On July 1, 2006 I was invited to give a presentation about the Ambassador for Peace (AFP) program at the 11^th anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica. The event was held at the historical Seattle Town hall location in downtown Seattle. It was attended by over 200 members of the local Bosnian community.

Background of Srebrenica Massacre:

The crisis in Bosnia occurred during the early part of the Clinton administration. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dismantling of communism, the nation of Yugoslavia broke up into several states. Unlike Serbia and Croatia, Bosnia was a multiethnic state composed of Muslims, Christians and Jews. As Serbia tried to exercise its influence, civil war broke out. The Bosnians were not able to stand up to the Serbian army, and many atrocities took place, while the world and the Clinton administration stood by and watched. One of the worst of these atrocities was the massacre at Srebrenica, where thousands were slaughtered and placed in mass graves.

Flashback: Mourners for the victms of the Srebrenica massacre

I was invited to speak by the Bosnian Imam, Abdullah Polovina, an Ambassador for Peace himself. Imam Polovina and the Bosnian community have been here for a number of years now, but they still feel a tremendous sense of pain and loss over the torture and deaths of their family members. It is troubling also that some of the perpetrators have not been brought to justice.

Finding Hope:

Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Bisera Turkovic, Dr. Turkovic urged the community here to support the current reconstruction efforts in Bosnia and to participate in the upcoming elections. Imam Polovina really has a heart to assuage the pain of his people, and also to help them become less isolated here in America. As you might imagine, the mood of the audience was quite somber, but the Imam invited me to offer a message of hope. It was a difficult situation, because in the face of such suffering, hope is hard to find. In this situation the Imam asked me to share the principles of the Ambassador for Peace Initiative. He believes in the utility of the principles of Ambassadors for Peace, and has attended our various Ambassador for Peace educational programs. He does this even though he has to teach religious education classes, usually leaving early to fulfill his duties.

Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders are
reconciled at an Ambassador for Peace event

Given the history of the conflict in Bosnia, I focused primarily on the last of the AFP principles, the absolute necessity of interfaith cooperation. Actually, Bosnia was known as a place where the three Abrahamic religions had lived together in peace for centuries, even intermarrying, but this civil war tore families and the society apart. I shared about how our responsibility is to move beyond simply tolerating each other, but learning to embrace each other as brothers and sisters. Under these circumstances, it was hard to gauge the acceptance of my presentation, but the Bosnian Ambassador was nodding her head and several of them thanked me after the event. The Imam was very happy, and I was very happy to have the opportunity to share our work in such a meaningful setting.

Dr. David Burgess is an Ambassador for Peace living in Renton, Washington, with his wife, Julie, and his two teenagers, James and Larissa. David is a writer and editor. He also serves as the director of Service for Peace in the Northwest, with chapters in Seattle and Bellingham, WA and Portland, Oregon.

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