Sarah Holland, Reflexology & EFT Practitioner

Sarajevo & Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

18th September - 2nd October 2004

On 18th September 2004 I left Heathrow airport for my 2 weeks in Bosnia. After months of planning and fundraising for the Ł600 needed for my trip I was feeling excited but also a little apprehensive.

This was my home for the first week - a beautiful house in the old part of Sarajevo. This house is a base for Healing Hands in Sarajevo, which provided both our accommodation and treatment rooms for our patients. As well as working in the house, on two days in the first week we travelled out to outreach centres in the outskirts of the city where we saw patients in community centres.

This was the stunning view from my bedroom window. Sarajevo is surrounded by mountains and wherever you look the skyline is dominated by the mosques' minarets as in this picture.

To overcome the language barrier Healing Hands employ a translator who also has the task of managing the clinics. This is me with Nadija - a lovely lady who made every working day run like clockwork.

I saw up to 6 patients a day with a wide range of conditions. However they have all suffered in the recent war and almost all had lost close relatives, or even their whole family, and many ladies still have husbands who are "missing". Some of their stories were quite heartbreaking and I found it useful to keep a professional distance to stop myself getting drawn into their trauma.

Healing Hands always send out two therapists to work together and I was paired with Alan, shown here giving some Reiki to our manager Nadija.

On our last evening before the weekend we met up at the house with two other therapists, Sylvia and Sarah, who had been working in Mostar for the week. As you can see we enjoyed some lovely local wine and food, knowing that we had the next day off!

On my day off I spent most of the time exploring Sarajevo, as well as quite a bit of shopping! This is Pigeon Square (Bascarsija) in the old part of Sarajevo which was just a five minute walk from our house.

Despite the cold and the rain, I took a 2 1/2 hour walking tour around the city with an English speaking guide to get a real feel of Sarajevo. Our first stop was at this magnificent building, the National Library, which suffered severe bombing through the roof in 1992. All the library's 250,000 books were lost including many unique books that can never be replaced. Although it still looks very grand, the building is just a shell and has not been repaired in the 12 years that have passed.

Sarajevo in the rain - this has the potential to be a breathtaking view!

Wherever bombs were dropped in Sarajevo they have been painted red and named "Sarajevo Roses". This site was where the last bomb was dropped before the Dayton Agreement was signed in 1995.

This hotel used to be one of the grandest in Sarajevo, but as you can see it is an empty shell today with no funds to restore it.

We spent our second week in Mostar, 2 1/2 hours away from Sarajevo. Mostar famously had its 16th century bridge destroyed by Croat tank fire in 1993. In July this year the bridge was rebuilt and opened and the tourists are beginning to return to the the beautiful town of Mostar.

The colour of the water was stunning and I spent a long time on the bridge taking on the beautiful view. I fell in love with Mostar..

Another beautiful view in Mostar. However you can see that the restoration of buildings has been isolated mainly to the tourist area surrounding the bridge. The further away from the bridge I walked the more ruins there were, as you can see in the foreground.

Many of the buildings in Mostar are still ruins. This was in stark contrast to Sarajevo where a lot of rebuilding has been done in recent years. The whole country still has a long way to go though before they fully recover.

This is Haris, our translator while in Mostar, with one of my last patients. She was a lovely lady who said that I was very young and beautiful, and I'm not going to disagree with her!

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	On 18th September 2004 I left Heathrow airport for my 2 weeks in Bosnia. After months of planning and fundraising for the Ł600 needed for my trip I was feeling excited but also a little apprehensive.
	This was my home for the first week - a beautiful house in the old part of Sarajevo. This house is a base for Healing Hands in Sarajevo, which provided both our accommodation and treatment rooms for our patients. As well as working in the house, on two days in the first week we travelled out to outreach centres in the outskirts of the city where we saw patients in community centres.
	This was the stunning view from my bedroom window. Sarajevo is surrounded by mountains and wherever you look the skyline is dominated by the mosques' minarets as in this picture.
	To overcome the language barrier Healing Hands employ a translator who also has the task of managing the clinics. This is me with Nadija - a lovely lady who made every working day run like clockwork.
	I saw up to 6 patients a day with a wide range of conditions. However they have all suffered in the recent war and almost all had lost close relatives, or even their whole family, and many ladies still have husbands who are "missing". Some of their stories were quite heartbreaking and I found it useful to keep a professional distance to stop myself getting drawn into their trauma.
	Healing Hands always send out two therapists to work together and I was paired with Alan, shown here giving some Reiki to our manager Nadija.
	On our last evening before the weekend we met up at the house with two other therapists, Sylvia and Sarah, who had been working in Mostar for the week. As you can see we enjoyed some lovely local wine and food, knowing that we had the next day off!
	On my day off I spent most of the time exploring Sarajevo, as well as quite a bit of shopping! This is Pigeon Square (Bascarsija) in the old part of Sarajevo which was just a five minute walk from our house.
	Despite the cold and the rain, I took a 2 1/2 hour walking tour around the city with an English speaking guide to get a real feel of Sarajevo. Our first stop was at this magnificent building, the National Library, which suffered severe bombing through the roof in 1992. All the library's 250,000 books were lost including many unique books that can never be replaced. Although it still looks very grand, the building is just a shell and has not been repaired in the 12 years that have passed.
	Sarajevo in the rain - this has the potential to be a breathtaking view!
	Wherever bombs were dropped in Sarajevo they have been painted red and named "Sarajevo Roses". This site was where the last bomb was dropped before the Dayton Agreement was signed in 1995.
	This hotel used to be one of the grandest in Sarajevo, but as you can see it is an empty shell today with no funds to restore it.
	We spent our second week in Mostar, 2 1/2 hours away from Sarajevo. Mostar famously had its 16th century bridge destroyed by Croat tank fire in 1993. In July this year the bridge was rebuilt and opened and the tourists are beginning to return to the the beautiful town of Mostar.
	The colour of the water was stunning and I spent a long time on the bridge taking on the beautiful view. I fell in love with Mostar..
	Another beautiful view in Mostar. However you can see that the restoration of buildings has been isolated mainly to the tourist area surrounding the bridge. The further away from the bridge I walked the more ruins there were, as you can see in the foreground.
	Many of the buildings in Mostar are still ruins. This was in stark contrast to Sarajevo where a lot of rebuilding has been done in recent years. The whole country still has a long way to go though before they fully recover.
	This is Haris, our translator while in Mostar, with one of my last patients. She was a lovely lady who said that I was very young and beautiful, and I'm not going to disagree with her!