first week of english class

hello friends,

this has been a fun and exciting week. weve had our first week of english classes. its amazing how good everyones English is. a majority of them can hold long conversations. (which is more then many americans)
its been such a great experience to get to know them and understand Bosnian culture. they all really take value in getting to know one another over coffee. its one of my favorite parts of the day.

yesturday, we went to a refugee camp to hand out food with a Nina, a women who works with an organization that gives families grocerys once a month.
during the war, Holland made refugee camps throughout Bosnia for temporay housing, but even 15 years later thez are still being used. one of the main reasons is because the Bosnian economy is bad. its very hard to get a job here because the taxs on businesses are incredible and its almost not profitable. since there arent many businesses, there arent any jobs.

i met one particular family. it was a 27 yr old girl with three children. her husband left her after her kids were born. she recieves approximately $80 a month from the government for her children, but that isnt nearly enough. it just broke my hear to see them. i think a lot of it had to do with the fact that shes 27 yrs old and that i know that the cycle will be repeated and there is nothing we can do about it. her two daughters will probably have a bad self image, get involved in a bad relationship in the future and get left. its so sad.

even 15 years after the war, scars from the war are still with the people. being bosnia, you cant tell that there was a war. but listening to the stories of the locals, you can tell that they are still struggling with it. whether its their family situation, or the corrupt education system or the finacially unstable families the Bosnians still carry the burdens of the war.