This article is dedicated to those refugees I met and especially to Denis who supplied us a great help and fun.

Preparation

This trip was quite different from the previous trips taken so far: the previous ones had been concentrated on aid delivery and quite shorter thus, time spent with the refugees were rather limited to shorter periods. By contrast, this one was more than two weeks long and meant to be supplying entertainments which the refugees were not well supplied before. Whenever we visited the refugee camps during the previous trips, we were told that the refugees were short of entertainments. There were not many recreational facilities in the camps and those camps were confined within their boundaries as not many refugees went to town.

For this reason, this trip was organised for various entertainment programs. The main item was the production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in mime style. This production was about an hour long condensed version of Shakespeare’s play mainly for kids. We also took several recreational equipments with us so that we could play with kids. These included tennis racquets and balls; badminton racquets; books; board games; footballs; musical instruments etc. In addition to these items, we also took other aid goods such as foods, medicine, clothes and so on.

We left Oxford at about 4 o’clock in afternoon and headed to Ramsgate. Unlike previous trips so far, this was our first time to take a ferry to Belgium and it was rather worrying if this alternation would turn out to be longer to reach Croatia.

Zagreb
About 40 hours later, we arrived our first destination, Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. The city seemed to be functioning normally like any other cities in Europe and the hint of the fact that this country was right next to the war zone was almost invisible. Everyone in the city behaved as if nothing unusual is happening and pupils at school where we visited did not seem to be caring much either. During our three days stay in Zagreb, we were accommodated by the families of the pupils in the school we visited and performed twice in refugee camps around Zagreb.

The refugee camps in Zagreb were quite different from those I visited in Split the previous summer: those camps in Zagreb were proper buildings and looked more like a camp resort. In fact, those buildings were originally for students living away from home, but became a refugee camp as the number of the refugees increased rapidly. Anyway, from my observation, those refugees in Zagreb seemed better treated than those in Split. This might be due to the fact that Split is much nearer to the front line. I also wondered the origin of the refugees: are refugees of Croatian origins treated better than those of Muslim origins? Interestingly, those refugees I met in Split were all Muslims and their accommodation was rather worse than that of those in Zagreb. I wondered if this was just a coincidence. This is the question which I kept asking myself. Towards the end of this trip, we also visited refugee camps in the further south near Dubrovnik and those camps were converted from ex-holiday resort hotels. So they were not as pouring as the camp in Split. The camp in Split, called T.T.T.S., which I shall mention later in this article, was for the refugees with Muslim origins and I kept meaning to ask what origins of those refugees in other camps in other cities were, but I did not have an opportunity to do so as it looked too offensive to ask such a political question.

Nevertheless, it is true all the camps we visited were filled with the sorrows and wounds of the bloody war which separated so many families and caused an unspeakable hatred in all sides.

My host family was very generous and I enjoyed the hospitality of a typical Croatian family and we talked over the dining table every night. One thing I noticed was that those people living in Zagreb were slightly less interested in what is happening in the South: as it was mentioned before, the hint of the war which was noticeable in the South, especially in Dubrovnik, was more or less invisible and people live life as if there is no war.

Split and Korčula
This atmosphere of normality was getting less and less usual as we moved towards South. Before reaching Dubrovnik, we stopped at Korčula, a small island, and Split to perform our play and spent some time with the refugee kids. Both Split and Korčula had been a holiday resort and lots of foreign holiday makers visited before the war. Nowadays, both places have been almost free of foreigners since the beginning of the war and those cities were filled with refugees instead. Not that streets in these cities were full of refugees, or rather, the number of refugee camps in these cities dramatically increased for last two years and consequently the number of the refugees, too.

Korčula Town

However, the general atmosphere of Split city was not so much different from that of Zagreb and there was not much high tension either. This is not to say that people in Split were less concerned with the refugees. In fact, the refugees in Split tend not to go out to the city as the general public’s attitude towards the refugees were not so nice. In last Summer, when I visited Split first time, I was told that it is not so uncommon for the refugees to be assaulted in the city by the locals. It did not seem to have improved much for last one year either. The refugees were still confined to a small barrack outside Split and had few visitors apart from some Spanish voluntary workers who visited about twice a week. During the three days stay, we spent most of our time with the refugees (especially kids). I still remember a question I was asked when we were about to leave Split: a refugee kid called Denis said to me “When are you coming next time?” Trying not to sound too crude, I vaguely answered “Next Summer”. I knew he kept asking the same question to every visitor he meets and not many of them came back. If I had a courage to be honest, I should have said “I don’t know.” Instead, I settled for a vague promise which I was not certain of keeping. I am not sure how much we contributed towards the refugees by visiting them, but it is my sincere hope that they realised there are always people who think about them and we gave them something to remember.

Dubrovnik
Going down to Dubrovnik was a rather nervous experience and there is only one road now and it is a curving coast road which has only two lanes. One side is cliff and the other one is Adriatic Coast and the road is high above the sea level. Along the slope of the cliff just below us, several crashed cars were visible and there were about 3 of them visible each mile. This sight of crashed cars on the cliff was not so impressive as it meant that we might have ended up in the same situation…

On the way to Dubrovnik, we had to pass a bit of the part of Bosnia-Herzegovina which had been a front line about one year before our arrival. The soldiers withdrew from that area already and we were able to see the ex-war zone: trees were all burnt, houses were completely destroyed and no living creatures were in sight. There was a graffiti which appeared frequently appeared on the walls of the destroyed houses. I was told by the translator that it was a militant nationalistic slogan of Serbian Nationalists’ Party.

This brief journey through Bosnia ended within 10 minutes as it was only 5 or 6 miles long, but it was devastating enough to let us feel the impact of the war.

Dubrovnik is a very beautiful place and I have never seen a city like this: The Old City was just full of beautiful medieval architecture and the whole city seemed to be built as a fortress. The City Wall was enormously large and looked indeed like a fortress by the sea. It was unavoidable to notice some trace of the war: fallen walls, large holes on the roofs of the houses by shells, bullet holes on the wall etc. Nevertheless, everybody living in the city seems to try to live a normal life. It would have looked a normal holiday place if there was any tourist. Once a famous holiday place has now become a no-go area for tourists due to the huge shelling the city had to endure during the last two years. It is incredible that the city still keeps its natural beauty and had not lost its character. Nobody would have guessed that this is the city which had been subjected to heavy shelling for the past two years just by looking at the main area, but the signs of the war were most strongly visible in back streets.

The refugee camps in Dubrovnik were situated in hotels which were holiday resorts for tourists before the war. These hotels did not escape the shelling either: the walls were covered a lot of holes by bullets and some of them did not even have ceilings. We performed in three hotels and also spent some time with the refugees. Wherever we went, we were greeted by the refugees with a warm welcome. Their treatment for us was more than enough and I felt bit awkward as sometime we were even fed by the refugees: we were given foods and drinks and I could not help wondering whether we deserve such a luxurious treatment.

Final Thoughts
This trip would have been impossible without help from all those who concerned and it was really encouraging that we were well received by the refugees. I sincerely hope that this drama production gave them some sort of entertainment and reassurance that they were not yet completely abandoned. It would be more than welcome if the refugees felt entertained while we were there and enjoyed our production. Most of all, the ultimate purpose of this trip was to give a recreational aid and spiritual support rather than other means of physical or material support. Thus, I will be more than happy if those refugees enjoyed our stay and drama. For me, I certainly enjoyed the trip and learnt a lot. It is human beings who causes wars, but it is also human beings who give supports for one another and prevents wars. The most important thing this trip gave me was that there is still a hope: if there is one suffering, there is always one who helps him. I believe this is what we have to keep in our mind and practice.

Finally, I would like to thank Miss Sabina Alkire and Rev. Jonathan Sedgewick for giving me the opportunity to participate in this project. It was truly a great time in my life.

Yoon H A Chung - sketches made on the trip by Carl Lazzari

Last updated: February 25th, 2008