Visiting St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church

Today I visited St. Sava Serbian Orthodox and it was a fantastic experience. I have never been to a church with such a service. The incense, the lyrics, the language, the singing, the ceremony... I was definitely intrigued. I would like to thank Father Ilija and the good people of St Sava for allowing me to attend their service today and to share in their fellowship.

After the service and before the lunch, Father Ilija announced to the parishioners that I was visiting and that I had a project in Serbia this summer. He gave them a little info from the handout that I had brought with me and then told them all that they could ask me questions about my project. I said a few words about how grateful I was to be there and how much the project means to me. I also let them know how excited I am to be going to Belgrade and that the welcome from NGO Atina has been warm. Then everbody dug into some good food. Dakota and I brought homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Father Ilija encouraged me to not be shy and to walk around and chat with folks. I made some great connections with folks today. Everyone was warm and kindly listened to the details of my project and had great questions about what I will be doing there, how long I will be there, etc. A couple of people made a donation while I was there (Thank you!) and I made my rounds around the room.

I stopped over to talk with a few of the men who were chatting in a corner of the room. They had some points of view that I would like to share. Some wanted to know why I was talking about sex trafficking in Serbia and not saying that it was in Kosovo. I explained that I am working in Serbia with Serbian women who have been trafficked. The idea I came away with was that my wording of my project was not perhaps as sensitive or as clear as it could be. They stated that the trafficking is happening in Kosovo and not in Serbia and that it is due to the Albanian mafia (I did a little reading on this outfit... evil). I gathered that even though the women may be Serbian that they are not being trafficked in Serbia Proper. I said that from what I have read from NGO Atina and the International Organization of Migration is that women from Serbia Proper are being trafficked regardless of who is doing the trafficking. I also said that I cannot speak to who is doing the trafficking or to the politics between Serbia and Kosovo since I don't really have the right to say anything about the politics. I also said that my project is to rehabilitate and reintegrate trafficked women back into society not to make a political stand one way or another.

I started to feel anxious. I feel that even though I know I am working on a project that is good and is made to help Serbian women and therefore Serbia, I need to read more about the Serbian perspective. I cannot fathom what life has been like for Serbians in the past hundred years much less the past 14 years. Some spoke of the media and how they have been made out to be monsters and even to be eradicated. Others spoke of a connection between the UN occupation and the black market in trafficking of Serbian organs. There was pain in their voices. Pain and anger. They also spoke of the pride they have in their country and the history of their homeland which includes Kosovo. Kosovo is their Jerusalem, their Mecca.

Each one of them wished me good luck and thanked me for coming to the church. One man even took me aside and chatted with me. He let me know that I should be careful and that my work is on a very sensitive topic and that it could be dangerous. His concern is well taken and much appreciated.

Overall, I learned I have more to learn. I also learned that I need to post more information from Serbian sources about sex trafficking to back my project. Please check out the Trafficking in Humans link and the Prejudices sublink at www.astra.org.yu. Also, please check out the news article in Astra's News Archive from the well-respected Serbian newspaper Politika entitled, "Trafficking Victims on the Rise" (same link) for more information on the increase of sex trafficking victims in Serbia.

As an address to some of the parishioners concerns about where the trafficking is occurring and to make sure and not demonize the Serbian people, I have changed the title of my blog from Sex Trafficking in Serbia to Sex Trafficking of Serbian Women. Also, I am changing the way I state the issue of the statistics in Serbia. The traffickers are doing this to each country they reside in. It is not an organic process where Serbians are choosing to simply traffic their countrywomen. The fault and the demonization lies with the traffickers. Not the good people of Serbia.

Thank you Father Ilija and St Sava Orthodox for a friendly and enlightening experience.

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