The Bosnian Serb economy is so destroyed that people are often paid with scrip rather than money. There isn't even a school yet. On the Muslim-Croat side, children have had makeshift classes in basements, struggling to read in the dim light. On the Serb side, a school will open in a few weeks in the Bosnian Serb army's former Lukavica barracks. We can't pay for books, accommodations.
Fights often break out between unruly youths shouting nationalist epithets.
Almir wants to trade bananas, cheaper on the Bosnian side, for cigarettes, less expensive on the Serbian side. But few in the community can envision a day when a boundary will no longer exist. For now, both sides say they are happy that NATO forces have placed a tank on the bridge. The troops are supposed to be temporary. But very few people believe peace will be in place by the time the NATO forces leave next winter.