Making a Documentary

I was just given an opportunity to help write and produce a documentary about the Evangelical church in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH). Recently we have been doing some surveys in Dobrinja, the suburb of Sarajevo where we are trying to start a church. As we met various people in Dobrinja we have come across many who are confused about who Evangelical Christians are, and often confuse us with Jehovah Witnesses. This misunderstanding of who we are is quite prevalent among the general population of BiH. The idea about making a documentary about the Evangelical church in Bosnia came from a brother here in Sarajevo who owns a production studio, and creates children's TV shows and mine awareness videos. He has a desire to spend part of his time creating Christian videos to help the church in BiH. We both agreed that the church has a real need for a public relations video, and so we have embarked on this project. So far I have met some really knowledgeable people who have given me some great material to think about and add to our documentary. We are hoping to finish this project before the end of 2007, and we have many opportunities from different television networks in BiH to air this documentary.

The Ground is Missing

Even though it’s been over six years that we’ve lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina, we still find that certain cultural things catch us off guard. It was yet another really hot day in Sarajevo, and Stacy went down to the local electronics store to buy a fan for our apartment. She had already been to 4 or 5 shops earlier that day and everyone was sold out. In one store Stacy finally found a fan, however when she got in the very long line to purchase the fan, there was a lady at the front of the line who was causing quite a fuss concerning her own purchase. Noah was getting very impatient and Stacy couldn’t last any longer. Defeated, she put the fan back and went home.
Later that day, the idea came to go to a local shop where she thought she could find a fan. Victory! She went in and found exactly what she was looking for. She brought it to the cash register to pay for her treasure. When Stacy got up to the salesclerk, he started yelling at a co-worker to come to the the front of the store. Stacy was getting a little worried that she wasn’t going to be able to keep her fan, after all the bad luck she had had that day. The salesclerks were trying to explain to her that this fan comes from another country and that they were going to have to modify it a little. So they took the fan out of the box, grabbed the power cord, took the end, and with some pliers snipped off the grounding pin. Stacy with a blank stare and her jaw dropped asked if this fan was going to work (knowing that the return policy in Bosnia is horrible). They assured her that they’ve done this to many fans and no one has complained. Not sure what to do, Stacy gave them the money and brought her fan home. We assembled it and with some caution plugged it in. The fan seems to be working, but just in case we cleared the outlet of anything flammable.

Culture and Heat

We’ve had some pretty hot days here in Sarajevo, and almost every day I get a good laugh when I’m in traffic. Some of you may know that some europeans, particularly the older generation are deathly afraid of a draft (any current of air flowing through a room or other space). Well the Bosnian culture as a whole, young and old are also afraid of drafts. So what this means is that winter or summer windows should not be opened, or if you have to you open one window, but definitely not a second for fear of a draft. You can imagine what it’s like on a full tram or bus, especially when some people have the habit of only taking a bath once a week.
Obviously in the summers you have to find some respite from the oppressive heat while driving... the solution: open your car door! Of course why didn’t I think of that? My mom always told me not to roll down the window in the car, but why not open the door? So at every stop light in Sarajevo during the summer you’ll see many people open their car doors to let some air into their cars before they start off again. But wait! The highlight for me at least once a day is seeing that one guy who’s driving with his car door open to get a breeze in his car. LOL!