The northeastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a positive example of a return to BiH. Returning to your property meant starting from scratch, returnees say. More than 70 percent of the population of the Zvornik settlement of Liplje had the courage to take such a step. However, unemployment and difficult living conditions cut the number of returnees in half. Those who stayed here make a living from working on their own properties, and those who stayed are mostly the elderly population.
Today, the returnees to Podrinje are left to fend for themselves in the jaws of political graft and bureaucracy. They mostly invest their hard-earned money in the renovation of the property themselves. The houses are renovated, but empty. A large part of the infrastructure was renovated with the help of the Federal Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons. Nevertheless, they say, they rebuilt most of it with their own funds and labor. The main source of income for families from the five local communities of this Majevica district is agriculture.
“Agriculture is slowly dying out here because we have nowhere to market our products. Secondly – if a person works here, he works without social security and pension. And what will we do tomorrow,” says Hajrudin Okanovic, president of the Liplje Local Community.
“The locals are organized, we are organizing ourselves. Maybe the politicians will be embarrassed, so maybe they will give us something. But, as far as sustainable return is concerned – that is over because they did everything to make the youth leave,” Huso Sarcevic stated.
Today, seven students attend the regional elementary school. Their fight for the right to study the Bosnian language has been going on for years and has not yet reached its end.
“We got the verdict, they appealed, and the judiciary is very slow. We got the right to study, and they have 30 days to revise the registers. In September, we will sit down with the director and see how to proceed,” Muharem Sinanovic explained.
With their own funds and with the help of donations from the diaspora, the residents of this region have renovated the Cultural Center where they organize gatherings, and the picnic area at the Skakavac location is in the construction phase.
“We were thinking how we should name it, but considering that it does not belong to any organization or association, but to all people in this world, then let it be a national, social picnic spot, where everyone has the right to come, invest, do some action. We normally work here on the principle of voluntary donations and actions,” Edin Sejfic points out.
“Everything we have done so far, 70%, has been done as a volunteer, but we are slowly reaching our goal of connecting local communities with road infrastructure and having facilities – religious and entertainment – where we can do what we need to do,” says Okanovic.
The completion of this project requires very little. All people of good will have the opportunity to get involved in the reconstruction and construction, say the locals. They also started production with their own funds, and now they need help to ensure the continuation and expansion of production, the creation of jobs, and sustainable survival, which would put wind in young people’s sails to stay in these areas, Federalna reports.
E.Dz.
