Blog Posts tagged with "ribbon cutting"

Dobar dan!

Earlier this week I had the honor of attending two great events in the northwestern region of Bosnia & Herzegovina. It was a winding mountainous five-hour drive through a beautiful countryside to the first ceremony a ribbon-cutting at the main primary school of Drvar with Mayor Anka Papak-Dodig, Principal Jelka Danic and 500 students with their accompanying parents.  Upon entering the school you could feel the joy and excitement of the children as they were performing their traditional dances and greeting our delegation. 

Children from the main primary school of Drvar in Bosnia and Herzegovina perform a traditional dance during the ribbon cutting ceremony at the renovated school Sept. 20.

Prior to the war in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Drvar was largely populated with Bosnian Serbs.  However, due to the ethnic divisions and tensions during the war, the majority of the Bosnian Serbs from Drvar sought refuge elsewhere.  One of the goals of the U.S. Embassy is to ensure that BiH has a vibrant, tolerant, multi-ethnic democracy supported by a robust civil society and the renovation of this school assists this goal, facilitating the return of Bosnian Serbs to their pre-war homes. 

 U.S. European Command provided $450,000, which allowed the Office of Defense Cooperation to renovate the Drvar school.  These renovations were done by the local contractor, Jelen, and included the exterior façade, roof, windows, painting the walls and replacing the floors.

The second event was the Bosanska Krupa water system ground-breaking ceremony attended by U.S. Ambassador Moon, Lt. Gen. Milojcic, Chief of Defense Armed Forces Bosnia & Herzegovina, Armin Halitovic, Mayor of Bonska Krupa, and Hamdija Lipovaca, Prime Minister of the UNA-SANA Canton. 

This water project will provide water connection to the suburbs and villages around Bosanska Krupa again supporting a vast number of Serb returnees.  This area is considered to be one of the most successful refugee returns in Federation Bosnia & Herzegovina. Upon completion of this project there will be two reservoirs, approximately 10 km of new pipeline and water pump stations, which will be connected to the existing water system in Bosanska Krupa.  This project will in the short-term provide water to about 3000 people who have returned to the area. Additionally, it will provide the preconditions to connect more villages to this system in the future, which will further encourage refugees to return to their pre-war homes.  

Children from the newly renovated main primary school in Drvar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, practice their English during question and answer time with the American representatives from the U.S. European Command and Office of Defense Cooperation after the ribbon cutting ceremony for the $450,000 renovation project.

The funding for this project and the actual work will be accomplished through the combined efforts of the ODC, Armed Forces Bosnia & Herzegovina engineer units, Bosanska Krupa, and the UNA-SANA Canton; thus showing commitment and service by the AFBiH to the civilian population.  It will further strengthen Bosnia & Herzegovina’s position as useful contributors to EURO-ATLANTIC community. 

 In summary, these outreach projects are outstanding examples of Amerca’s commitment to improving security by improving living conditions.  The tireless research and vetting done by the ODC Team and Humanitarian Assistance program, reaching out touching young hearts and minds one school and community at a time.  As these younger generations grow up, they will be strong partners in a better more tolerant, multi-ethnic world.

  A heartfelt thank you to the ODC Team for letting me witness and be a part of these two great memorable events -- mission accomplished!