The Secret Diary - Day 8

Monday, 28th October

0030 Katy wakes with a terrific thirst. Doesn't trust the tap water, so goes out to wake Brian in the camper for a bottle of water. Night porter sees her coming back and thinks she is due to be a patient before long. Much leg pulling for the rest of the trip! Bill had thought to take a bottle with him, so he and Sue were OK when they too woke with terrible thirsts.

0600 Roy, Tony and Brian start to move stuff from the artic to the Leyland in order to speed things up later. Halfway through, the nurse from last night comes and asks if all this is for him. What brass-necked cheek.

0900 Back at the camp. The young men are around today, so we should get things moving pretty fast, but there is no sign of the bossman. The youngsters are pretty boisterous and we have to alternately calm them down a bit and nag them to work! The women join in and Momma soon puts some of the lads in their place. We ask Tanya and Sneeze about schooling. Sneeze says that the school bus comes round twice a day and the children have half a day's school, but that she won't be going today. She will take a sick note tomorrow. From the number of children around all day we assume that there must be quite an epidemic in the camp! Sue looked at Sneeze's English book - rather dated -and gave an impromptu English lesson, concentrating on pronouncing "th", which gives them great difficulty.

Unloading means practically blocking the lane with the artic while the goods are transferred to the Leyland and then ferried down into the camp. Before we finish we will have handled 24 tons twice and six tons once, a total of 54 tons! No wonder that it takes quite a few trips in the Leyland to clear the artic. The pallets are quickly taken for firewood, and the hardboard packing sheets are also great prizes, presumably for building.

A corner of the camp

During the day, members of the team wander off into different parts of the camp. We are invited to two different stills, one in the ruins of a house, the other in a garden shed, and the Yugoslavian whisky flows quite freely. We wonder if this will be the fate of the water that we have brought them, courtesy of Gatwick Airport. Other hospitality is offered, including coffee, walnuts, and com on the cob roasted in the ashes of the fire under one of the stills. In another dormitory the best china is brought out, and very attractive it is too. It reminds us that these people previously enjoyed quite a reasonable standard of living but that civil war has brought them to this.

In the still

Cooking facilities for 84 people

While taking coffee with Momma, one of the men comes into the dormitory. He spends nearly five minutes shaking Brian's hand, virtually speechless, and with tears running down his cheeks. When he does manage to speak Brian asks one of the girls to translate. She looks embarrassed and merely says, "He says it is very good." It is quite obvious that our help is very welcome, but equally moving is the gratitude these people feel towards us for simply thinking of them and coming here.

Meanwhile, some of us show the children how to unwrap tubes of sweets and how to use a skipping rope. Younger children arc clutching new cuddly toys Some of the women do the laundry in the stream, one using a wheelbarrow to carry it.

A lesson in skipping

Some of the refugees arc anxious to have their photographs taken, but two old men cross themselves and then make the sign of a cross with their index fingers before pointing at the camera. Could this be protection against the evil eye? Or do they believe that the camera will steal their souls, like some of the African tribes did? Not at all. They want their pictures taken and are indicating that they are to be placed in the headstones of their graves. They arc quite disappointed when we show that the cameras arc not Polaroids and explain that they will have to wait two months for the pictures.

Just before we leave, the lady living in one of the containers presents us all with forage caps.

1545 Finished unloading and start the long journey home. We decide to head for Vitez tonight, even though it will mean travelling after dark and this is warned against by the Foreign Office. Still, they warned against coming here at all!

1945 Vitez. Managed the journey back rather quicker, even negotiating Sarajevo in the dusk/dark, and feel rather pleased with ourselves. Bill had a nasty shock in one tunnel. As he was driving through, another vehicle decided to overtake a horse and cart coming in the opposite direction. Just scraped through without bouncing off the wall. Only one lane in the Sarajevo tunnel, which goes round a bend, and no lights. We had not realised before that there was two-way traffic here! Many carts, and even cars, without lights.

Fortunately Stuart was still at the compound, so we had no trouble talking the guard into letting us stay. The calor gas bottle in the camper has run out. We intended trying to talk a British army post into letting us have another, but didn't see one on the journey from Visegrad. Stuart comes to the rescue, though it costs us a pack of bacon. Reckon we got the better deal. We promise to be out of the way before his lorries arrive in the morning and with many thanks say goodbye, promising to watch out for his football team, St Johnstone.

Back to the same restaurant in the town for a meal. The owner is so pleased to see us that there are souvenir lighters for all. Pity most of them don't work.