Marie is a very bright and brave person. She is a friend with Joseph and Agnes as well . Her teacher, Mr. Alazzar may be an ordinary
teacher, but somehow, in another day, vanished. When Marie arrived home, her parents reported her that they must hide themselves from rebels who have killed lots of people. In addition, Marie
is scared for the reason that her life is in danger. By reading
the story, I define it as treatment based on class rather than individual
merit; partiality or prejudice. Rebels take lives and cause irreparable damage
to the lives of others. Can kids blame the president? Do kids really understand
how rebels felt? The story tells us about discrimination prejudice and killing.
It is also the one that most related to my experience.
I would say that racial perception is one of the most
controversial problems in our society. It educates us that people in the world
should have the same opportunities, same respect, and equality. However, there
are certain groups of people who don’t show their respect to the others. I see groups of people discriminated against,
not just African Americans. I agree with my views. When I see the type of
language being said in Kosovo, I am absolutely shocked. I think that I am very
courageous for having such strong opinions on why Kosovo and Serbs were wrong.
I don’t come out and say they are wrong because this took place in the 2000 and
I figured it would be too controversial.
I would probably loose a lot of my fans who are
racist. I don’t believe that race accounts for differences in human character
or ability. Or that a particular race is superior to others. For example people of Kosovo were
discriminated against in this day and age. It was never hard for me to see this
at first, I really looked in to it in depth. I realize that the Serbian
Government never helped minorities as much as they should. For example, people
in Kosovo are very poorly funded. Besides Serbian governments being secretly
racists. Serbian cops are supposed to keep peace but actually do the opposite.
They accused people of Kosovo committing crimes over Serbs and not Serbs
committing crimes over Kosovo. If there are two people standing outside a scene
of a crime, a Kosovo man and a Serbian man, if a cop comes he would arrest the
Kosovo person and not the Serbian man.
I spoke to one of my friends about this and she was
telling me how she thought that Serbia was very quick to go to war with Kosovo.
She says Serbia has no problem throwing the first punch. I began to think about
it and I was not sure if she was right. When we recognize the differences
between racial and gender discrimination we validate history and are able to
end the oppression of racial minorities. Slobodan Milokevitch was elected ruler
of the Serbian state. Incidents of mass genocide and several other war crimes
became regular occurrences under his rule. The Kosov crisis has shown the world
the worst of human nature. On behalf of the United Nations, in an effort to
settle the unrest in the Balkan region, The United States became involved in
1995.
There are some positive things done by the United
States in Yougoslavia. The presence of U.S troops did bring temporary peace to
Kosovo. Although the peace is purely an act, it does give leaders time to talk
and plan without worrying about their people dying. Also, the United States
presence in Kosovo helped to eradicate the most horrific problem in Kosovo,
large Serbian concentration camps and mass Albanian genocide. United States
troops were deployed to tear down old concentration camps and free the
inhabitants of current ones. The troops, also uncovered mass burial sites where
the Serbian Government, under Slobodan Milokevitch, ordered the killing of
thousands of ethnic Albanians. The discovery of these sites is a key element in
the conviction of Slovado Malosovitch on war crimes charges taking place
presently.
I chose a story for you to read. It is called “The
killing of Serbian children in Kosovo: the story of a survivor”
At
the age of 15 on a riverbank he was shot eight times just for being Serbian. He
survived and a few days later during the religious holiday of Transfiguration
he was out of his coma. But until now he has not received an answer to his
question: who shot the children bathing in the river near the Kosovo village of
Gorazdevac on August 13, 2003? In his interview to the Voice of Russia Bogdan
Bukumiric tells a wonderful story of his rescue.
“It is not so
scary to die as to be buried alive” - this is the inscription on the monument
to the victims of Albanian terrorists and the NATO aggression in the small town
of Gorazdevac, an oasis and at the same time a ghetto for the Serbian
population in Metohija. There are portraits of two boys on the monument - Panto
Dakic and Ivan Jovovic. They died on August 13, 2003 on the bank of the
Bistrica River when unknown persons opened fire at the people resting there.
Four more teenagers were wounded at that moment. Concerning one of them, Bogdan
Bukumiric, 15 years of age, the doctors gave the following forecast: 96% chance
of death and 4% chance of survival. He survived. He is 24 now, he lives in
Belgrade, and when he read the story about the recent acts of vandalism in
Kosovo (the monument in Gorazdevac was shot at) published by the Voice of
Russia web site, he agreed to share with our journalists his memories of that
horrible crime that nobody has been held responsible for.
Bogdan was born
in Gorazdevac, where according to him after 1999 people turned immune to the
sounds of shooting. After the war and the NATO aggression, which ended in the
withdrawal of Serbian troops, the life there was difficult. The village had a
population of 1000 and was surrounded by only Albanian settlements. The closest
large city is Pec. They had to go there to buy food escorted by KFOR. There was
no end to the Albanian provocations: Bogdan's aunt, Milica Bukumiric, was
killed at the doors to her house as somebody threw a grenade into her yard. The
youth was isolated from the world – there was no entertainment, no chance to
travel from the village; all they had left was only the community at school and
around it. There was not even a swimming pool. Why “even”? Perhaps that fact
played the lethal role in the whole story…
"My house was the closest to the river. On August
13 all my friends who passed by my house called upon me to go for a swim. I
asked my father if I could go. My dad had something like a premonition. He said
that I should not go, that the water was still cold. But then I asked again,
and as a result went along with my friends. There were a lot of kids at the
Bistrica River, as well as lots of youth and parents. I entered the water, it
was really cold, and so I went to the fire. Less than ten minutes later I heard
machine gun fire. My friends and me stood closest to the terrorists. Three
bullets hit me in the left side. The guys and I knew that forest they were
shooting from pretty well. I realized that if they came out of the bushes, I
would see them. I sharply turned in that direction they were firing from – a
few more bullets hit me in the breast and stomach. My legs gave in, I began to
fall down, and at that moment a bullet hit me in the head. And the eighth
bullet hit my left leg".
Bogdan cried
for help and still tried to get up. The villagers brought the boy to the
hospital at the KFOR military base, but the doctor was not there. The wounded
boy received the first aid at the local clinic; primarily they tried to stop
the bleeding. Bogdan was conscious and kept asking the doctors to take his
brother away from the room, as he did not want him to see him in such a state.
The local resident demanded that the KFOR personnel take the boy to the
hospital in Pec, but they found millions of excuses not to do it. As a result,
Bogdan's brother and his neighbor at their own risk drove him in a car to the
completely Albanian town of Pec. «Bogdan, hold on, you are a hero, you will
live», - they kept saying. «I will not surrender», - was Bogdan's answer.
«Unfortunately,
near the farmers' market in Pec our car engine stopped. Our license plates were
Serbian, so the Albanians attacked us. They destroyed the car, crushed the
windows and wanted to drag us out of the car. They hit my neighbor who was
trying to start the engine with their fists on the head; my brother was hit
with a stone. There was neither mercy nor pity, although they saw a person who
was hardly alive. If they dragged us out, we would have not survived. But
fortunately, two KFOR patrol cars appeared and started shooting into the air.
Up until that moment I was still conscious, but then I was in coma. What
happened next I know from the stories of those who were with me».
Bogdan
Bukumiric was first admitted to the local hospital. Another victim of the
shooting, Panto Dakic, was there as well.
"Panto was
in a bed next to mine. Both the medical personnel and the patients had fun:
“You wanted Kosovo, here you go!”, “Whoever did this, he is a good guy!”.
Panto’s father would hold his son’s hand in one hand and mine in the other. An
Albanian doctor came, but Panto’s father did not let him examine us, since he
did not trust him. At that moment my friend died. The doctors believed that I
died as well. However, a doctor who came from our village established that I
was still alive. She insisted that they transport me by helicopter to the Northern
part of Mitrovica. KFOR people said that they needed to get permission. She
tried to convince them for three hours, and finally, a helicopter brought in
another wounded, Marco Bogicevic to Prizren, and then they took me to the
hospital of the French KFOR troops in the Southern part of Kosovska
Mitrovica".
Milenka
Cvetkovic, a doctor from the Northern part of Mitrovica played the most
important role in saving Bogdan's life. When she found out about what had
happened, despite the risk she went to the Southern, Albanian, part of the city
where the French KFOR doctors operated on Bogdan's spleen (the bullet passes in
two millimeters from his left kidney). But when there was a delay in getting a
neurosurgeon, the doctor insisted that the boy was taken to Belgrade.
Naturally, a Serbian helicopter could not be allowed to land on the territory
of Kosovo, but first that information was not openly stated. So in a car Bogdan
was taken to central Serbia and from there – to the Military Medical Academy in
the capital. Bogdan's blood pressure went down to 40, but the doctor took all
the necessary measures and it was stabilized. Due to the endless bureaucratic
delays of KFOR, the entire process of transporting half-alive boy took 11
hours.
"When the doctors at the Military Medical Academy
found out that in my body there was only 1.4 liters of blood instead of the
normal 5-5.5 liters, they decided not to do the surgery right away. I was given
a blood transfusion and the surgery was planned for the next morning. They forecast
was the following: 4% chance for survival, 96% chance to die. On August 19, at
Transfiguration I was out of coma. My neurosurgeon said that he did not believe
that I would regain consciousness, it all depended on my organism".
But it was only
the beginning: Bogdan had a high fever and it turned out that the splinters of
the bone damaged the cortex. Bogdan survived through four surgeries, had
meningitis, and was motionless for four months – only the right side of his
body functioned. But thanks to the exercises and of course, his perseverance he
got back on his feet. Many high-ranking officials visited him at the hospital,
including Harri Holkeri, who at that time was the UNMIK chief.
"He
hurried to catch a plane; he asked me about my health and wished me a fast
recovery and return to my home village, where everything was peaceful and under
control. I asked him: Mr. Holkeri, can I ask you a question? Have you arrested
the criminals? He clearly did not expect such a question from a 15-year old
boy. He was at a loss and said that they were working on it, but had not
collected sufficient evidence".
For many years has Bogdan corresponded with various
international organizations in Kosovo. They promised to «leave no stone
unturned » in order to find the murderers: between 2003 and 2007 nothing much
was done, then a new group started the investigation from scratch. They wrote
to him that if new evidence came up, the investigation would be continued. But
all the same, - says Bogdan, - justice will eventually take over.
"Monsters
did that. To shoot at children who are having fun at the river… The youngest
kids were about five years old. And it was a specifically developed plan – to
scare us. They could not drive us away from the village and decided to strike
at the most sensitive place for every person – the children".
Bogdan has gone
through many recovery courses, but even now he cannot fully control his left
arm. Maybe in Russia there are doctors that can help me, because after all that
I have gone through, I deserve to have everything right, - he says. However,
the fate has another «surprise» in store for Bogdan Bukumiric. In 2003 he
received an apartment in the Serbian capital as a long-term use with the right
to buy it out. Then the decision was changed, and now every year he has no sign
an agreement to extend the lease. Bogdan is afraid that one day they would come
to remind him of such a thing as market driven terms and would tell him to move
out.
"The publication "Vecernje novosti" has
launched a campaign to collect funds to buy out the apartment. They estimated
its value to be 59 thousand euro; I do not have that much money. Thus, I am
forced to ask others for help, as it appears that the state is not interested
in my problem. Right now about 6 thousand has been raised. I don't know where
to get the remaining sum. This problem needs to be resolved within a month or
two".
Bogdan
lives with his brother and father. His mother died when the boy was five. He is
currently not working, although he graduated from a school for electricians. He
is completely dedicated to staying healthy. Bogdan Bukumiric cannot go back to
Gorazdevac as he has to constantly be under the observation of the best
available doctors in the capital. But the other children wounded on August 13,
2003, continue to live in the village of Gorazdevac. The families of the killed
Panto and Ivan are also there.
"At the
Gorazdevac cemetery there is a church that is the oldest in the Balkans. It was
built without a single nail eight centuries ago. And I believe it protects my
homeland. Gorazdevac was not burned down during World War I, it was not
abandoned in World War II, or in the 1999 war or during all the events that
followed; my village lived through all that".
Irina
Antanasijevic, the teacher of the Russian language and literature, who has
lived in Kosovo for any years wrote in her memoires about the early 2000s:
"The disarmament of Kosovo was the disarmament of the Serbian peasants,
the shooting of who then turned into a sport of some sort. It was not even an
extreme kind of sport. There was no danger. Go… shoot… leave, and then soldiers
would arrive who would deal with the evacuation of the dead bodies and turning
the stones…
Lastly, there are people like us who make
ourselves strong speakers and writers on behalf of a wide range of people or
social causes. There are people like us who have compassion to help human
beings go through the time when evils are around us. There are people like us who do all our work
with self-confidence, authority, independence, and cleverness. There are greatest people like us who don’t
live because of their accomplishments, their benefits to mankind, and their
motives to accomplish their goals. Helping other people is what we live for.
There are many accomplishments made by people like us in social and political
matters. For one thing, we speak out for people to help survivors escape death,
pain and suffering.
Ardiana Xhafa / 2012
