And... I'm back in the States!

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Hello everyone!
Yes I am finally back in the United States... actually I got back on
Friday June 30th at around 6:30. But we moved (yes i actually came back to
a totally different house... weird right?) and I had work and such and
shoddy internet access... so it's been a while. Sorry!
As sad as I was to leave that beautiful country and those beautiful
children, I was also very happy to get back to my family (and the land of
ice cubes and air conditioning! haha)
Let's see... the last time I wrote was after our camp in Donja Mahala? OK
so after that camp we had one in Brcko (sounds like Berch-Ko) and
Srebrinica (simplified: Sreb-rih-nee-chah)
The camp in Brcko: Well it was a small one with only 52 kids... because it
happened to fall on a Serbian holiday... but it was a good camp. Good kids
adn lots of fun. At lunch time the director of the school came around and
offered us Slivovitz, which is a strong plum-brandy. Whew! It was strong!
Shortly after that my group went to gym... where at one point I was
spinning around with a jump rope playing a game with some of the girls...
after that Slivovitz, spinning was not a good idea. Hahaha... but the kids
were great as usual!
Then we drove to Srebrenica. Guys, I cannot explain to you how sad and
weird it was to be in that town. In some places it looks like the war took
place yesterday instead of a decade ago. The area of Srebrenica had
formerly been 75% Muslim... when we held our 51 child camp... only 1 was
Muslim. 11 years ago there was an ethnic cleansing where over 8,000 men
and boys as young as 13 were rounded up and taken away never to be seen or
heard from again. We visited the Srebrenica memorial where President of
the Srebrenica Mothers/Widows association spoke to us about it. I just
lost it hearing about all the pain these people went through. She told me
not to cry, and she kissed my cheeks. Such a wonderful woman! Our camp
there went really well, the kids were a little punchy and didn't really
know what to do because it was the first friendship camp ever in
Srebrenica. There was supposed to be one last year but some sketchy things
happened and when the team showed up there were no kids. Just bizarre and
eerie things.
Overall I would have to say that my trip to Bosnia was certainly a life
changing experience. I have always wanted to be an actress, it has been my
dream and passion. But now I think I have found a higher calling. If I
could find some way to do what we were doing with the kids over there as a
living, then I would be happy and feel like I was living a fulfilling
life!
One of the most remarkable things I noticed about some of the people I met
was that they are not vengeful. Yes they want people to have to answer for
their actions, but they do not want more bloodshed. They see that there is
no point in blaming an entire group of people for the ruthless actions of
a handful of cowards. I only hope that I can maintain the same attitude.

Thank you everyone for your support, love, and interest. The guest book
messages were wonderful! The donations that we have received are greatly
GREATLY appreciated. And your support and love, are priceless to me.

If you'd like to see it, I put together a video of my trip... it's kind of
like a video collage... you can go to

http://dreamstage10.diaryland.com

to see it.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email
me. Thank you again!

Love always,
Alyssa

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