Inspiration can come from the largest or smallest of things. Most recently, it's come from a realisation that I took more away from the Croatia expedition than I first thought.
Before I explain the point of this post, I just want to give you a bit of background information...I've joined the college's Amnesty International group. Background info over.
Now, here's how they link...
When I was in Croatia, we had to go on a journey from Starigrad to Kaštel Žegarski. The journey involved spending about an hour in minibuses going all through the countryside - right from next to the coast at Starigrad to a river in the middle of the wilderness. We passed a lot of what I called 'shells of houses' - houses that had clearly once been homes, yet somehow were no longer even lived in. Minus a few collapsed brick fences and dodgy roofing, these houses looked like they could be lived in now. I wish I'd had the chance to get up close to one of them, just to peer through the window. I also wish I'd got better pictures than the following, but I think they illustrate the images I remember well..
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These houses struck me as odd. Firstly because they were there, abandoned in their hundreds, and they were everywhere. They were en route to Kaštel Žegarski, Trogir, Novigrad, Starigrad... Why? Because we visited Zadar County - one of the 'most shelled cities' affected by the Croatian War of Independence. You see that small building in the second picture? It's a church. It's more than likely that the graves that can be seen around it once zoomed in are mainly war victims.
The emptiness of the countryside struck me whilst I was there. The countryside is lonely here in the UK, but there was something about it out there that caught my attention. I cannot even understand what it must feel like to have to abandon your home and flee everything you know, I hope I never have to. I hope I'll never have to experience the fear and intensity that these people must have experienced, the consuming sense of helplessness and injustice. You see, it's easy to forget sometimes that these are real people. But they are. These people have existed and do exist now.
I know Croatia isn't exactly a war-torn country now, so I'd imagine many people won't see how it can have made me think so much. But it doesn't take a trip to Iraq or Afghanistan to realise that there are real issues going on and that there are real people being unfairly affected every single day. Which is where Amnesty International comes in. I'm not going to say I joined the group at college entirely because of Croatia, because I didn't...but it was certainly an important factor for me. The thing is, there are people all over the world who are helpless, and somebody needs to help them. I know our small group in college isn't going to make a massive difference to the world, but we're trying and we're supporting, and sometimes that's all we can do to make a difference.
Besos ♥
Rachel
"One step forward, two steps back. Through the void of silence you are not alone." - War at Home, Josh Groban, Illuminations
=D
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