We don't know what the future will bring, and we are never safe. A professor in Sarajevo. Bosnia's universities, now in their third academic year since the civil war began, continue to operate despite near-desperate conditions. The fighting in this breakaway republic of what was once Yugoslavia has sharply reduced the ranks of students and scholars. Some have died, and many more have been driven from their fledgling nation by fear and misery.
Fresh water is a rare commodity, and electricity a memory.
As winter arrives, the city is, again, without heat. Although prospects for peace are not in sight, there has been a relative improvement in the capital in recent months. In the first two years of the war, Serbian forces in the surrounding hills pounded Sarajevo, killing more than 10,500 residents of the defenseless city. The improvement in the security situation enabled the university to add a few courses to its still vastly reduced schedule this fall. Thousands of University of Sarajevo students who live outside the city are still not able to attend classes.