MAY 5th
keepfaith.com
Ivanka
(Phone) Power goes on, power goes off. No electricity at Olga's right now. Our showers are cold, laundry is dirty, and food is getting spoiled. I am
afraid to use elevators, as power failures are so unpredictable that people are getting stuck and have to be rescued. Considering that my building
is almost empty, who knows how long I'd have to wait for help if that happened. I have no idea how my 90 year old neighbor is handling it all - I've
spent most of the time at Olga's.
It's frustrating, not being able to watch the news, nor access the Internet. I wonder if that was the reason for strangling of our power lines - killing
journalists has proven too costly in Public relations points... Realistically, the army depends the least on our country's power grid. They have
batteries and generators, as I am sure NATO knows very well if even I can think of it.
The food in the stores is getting bad. The milk we bought today was spoiled, and there was no bread in the morning. However, by the middle of
the day, it arrived. Some of the stores are not open, and there is a great big rush on any of the pubs that still have electricity - only places you
can still find cold beer...
We are starting to open preserves, as there are no cans (except for fish, for some reason). Still, we are lucky. We live on the third floor, and still
have water. Lucky to have found gas just days before the power went off. Poor people in the high rises, on the 22nd and 20th floors are having a
hard time, and so are the people living in the hilly areas of Belgrade where there is no water whatsoever. They are looking for water anywhere they
can find it, and there are cisterns around, distributing it to the most affected areas. Unfortunately, with very little gasoline for cars and trucks,
there's not much that can be done. Trolleys are stopped too. This is, I guess, the kinder, gentler war. Instead of shooting us with a big gun to the
head, they are smothering our faces in the suffocating pillow of exhaustion and deprivation. Much less noise from the press that way - dark
streets don't photograph well.
There was another tragedy at the Belgrade Zoo. They don't have a backup generators, so their incubators depend completely on the whimsy of
the on/off power flicker that we have to contend with. There is a whole generation of snakes 10 days away from hatching, and Vuk is afraid that
they will not make it. Some bird eggs are also gone. The director worries that the reptiles will be next. Monkey cages are chilled, but are still
holding. Same with the monkey cage that our city has become... we are looking out at the mercy of our captors, but are still making faces at
them.
We've come to depend on papers and friends to find out what goes on. Occasionally, the TV comes on. Still, there's plenty of information,
although, of course, our ability to hear the news from the outside world is now severely limited, thanks to NATO that masterminded our isolation. If
they bombed SRT TV station for "lying", shouldn't they at least kick themselves for managing to single handedly eliminate most of the
independent information we can receive?
One wonderful news: There was a thank you note left for Yugoslavia by one of the young soldiers freed! His name is Chris Stone.
He actually said that he will be praying for us and that he hopes for the end of the
war. He even learned a few words of our language. His president might not have
manners, but Chris has shown the kindness and warmth that I noticed in other
young people of America, when I was visiting San Francisco. They were always
happy to help me get on the bus, in the grocery store, to answer my questions. I
am sure that, if there was a way to have each American soldier meet aYugoslav
person, sit and talk over coffee, this war would be over within a day. That's why
there is the need to distance from the victim, destroy from afar - people are overall
decent, and would throw their weapons down in horror if they realized what they
were doing.
Olga
(Phone) I was lucky to reach the director of my music school in Panchevo, who was
able to tell me what goes on across the river, in the choked city. The smoke from
the burning refinery is still raising. It was estimated that right after the disaster, the
amount of carcinogens in the air was over 10,000 times the safe level.
The entire part of the city next to the refinery had to be evacuated - Vojlovica, where
mostly the Slovaks and Hungarians lived. Some wonderful people of Slovakia have
been helping to get the poor Panchevars out of the most endangered areas. Local
Red Cross and Hrasko Teresa, a Slovak angel, have organized the transport of 200
Slovakian children into Slovakia, where they'll be safe from NATO bombing.
Hungarians mostly left for their relatives' homes around Serbia and Hungary, who
knows where.
It was hard to breathe for days. Now, it's better, although there's still smoke, stink and soot everywhere. At least the worst bombings have
stopped for a moment.
The hospital that was hit over there had another little victim. Luckily, she didn't die. One of the young cello students, Milica, got shrapnel wounds
in her leg and arms, but it's believed that she'll be fine, and will be able to continue playing the instrument when she recovers. Her mother is sick,
and girl was pretty free to run around, so she ended up in the wrong place.
My boss didn't have time to tell me much more, as he was in a conference when I called him, but he made sure to praise the Major of Panchevo,
lawyer and a sports swimmer, who is everywhere these days, trying to help the city survive.
The school year is over, we'll not make the kids go back to schools (even the ones that were not bombed). It's much safer for them to be with their
parents. On Friday, the music school will have a teacher's meeting, where we'll tally the grades and close the year. I got permission to call in
instead of showing up, as the bridges are gone.
During the moments when we have t power, I charge the batteries of my portable CD player. I am listening to Mozart a lot, for some reason his
sweet, joyful music calms me the most. Also Bach solos. It'll get me through anything.
I guess I did get back to digging for this journal after all. Now that I'm getting more sleep, I can deal with it easier. |
