August 25, 2011 Balkan Ways Volume 1, Issue 5
Balkan Ways
In this issue:
Club News
1
Culture: Letnica Church, Home of Mother Teresa
2
Guest Speaker Bio: Lush Gjergji, Deputy Archbishop of Kosovo
3
Culture: 3 Mother Teresa - Background Current Events: UNHCR — The UN Refugee Agency
4-5
Food: Lahmacun, a Turkish Dish
6
Current Calendar 26 Aug: Mother Teresa biographer and Diocese of Kosovo Deputy Archbishop Lush Gjergji 2 Sep: TBD (Tentative: Country Presentation) 9 Sep: TBD 16 Sep: TBD (Tentative: Art Exhibit)
Notes of Interest Presenters Needed: Upcoming meeting dates open! Presentation suggestions, proposals are welcome! Balkan Club Online: Balkan Club presentation files and organizational documents are now online in the network share directory for all to read, located at: \\bond13405sgs308\
President’s Greeting — Club News Hello again, friends and members of The Balkan Club. These are busy times for everyone, as demands of the KFOR mission have increased. I‘d like everyone to remember our fellow soldiers currently deployed away from Camp Bondsteel by reaching out to them and sharing news from our club. It‘s important that our friends and members feel that, although they are away, they remain connected to us. Please invite your friends to attend our meetings. Our continued use of the DFAC VIP Room is a great success! The smooth transition from evening meal to meeting is a valuable asset (coffee and dessert during the meeting is nice as well). Recently, The Balkan Club hosted guest speakers from The UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR). Mr. Bujar Reshtani from the Pristina office and Ms. Vlora Shemsedini from the Gjilan field office gave a presentation to The Balkan Club on the work of the UNHCR in general, as well as their efforts in Kosovo. Mr. Restani traced the origins of UNHCR back to international organizations that existed prior to WWII. He discussed the role of various international treaties and agreements that legally define a refugee versus an internally displaced person (IDP), and the expectations of nation states that offer
safety to refugees. Ms. Shemsedini provided statistical data from the UNHCR Gjilan office, offering specific historical and demographic information on refugees and IDPs by municipality. Our next guest speaker will be visiting this Friday: Deputy Archbishop Lush Gjergji from the Kosova diocese, also parish priest for Binca village in Vitia municipality. He is the author of The Mother of Charity, a Mother Teresa biography which has sold up to five million copies in Europe. His visit corresponds with the anniversary of Mother Teresa‘s birth. We hope for a large turnout! Video presentations since the last newsletter included a continuation of the 6 part BBC documentary The Death of Yugoslavia, and the feature film Shot Through the Heart. When things slow down once more, we‘ll continue with Part 4 of the documentary. Shot Through the Heart is an English language film that gave us a break from the subtitles which we are accustomed to seeing in our Balkan film collection. Please contact SSG Deihl with a date for your own presentation ideas for future meetings. I‘ll see you at the next gathering, 1830 Friday in the VIP room of the DFAC.
SSG Gregory Sell, President