On July 11,
1995, towards the end of
the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, the eastern enclave of Srebrenica fell to
Serb nationalist forces. As Srebrenica fell, thousands of male
Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) inhabitants were rounded up and systematically
massacred. Over eight thousand men and boys perished. To this day,
their remains are being exhumed from secret mass graves scattered
throughout eastern Bosnia.
The atrocity
left thousands of women
without a home or adult male member of their family. Ever since the end
of the war they have struggled to support
their families and recover from the trauma. Women who had been
displaced from Srebrenica and other parts of eastern Bosnia, with the
guidance of Munira Beba Hadzic, founded BosFam, a women's self-help
organization and crafts cooperative.
The women of
BosFam create and market
items of clothing and handicrafts, including the traditional kilim,
or flat-weave carpet. In 2007 BosFam began to weave a Srebrenica
Memorial Quilt to commemorate the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. The quilt
is
created from many smaller, individual kilim panels that have been
stitched together, each bearing the name of a lost loved-one.
Today there
exist seven such Memorial
Quilts that are traveling the world with facilitation in the United
States by the Advocacy Project, keeping alive the memory of
Srebrenica, and informing people of the struggle of the women
survivors and their organization BosFam. You are welcome to come view
the Memorial Quilt as it tours the Pacific Northwest -- and feel free
to make a pledge to support the women weavers in their work to create
new quilts!
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