When effendi Ilhan Sabic arrived in Baljvine in the Serb part of Bosnia to serve in the village mosque, he was pleasantly surprised.

“Selam Alaykum,” he greeted a group of about ten people when he entered the village store. 

“Alaykum Selam,” all ten replied. “Welcome, effendi.”  

Only later he realized only two or three of them were actually Muslims.  

In a country known for the animosities between it’s ethnic groups, one can be seriously surprised when one encounters a village like Baljvine.  

Against all odds, Bosniaks and Serbs have never fought against each other and have remained good neighbors at all times here. Life in the village is what many would say life should be like in the rest of the country. This is, at least, what Sabic believes.    

“The coexistence here is material for rumors, and should be talked about in media,” he said.  

As opposed to many places in the country, the local mosque here was never attacked.  

“I wouldn’t say that someone protected our local mosque here – but rather that they preserved it and cared for it,” he said.

Communities that have split along ethnic lines due to the war are common in the country, but it is different here.  

“This is not ‘two villages’, we are all united and we are together. We have a Serb-Bosniak relationship here that can only be envied,” he said.