“Before the start of the Inter Campus project, the situation here in Domanovici was very bad. There was no interaction between Croats (Catholics, ed.) and Muslims (Bosnians, ed.): you had bars and stores run by Croats, and other bars and stores run by Muslims. Croats didn’t go to Muslims, and Muslims didn’t go to Croats. The school: in reality, there were two schools under one roof, and the children never met. Even the recess bell would ring 15 minutes apart so that these children wouldn’t cross paths. As this is a rural village, the children were taken to school by bus: there were two small buses, one transported Muslim children, the other Croatian children.”
In the words of Z., who has also spent years strengthening intercultural dialogue, the legacy of a mentality still strongly influenced by stereotypes shines through. As if a Muslim could not be Croatian. The legacy of this view will require daily and constant work to dismantle, but sport can be the key. You can be Croatian or Bosnian, Muslim, Orthodox or Catholic, without distinction. This is the message that Z. wants to leave us with.
Within Inter Campus, children are allowed and encouraged to meet, get to know each other, and play together. The aim is to sow a new philosophy that will also serve as an example for adults:
“The children played together on the field, but the parents were totally divided: honestly, it took three years for the parents to start exchanging a few words. There were no problems with the children because they weren’t aware of these things.” And Z. continues: “The best thing that happened to me concerns my Mirko: when he was 12, his friend, Riyadh, a Muslim, invited him to his house for his birthday. That was the first time I entered that village. I took him and left him in that village: he was there alone with the Muslim boys. In some way, I ‘used’ my child to show other Croatians that it can work.”
Like Z., we too have the responsibility to be daily witnesses of peace and reconciliation, perhaps taking inspiration from the soccer field, where the joy of a goal overcomes every barrier, ethnic, religious, economic, or social.