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With regard to these warnings, Jeffrey Brenner, a Roxborough/Manayunk resident since 1996, boarded a plane last month and began a two-week journey to the Balkan Peninsula that changed the way he views the world.
Brenner, a 1996 graduate of Drexel University, obtained a law degree from Temple University in 1999. A native of Mt. Wolf, a small town located outside of York, Brenner grew up in a blue-collar family.
While at Drexel, Brenner gained experience through a co-op program as a legal assistant, an assistant trader on the New York Stock Exchange, and a financial analyst. Brenner's undergraduate degree is in finance, although he says that he always wanted to be an attorney.
"I didn't know if I could do it," Brenner recalls. "But my grades were good enough, so I [applied]." In 2001, Brenner joined Whiteman, Bankes and Chebot, a law firm located in Society Hill, where he began work with his client, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).
UMCOR was established by United Methodists as a channel for sharing compassion wherever people are in need. Through hard work and grants awarded by various private organizations and numerous international governmental agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development, UMCOR plays a role in aiding refugees, providing relief in disaster areas, and putting a dent in world hunger and poverty.
With these great efforts, UMCOR is able to provide aid to poverty stricken areas worldwide, including Bosnia, Kosovo, The Former Soviet Union, and Africa. UMCOR-NGO (non-government organization) is a unit of UMCOR that oversees humanitarian relief internationally.
While most of Brenner's work directly involves UMCOR and the disaster relief initiatives made by UMCOR, Brenner stated that his views are not the views of the United Methodist Church.
At his desk in Philadelphia, Brenner's job is to review proposals written by UMCOR requesting grant money for relief in international disaster areas. If a proposal is accepted, then a grant agreement needs to be drawn, and from there, numerous contracts must be written and approved by all participating parties.
Although grant money can be used for almost any humanitarian purpose such as HIV education, the rebuilding of a school, reconstruction of homes, agriculture, and income generation, UMCOR must present to the donor (the agency or organization that is giving the grant) specific details regarding the use of the grant money.
An example is a war-torn country whose inhabitants have been left homeless due to severe bombing. A homeless man and his family could apply to UMCOR for funds to rebuild his home. Under these circumstances, UMCOR must know every detail regarding the new construction of the home.
Some beneficiaries of disaster relief funds are willing to build the home on their own and only need supplies. Others need contractors to complete the construction. In the end, UMCOR must account for every penny that has been granted to the program.
"Once money is awarded, numerous contracts are written based on how a specific project is going to be carried out according to who is involved and what types of materials are going to be used," Brenner explained.
This can be a frustrating process for an attorney in Philadelphia who is reviewing a contract for a displaced person in Bosnia. Hence, Brenner's two-week visit to the Balkans.
Bosnia-Hercegovina, known to Americans simply as Bosnia, is located between Croatia and Yugoslavia. Once the third largest republic in Yugoslavia, Bosnia declared independence in 1991, instigating Bosnia Serbs, with the support of Yugoslavian Serbs, to begin an ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.
This created a war between Serbs, Bosnia Muslims, and Catholic Croats, all of whom declare residence in Bosnia. The war ended in 1995, leaving devastating physical destruction and a mass of people who were either forced to leave their homes for safety or whose homes were destroyed by bombings and gunfire.
During his stay in Bosnia, Brenner had the opportunity to meet people who work in the Bosnian UMCOR office and familiarize himself with the way business is conducted.
Bosnia is geographically divided into what is referred to as the Federation of Bosnia, where Bosnian Muslims and Catholics reside, and the Republic of Serbia, which the Bosnian Serbs call home. One of the UMCOR programs involves reintegrating the two halves of the country.
"The idea is to get everyone to live together and working," explained Brenner.
In an effort to help implement projects and boost the suffering economy, UMCOR will give grant money to Micro Financial Institutions (MFI). In turn, local residents in need of a loan to rebuild their homes or businesses can apply for a loan through the MFI. This is referred to as a sub-grant and helps implement local projects. In visiting two MFIs outside Sarajevo, Brenner was able to see that loans are being made and funds are being used properly.
Brenner then visited a beneficiary with an UMCOR director of reconstruction in Mostar, a small Bosnian village that sustained a large amount of damage from the war. The beneficiary, a Bosnian man in his 40s, married with three young girls, needed his home rebuilt as well as his shoe repair shop, which was attached to his home.
UMCOR granted the man funds and, via an interpreter, Brenner was able to learn that the money was used for two new sewing machines as well as repairs to the man's home. After assessing the repairs and new equipment, Brenner asked how the man was adjusting to his return home.
The shop-owner said that he and his family were functioning, but that he was having trouble with the school system. He added that he was grateful for the help that he has received from the international community.
Brenner's next visit was with a Bosnian attorney who served as a judge in Sarajevo before the war. The attorney gave him a tour of the local courthouse and law school and then took him to her office - a 10 ft. by 10 ft. sized room filled with a desk and two chairs.
Brenner explained that it was beneficial for him to meet with the Bosnian attorney to familiarize himself with the local system of laws, which unfortunately suffers from corruption. The Bosnian attorney was apologetic for the Bosnian system of laws, which is still in the process of being developed.
While sitting with the attorney in her office, Brenner noticed a picture of a young boy on the wall. The boy was the attorney's son, who was killed in his early teens when a bomb exploded just outside the very building Brenner was sitting in.
"She had first-hand experience to the war," Brenner explained. Brenner said that he did not feel threatened while in Bosnia and in fact, he noticed an international marketing presence. Western European influence was apparent in the coffee shops and emphasis on fashion in Sarajevo.
Although many homes in Bosnia await reconstruction, UMCOR has experienced great success in rebuilding Bosnia and returning displaced people to their homes.
Brenner spent his second week in Kosovo where damage from war is more recent and less repaired. Guided under international rule, Kosovo is a providence rather then an independent country.
While the providence was not as bad as Brenner had imagined, Kosovo does experience timed power outages and periods during in which running water is not available. Still, the area has made great strides in overcoming a war in the past year, similar to that of Bosnia.
While in Kosovo, Brenner traveled to Prishtina, where Albanians occupy the city and Serbs live in the surrounding areas. The two groups do not co-exist and travelers are advised to avoid areas where Albanians and Serbs may interact. The war between the two ended in 1999, making it still a fresh wound and an unstable environment.
UMCOR has made efforts to reintegrate the Serbs and the Albanians through funding MFIs in the area. One MFI was able to make a loan to a candy maker whom Brenner visited. The factory was no more then a shed in a Serbian enclave outside the city, with six or seven people working in an assembly line to make and package candy.
One person cut strips of a molasses-type mixture from a cookie sheet. Another person powdered the cut strips of candy. Two women packaged the candy into boxes. Brenner then entered a separate room where two large pieces of machinery mixed ingredients. The factory owner said that he used the loan money to purchase the new equipment. The old machinery had been destroyed in the war.
A portion of this particular proposal involving the candy maker stated that the MFI would work toward integrating the Serbs and the Albanians through a business venture. In turn, the Serb candy company sold Turkish Delights to Albanians. Brenner bought some candy as well and said it was very good.
This particular process of integration is referred to as market linkage.
Another UMCOR program in place in Kosovo involves returning trafficked women to their homelands. Trafficked women are young females lured into prostitution through false ads claiming to offer a life of riches and luxury in foreign countries. The women are flown from their homes and held captive in bars and clubs as slaves against their will.
While Kosovo authorities raid these illegal establishments, UMCOR steps in to aid in returning the women to their countries of origin. For this purpose, UMCOR operates a shelter in Kosovo for the abused women and has set up a reproductive health program as well.
This program arranges for gynecologists to provide free services to trafficked women. Brenner was able to visit two of these physicians and was surprised by the low income they receive. Between long-term volunteer obligations and various programs including the one arranged by UMCOR, the only time these physicians have for private practice office hours is a few evenings a week and on weekends.
One doctor was apologetic to Brenner for the fact that the quality of health care in Kosovo was not the same as in Western Countries.
Throughout the process of proposals, grants and contract writing, tension occurs between involved parties. Brenner needed to obtain an understanding of these tensions involving all parties. Traveling to the Balkans gave Brenner an idea of how and why problems occur in the process of contracting disaster relief projects and to make sure that the grant money is used for the purpose stated within those contracts. Brenner also needed to get an understanding of the legal systems in foreign countries, which differ greatly from that of the United States.
Brenner found himself apprehensive his first night in the unstable region. Because of war, land mines still exist outside city limits and there is threat of biological warfare.
Before leaving the States, he was unable to change his U.S. dollars into the Convertible Mark, the currency used in Bosnia. Alone in a strange land, without money and unable to speak the Bosnian language, Brenner felt uneasy.
But he soon learned that the people of the Balkans welcome international aid and some even consider Americans as heroes for saving their lives and their homes.
"Once you meet the people, there's no need to be apprehensive," Brenner said. "After that, you can enjoy the cultural aspects [of the country]."
