Friday, January 21, 2011

A City Under Seige In Modern Times-Survival Lessons for Today


"People are healthy, in spite of everything, for no one eats animal fat anymore, nor meat, nor cheese--meals are made without eggs, without milk, onions, meat, vegetables. We eat a precious mix of wild imagination."
--from the http://www.friends-partners.org/bosnia/surintro.html

Sarajevo Survival Guide is an unlikely web search for the modern American Survivalist.
I found it by scanning down the very useful links page at
http://www.frank-ross-outdoor-info.com/survival/do-it-yourself.php
In short informative paragraphs, the author details daily living and survival techniques for a city besieged by tanks, mortars and military in April 1992.
Simple ways of using and collecting rain water, stretching one meal into six, utilizing various apartments for the resource it provided are just a few of the examples of information supplied there.
Its an example of what can happen if your city becomes a target, for whatever reason. Things like the value of money, and various forms of documentation being used as a form of currency are discussed in a matter of fact way.
The fate of the Zoo, where only two ponies survived is disturbing. Animals were used as training targets for snipers, the website says. Others were left to die from lack of food and care. Of course, people are more important, and this is not surprising. A breakdown of normal civilization and cultural sensitivities comes with war.
The entertainment factor, exercise and fellowship detailed is almost tongue in cheek. Rock Climbing is replaced with bed sheets facilitating movements through the city balconies, war recipe exchanges, trading collections of spent artillery shells.
Reading this website is a lesson for our day. We seldom hear about real news that matters. Its a given that our attention span is short.
I'm reminded of the four Cs which survival expert on Dual Survival spoke of: containers, cordage, cover, cutting tool.These four were very important in that city's survival as well.

"The besieged city defends itself by culture and thus survives. Groups and individuals create whatever they used to create before the siege. In impossible circumstance they produce films, write books, publish newspapers...,"

a final note of hope.


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