo: Tatiana Dwyer/CWS

Rev. McCullough also visited the Roma families who received grants from Church World Service to start small businesses. Šaciri Adnan, a displaced person from Kosovo, skilled and experienced in making industrial glue for construction work, started his business after Church World Service helped him to purchase an industrial cauldron to produce and mix glue. He knows the market and is able to be self-employed. Todorovic Zoran purchased a sewing machine, and his wife, Nedzaria, is currently making curtains. Fadilj Aljiju, who lived in Germany, buys waste paper collected by other Roma, breaks it down into pulp and sells this raw material to the local factory. Organizational skills will help him to expand the business by organizing other Roma to collect and sell waste paper to him. If this plan succeeds, Fadilj Aljiju will be creating viable employment for the community.

The motivation, entrepreneurial spirit and eagerness of these Roma to improve their situation are encouraging other self-employment opportunities. Rev. McCullough also drew particular attention to the possibility of adding a new component to the program, such as apprenticeship. This new element creates more opportunities for Roma youth, and captures the value of active and productive participation in communities.

Visiting Todorovic Zoran's family.
Photo: Tatiana Dwyer/CWS

Bosnia and Herzegovina

November 1-5, Rev. McCullough visited Church World Service programs in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This was Rev. McCullough’s fifth visit to the country since assuming the leadership of Church World Service in 2000. The focus of Church World Service in Bosnia-Herzegovina remains helping displaced populations return to their homes and rebuild their livelihoods.

On his first day in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rev. McCullough met with the local faith-based organizations of Merhamet, Dobrotvor, Caritas Bosnia-Herzegovina, and La Benovolencija. These organizations have been long-term Church World Service partners in the country. Rev. McCullough also visited the Embassy of Croatia in Bosnia-Herzegovina to discuss further opportunities for collaboration. It was through the generous support of funding provided by the Government of Croatia that Church World Service reconstructed 88 housing units in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2006-2007.

November 3-4, Rev. McCullough visited Canton 10. He participated in an official meeting in the municipality of Glamoc, where Church World Service had recently finished constructing an apartment building. The mayor of Glamoc, Mr. Rade Gvero, and other municipal and cantonal representatives expressed gratitude for Church World Service reconstruction efforts in the municipality. Of the 140 apartment buildings that were destroyed during the war, only two apartment buildings have been reconstructed to date.

Rev. McCullough also visited Church World Service's Build a Village: Balkans program in the municipality of Bosansko Grahovo, one of the most severely damaged municipalities in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The scars of war remain in nearly every neighborhood.

With the Mayor of Glamoc.
Photo: Tatiana Dwyer/CWS

Church World Service developed the Build a Village: Balkans program as an innovative multi-year integrated development model in December 2006. This model enhances rural development and improves livelihoods in a sustainable and holistic manner. The program reaches every aspect of community life by developing structures and services that benefit the entire municipality and, thereby, builds a village.

Rev. McCullough commented, "The Build a Village strategy is a very powerful and creative approach to sustainable development that can truly be transformational. We've seen the evidence of that here in Bosnia where the collaboration of Church World Service as an international NGO, local municipalities, the local non-governmental organizations, and of individuals themselves has built a whole new kind of collaboration where they’re looking very holistically at the challenges and opportunities for development."

Signing Build a Village Agreement
Photo: Tatiana Dwyer/CWS

He continued by stating, "I think that Build a Village provides us with the capacity to do things in a way that really represents uncharted territory and will prove not only to have short-term, but more importantly, long-term transformational results that in fact improve the quality of the life of individuals and, most importantly, entire communities."

Rev. Amy Gopp, from the Week of Compassion, who accompanied Rev. McCullough on the trip, added, "I am so excited to be a part of Build a Village because I believe it is an integrative, visionary, and holistic sustainable development program. We are happy and honored to be a partner, a true partner, and to know that Church World Service is doing such good long-term work in Bosnia."

Week of Compassion, the relief, refugee, and development ministry fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), is a major supporter of the Church World Service Build a Village: Balkans program. Rev. Gopp, who is a passionate advocate of development and understands its complexities continued, "I'm particularly glad because Canton 10 is the poorest region in all of Bosnia. So I think that this is really in line with the goals of Week of Compassion, as well as Church World Service as a whole: To be there working with local people, with local resources, and to truly walk along side them, for a long time into the future as we rebuild this community. And it’s really not one village, but 36 villages. Week of Compassion is blessed to be a part of that."

McCullough and Gopp then visited the village of Donje Peulje to meet Mr. Pero Balac and his family. Prior to the war, Donje Peulje was a thriving home community for 49 families. The entire population fled during the war, leaving the village deserted. The only man who chose to return to the uninhabited village was Mr. Balac and his father. The latter wanted to come back to the only place the elder could call home.

John and child
With Snejana at the top of the house.
Photo: Tatiana Dwyer/CWS

To sustain himself and his father, Mr. Balac postponed repairing his own badly damaged house and instead focused on rebuilding his livelihood by becoming involved in livestock breeding and agriculture. He and his father lived in a semi-habitable home of a relative.

Mr. Balac recently managed to reconstruct his own home. The only part lacking by the time McCullough visited the village was the roof. Mr. Balac's little granddaughter, Snejana, who was playing nearby, very excited to have visitors. Snejana loves the house and dreams of a time when she can live in the home with her grandfather. To help fulfill the little girl's dream, Church World Service provided materials to finish the roof.

After visiting the village, Rev. McCullough said, "A manifestation of the Build a Village concept is reflected in the story of Mr. Pero Balac. This story did not begin with Church World Service assisting in the completion of the roof, but it started long before, when Mr. Balac took the initiative to return to his home and restored his livelihood. Build a Village is not about reconstructing just an aspect of one's life, such as houses, but of reconstructing lives."

In summarizing his visit to the region, Rev. McCullough said that he was happy to see that Church World Service in both countries succeeded in finding innovative ways to help the local people. Better applied models and strategic developmental approaches bring better results and increase social impact. He also emphasized the power of “collective genius” created through real partnerships with local people.

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