Snaga lokalnog brings a conversation with Jasmina Hanjalić, a doctor, writer, nature lover and environmental activist. She spends half of her time in Tarčin, where she uses her free time to explore the natural beauties, and motivates the locals to initiate positive changes starting from their own backyards.
We talked with Mrs. Hanjalić about the cleaning action of the necropolis of the stećak tombstones of Češće near Tarčin, which she spontaneously initiated.
Since I live in Tarčin and in Sarajevo, at the end of March I went for a walk towards Bjelašnica. Quite by accident, I came across stećak tombstones by the road, which is located a few kilometers from my house, about which I did not know until then. I am a passionate fan of stećak tombstones, wherever I go I like to visit and see them, they are something extremely fascinating for me, our cultural and historical wealth that we do not appreciate enough, and even less pay attention to, begins Jasmina Hanjalić her story for Snaga lokalnog.
Mrs. Hanjalić further explains that many necropolises of stećak tombstones are on private property, some on state land, but what they have in common is that they are not taken care of, even though they are protected by law. The stećak tombstones she noticed during the walk were overgrown and covered with grass and moss. She stayed for an hour to examine everything in detail, and the first thing she noticed was that there was an empty container next to the necropolis, and that garbage was scattered all around, and that the necropolis of about 50 stećak tombstones was completely neglected. After returning home, Mrs. Hanjalić asked her first neighbor if she knew anything more about the stećak tombstones. The neighbor connected Ms. Hanjalić with Mr. Derviš Jasik, who knows the condition of the stećak tombstones in the Hadžići Municipality very well. He also wrote an article about the necropolis of stećak tombstones that Mrs. Hanjalić came across, which you can find here.
The first step was to post an article on my personal blog, then on my Facebook profile where I posted photos of neglected necropolis. Several people from Sarajevo immediately responded with an interest in participating in the cleaning action. After a few days, we started an initiative that we sent to the President of the local community in Duranovići, to inform him about the cleaning action we wanted to implement, and we invited everyone to join us, explains our interviewee for the Snaga lokalnog. She never received any answer, which disappointed Mrs. Hanjalić, because she had a great desire for the local population to understand what kind of cultural monument and historical wealth dating back to the 15/16 century they have in their backyards.
Although there was no answer, a group of five activists implemented the cleaning action of the necropolis of stećak tombstones on April 25. Mrs. Hanjalić points out that the omission was that she was not as prompt as possible to attract young people to get involved in the action, all five activists were elderly people. “It is sad that young people do not have knowledge about stećak tombstones, they do not visit those monuments. Everyone who lives in BiH, in order to build a state and participate in its prosperity, must know its past,” said the interviewee for the Snaga lokalnog.
– I thought the five of us would be able to clean it, we bought what we needed at our own expense: garbage bags, we used a chainsaw brought by one of the participants of the action, and Mr. Jasika and his wife made a sign that clearly marks this place as a cultural monument, with a warning not to throw garbage. I naively thought the action would last a couple of hours, but it lasted 5 to 6 hours. We got tired. We gathered a lot of garbage. Also, a woman who lives nearby joined us and said that she had witnessed tractors and trucks bringing the garbage there. We didn’t give up until we completely cleaned out the necropolis, and I immediately shared the results on my YouTube channel. The happiness that we felt after it is immeasurably great in relation to the fatigue we felt or the eventual costs, which were not great either. Recently, a neighbor went to Češće and I asked him to check the condition of the stećak tombstones, he sent a photo with no garbage at all. I am very happy and I hope that we have influenced the local population. I will not give up spreading motivation for volunteer work and activism, says Jasmina Hanjalić with pride.
Plans for the future
The posts on social networks stimulated additional interest of Mrs. Hanjalić’s friends, some of them were ashamed that they did not take part in the action. Mrs. Hanjalić plans that the next actions will be organized during summer and autumn with the same team of activists and wants to clean and investigate other necropolises in the municipality of Hadžići. She points out that all necropolises are registered, but that some are neglected. In the next actions, they want to include the Municipality of Hadžići, according to which they will launch further initiatives to participate in the promotion of cultural monuments, their marking and cleaning of access roads.
There are 730 stećak tombstones in 43 necropolises in the Municipality of Hadžići, as well as the old medieval fortress Gradac, which is in a horrible condition and the road that leads to the fortress is almost non-existent. During the 70s of the last century, in the middle of the necropolis where the cleaning action was carried out, a road was made for the needs of forestry industry, which damaged the stećak tombstones and the necropolis.
There is also a large cave Megara in the municipality of Hadžići. The approach, which was made with the support of the Italian organization after the war, is still in good condition, and it is only possible to reach it on foot from Lanište. There are the remains of a polar bear in the cave that died after the ice age. The cave is also called Mijat’s cave because, according to the legend, the famous hajduk Mijat hid there and welcomed merchants who were going to Herzegovina. Unfortunately, the cave does not have lighting installed, but it has huge potential.
Nurturing the love of nature from an early age
-In elementary school, I was a member of the Young Gorani section, as students we planted trees and it is something you carry through your whole life. Now, in my mature years, with equal joy I want to do something beautiful for our environment. I do not regret my time and everything I do for the preservation of nature, monuments and history, and sometimes not even money. I am constantly trying to influence the neighbors in Tarčin by being an example, to understand that we do not have to only do things that bring us profit and that we should not wait for someone else to do something, we should do it, step by step, says Mrs. Hanjalić.
Our interviewee for the Snaga lokalnog points out that garbage collection in the Municipality of Hadžići is regulated, but that there is a problem with the underdeveloped consciousness of citizens, as evidenced by the empty container she found near the stećak necropolis and garbage scattered around the necropolis. The population does not have a developed awareness of environmental protection, ecology and nature preservation have not reached many, says our interviewee and adds that education, strengthening youth awareness of the importance of environmental protection, learning about natural resources, strengthening motivation to spend time in nature, as well as parents educating their children are key factors for change.
We have so many locations that need to be reforested, but activism is not developed enough. Through education and extracurricular activities in schools, the awareness of young people can be improved, creating conditions for a young person to see what a pleasure it is when he/she plants a tree, cleans the street, does something beautiful. So, we can make an impact, and we can teach children from the earliest childhood that they must not throw garbage where it does not belong. We cannot just criticize, we need to act and set an example. One should no longer ask what the state has done for us, but what we have done for it – that is true patriotism. It is necessary to spread positive stories in order to have a better base for the education of future generations, but also for the promotion of our country, concludes Jasmina Hanjalić.
