Thursday, February 07, 2008
Just Stuff
Yesterday it was nice enough that I was out awhile, I brought home some suho meso from the indoor market, the Gradska Trznista, and cruised the Markale for veggies, but bought none. Realized when I got home I had meant to get some tarhan halva at one of the stores nearby, it's tasty, nice with a coffee, and comes in just the right size of little plastic boxes to keep seasonings in. well drugi dan as they say here.
There has been some serious growth in both bank robberies regionally and just in town, really ugly, brutal crimes committed by young people. BHT1 ran a little program last night on t he juvenile justice system. It is not a bad system as such things go, but they don't have the facilities for the more dangerous sort of young people. They have perfectly decent facilities for rehabilitating juveniles guilty of lesser crimes.
In January, three young Roma all born outside of BiH burned a 71 year old lady so badly that a week later, despite the strong efforts of her doctors to save her, she died.
Yesterday three teenaged guys attacked one on the tram, the Ilidza-Sarajevo run, and they stabbed him and ran away. They were arrested, there are not a lot of details about the perpetrators yet. The guy that was stabbed was also a teenager. He could die.
Sometimes bus or tram drivers are attacked, for no reason I can think of. I have found transport workers here, whether they drive the busses, the trams or a taxi to be courteous, hardworking and decent all around.
This is a city of some 300,000 people, the majority of whom are decent people. One should not get a mistaken impression of the place when there is the occasional sensational crime, but it is unsettling, and people worry about it.
The best cure for crime is to have enough jobs and enough of a future that people don't do those things. The only people who feel some security about their income are the retired, and for them it isn't adequate, just steady. You see old people going through the trash in search of food that isn't too spoiled to eat, or old bread. People here often don't keep bread beyond two days, so it's often still edible when disposed of, just not as nice.
You also see, especially Roma going through the trash for things which can be recycled.
That last doesn't bother me as much. I'd rather see everyone well off enough that no one has to do that sort of thing, but at least if people go after recyclable materials, they are doing something productive and useful, and it's one less person begging.
Beggars stateside are actually a lot more aggressive than beggars are h ere. They tend to ask once, and have done with it if you ignore them or say no. Not many people here really have spare change. For most people here, every penny they earn is needed.
Housing prices in the States have crashed, meanwhile over here, they are rising steadily. I don't know how long that will last. We'll see.
There has been some serious growth in both bank robberies regionally and just in town, really ugly, brutal crimes committed by young people. BHT1 ran a little program last night on t he juvenile justice system. It is not a bad system as such things go, but they don't have the facilities for the more dangerous sort of young people. They have perfectly decent facilities for rehabilitating juveniles guilty of lesser crimes.
In January, three young Roma all born outside of BiH burned a 71 year old lady so badly that a week later, despite the strong efforts of her doctors to save her, she died.
Yesterday three teenaged guys attacked one on the tram, the Ilidza-Sarajevo run, and they stabbed him and ran away. They were arrested, there are not a lot of details about the perpetrators yet. The guy that was stabbed was also a teenager. He could die.
Sometimes bus or tram drivers are attacked, for no reason I can think of. I have found transport workers here, whether they drive the busses, the trams or a taxi to be courteous, hardworking and decent all around.
This is a city of some 300,000 people, the majority of whom are decent people. One should not get a mistaken impression of the place when there is the occasional sensational crime, but it is unsettling, and people worry about it.
The best cure for crime is to have enough jobs and enough of a future that people don't do those things. The only people who feel some security about their income are the retired, and for them it isn't adequate, just steady. You see old people going through the trash in search of food that isn't too spoiled to eat, or old bread. People here often don't keep bread beyond two days, so it's often still edible when disposed of, just not as nice.
You also see, especially Roma going through the trash for things which can be recycled.
That last doesn't bother me as much. I'd rather see everyone well off enough that no one has to do that sort of thing, but at least if people go after recyclable materials, they are doing something productive and useful, and it's one less person begging.
Beggars stateside are actually a lot more aggressive than beggars are h ere. They tend to ask once, and have done with it if you ignore them or say no. Not many people here really have spare change. For most people here, every penny they earn is needed.
Housing prices in the States have crashed, meanwhile over here, they are rising steadily. I don't know how long that will last. We'll see.
# posted by Katja R. @ 2:16 AM 
