This spring students from SIT (School for International Training) came to visit CIM.  Their educational focus is peace studies, and every semester students from this school come to Sanski Most to learn first-hand about peacebuilding processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Spring has arrived, and days are getting longer and warmer!  To celebrate the end of winter the CIM team has decided to organize a Kahva, Kafa, Kafa za Mir (Coffee for Peace) meeting.

Come join us on Wednesday, March 31 at 16:00 at our office (Otoke 8, Sanski Most) to enjoy cup of our domaći (homemade) brew in our yard by the beautiful Bliha River.

On Monday, March 15, 2010, CIM staff facilitated a dinner meeting between leaders of Sanski Most's Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant communities. The meeting was convened to propose an idea for future public lectures, delivered by these religious leaders, on religious themes related to peacebuilding. The leaders were very receptive to the idea. The first lecture, open to the general public and the media, will be held in Sanski Most's town hall on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 8:00 pm.

On March 10, 2010, Matt Harms, CIM's project coordinator, delivered a lecture on multiculturalism in the United States. This was the third installment of CIM's intercultural lecture series of 2010. The presentation covered diversity in the United States by providing information about the history of immigration to the United States, statistics about the United States' current and projected demographic makeup, problems with discrimination and prejudice, and various models for social organization in diverse societies. Throughout the lecture local citizens were invited to draw parallels between the United States and their own context.

We have been providing our current set of twice weekly English courses for Sanski Most residents since December 2009, but in order to meet increased local demand for English language classes, we will be starting a children's course, beginning the week of March 15, 2010.

From February 12-14, 2010 CIM staff and local Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) trainers led an advanced AVP seminar for residents of Sanski Most. Attendees were primarily local educators, but several participants represented other local institutions, such as Sanski Most's radio station and Islamic society. Participants who completed this seminar will have the opportunity to travel to Sarajevo at the end of March to participate in one final workshop to become AVP trainers.

On Wednesday evening February 2, 2010, as part of our intercultural lecture series, Eva Mörtl presented information and led a discussion about her home country, Austria.

Mörtl is a European Voluntary Service (EVS) volunteer working with a local NGO called Fenix until June 2010.

CIM staff members Vahidin Omanović and Matt Harms hosted CIM's first radio show on Sanski Most's local radio station, Radio Sana, on February 2, 2010.  The show - called Ambasada Mira, or Peace Embassy - airs weekly and discusses issues related to peacebuilding in BiH.  To date, shows have dealt with ways to practice nonviolence in daily life, the importance of sharing one's opinion, domestic violence, and resources for peacebuilding in both Islam and Christianity.

On January 11, 2010, CIM organized a viewing of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth for Sanski Most residents, in order to present the issue of global climate change.  The film and follow up discussion allowed locals to engage a global issue face by people around the world, not just in Bosnia.

On January 4, 2010 Jose Morales gave a presentation about his home country, Chile, for local Sanski Most residents, as a part of CIM's intercultural lecture series.  In his presentation Morales covered topics ranging from geography to traditional Chilean culture.  The presentation was followed with a question and answer session facilitated by CIM staff.

Morales is a medic serving in a Liason and Observation Team (LOT) house in Sanski Most, as part of the EUFOR military mandate.