On Sunday, volunteers helped build a 15ft high living structure in Dumfries and Galloway to remember those still missing as a result of the Bosnian war
The structure, made from local lime trees, will eventually take root, creating a lasting symbol of compassion and solidarity with the loved ones of the missing.
Locals and members of the Red Cross Refugee Services spent a day lugging, binding and weaving wood to form the impressive structure in the Annan Water valley near Moffat. At the end of the day, bulbs were planted around its base and a cairn of stones placed in the centre.
Catherine Major, organiser of the event, visited Bosnia earlier this year with Remembering Srebrenica to learn about the war and genocide from survivors. She said: “Speaking to people whose families have been torn apart by conflict touched me very deeply. I felt I had to do something to honour their stories.
“It’s been 20 years since the end of the war but there’s still a huge amount of pain on all sides. I hope that this beautiful space we’ve created might one day offer healing to some of those people.”
In Bosnia, over 8,000 people are still missing as a result of the conflict in the early nineties.
The International Day of the Disappeared, held on 30th August each year, remembers those who are still missing through conflict, disaster and migration.
The event was organised in association with Lets Live Local CIC and the Red Cross.
The British Red Cross International Family Tracing service is part of a global Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement which works worldwide to restore and maintain contact between families, by searching for family members who have gone missing in conflict situations.
Frank Higgins at the Red Cross Refugee Services in Glasgow said: “We recognise the importance of The International Day of the Disappeared (August 30th), as a reminder of the many thousands of families who are still unaware of the fate of their loved ones, missing in conflicts, and it sends a message to each and every one of those families that they and their missing loved ones are not forgotten.
“It was, therefore, a pleasure to be invited to share in Catherine’s remembrance event and the living structure will be a lasting memorial and a place of reflection and comfort to those who have lost family in conflicts such as Srebrenica and the many others around the world.”
As well as remembering the Bosnian conflict, the event also gave participants a chance to reflect on the current global situation.
Catherine said: “It’s easy to look back and say “never again” but it means very little if we don’t act with compassion in our daily lives.
“It doesn’t need to be huge—just reminding ourselves that people fleeing conflicts today need the same kindness and respect that we would want in their situation can change our outlook.”
