Nations

This region has once again undergone some turmoil as Kosovo last week announced it's independence from Serbia. Sometimes the news seems so far away, but other times it is close to affecting us personally. I travelled to Novi Sad in Serbia last Friday, wondering whether I would be allowed across the border, after the British embassy in Belgrade had been attacked and burnt. But despite having several Kosovan stamps in my passport, there was no problem at all. I assume they have nothing against me personally, and I try not to express sides, even though I've heard a lot of the arguments for and against, both from Serbs and Kosovan Albanians, as well as from Macedonians.

Bosnia, another former Yugoslav republic, has a very large Serbian part, and I hear some are calling for it to break apart from Bosnia. Also, the northern part of Kosovo itself, which has a Serbian majority, has been having demonstrations to break away.

And here in Macedonia, two issues that have never been fully resolved since it's own independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, have been rearing their heads again. The first issue is that of it's name - officially and temporarily called "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", the Greeks have objected to the use of the name Macedonia for this country of 2 million people. The reasons are tied up in history and too long to mention in this blog, but now they are proposing that use of the word "Macedonian" for the language spoken here and for the nationality of the people should be removed, as a part of the conditions of the country entering NATO (it's more complex than that in fact, I am just simplifying it somewhat). So yesterday, in the centre of Skopje, there was a huge gathering of people to protest this change.

The other issue is that the ethnic Albanians, who officially make up 23% of the population of Macedonia, have some who want independence from Macedonia. This would be very difficult to do as they are spread around the population of Macedonia, and needless to say this is strongly opposed by the Slavic Macedonian population. There was civil war in 2001 between these two ethnic groups. Thankfully there is not such a strong tension currently, and it is hoped that the independence of Kosovo will not rekindle a conflict here.

Tract

I have been busy for some time producing a little booklet in Macedonian. It contains three short life stories from three students, telling how they became Christians, and then at the end a description of how the reader can receive God's forgiveness personally. It has been a labour of love, and has taken some considerable time to produce, not least because Macedonian is not my native language. This is the main reason that I have been so slow to write anything new on my blog. And now it is awaiting the final hurdle of printing before it can be put into people's hands.