Last April about this time I had the privilege of running at the same time and in the same place as Jeff, even if not running with him. I traveled to Zenica to visit the Summays, my son Caleb who was living with them, and the some of the plasteniks (greenhouses) our 30 Hour Famine had helped purchase for 4 families in Bosnia. Also - Caleb had invited me to run the Vienna Half Marathon with him at the end of my time there.
That two weeks was one of the major highlights of 2011 for me. And, of course, Jeff was a huge reason why. Jeff's enthusiasm for life, his sense of humor, his passion for the people of Bosnia, the way he welcomed Caleb (Cupo) into his life just astonish me.
Jeff and Caleb and a couple of their friends had been training for the Vienna for months and I joined in their training regime. Most mornings this meant traveling to the local gym, running on treadmills and having a cup of coffee. I am not much for treadmills, so the days it wasn't raining I ran in the park across the street on the path which loops around and next to the Bosna River. One morning, Jeff joined me. I attempted to run at Jeff's pace, but within a couple hundred yards saw that this was unrealistic for me. I dropped back into my normal pace and watched Jeff run ahead. I nearly tripped over the uneven pavement as I did so, having never seen anything quite like the way Jeff runs. I'm certain that if anyone or anything had stepped in front of Jeff he'd have smashed through it. I am not sure he'd have noticed.
Later in my stay we visited one of the families receiving a plastinik in the city of Goražde, a UN 'Safe Area' during the Bosnian War. It was supposed to be an area where Bosnian civilians could be protected from attack. In reality it was more of a video game for the Serb snipers who controlled the high ground around the city. The River Drina flows through the city with businesses and houses sprawled along either side and up the banks of the surrounding rolling hills. Viewed from above, Goražde is spectacular. I'm certain that, for the folks trying to survive the war, at times it was far less.
As with most things, Jeff turns out to be a terrific tour guide, mixing in facts with humorous stories. As we walked across the rickety foot bridge the Bosniaks constructed under the more stable (and during the war deathly dangerous) steel walking bridge connecting the two sides of the city, it was easy to imagine bullets ripping through the air, zinging off the steel or thudding into the muddy river banks as one scurried across simply trying to conduct the business of life or reach home safely.
The morning we left Goražde Caleb, Jeff and I went for a run on the path which follows the banks of the Drina. Again, Jeff ran ahead of us, so, technically, we weren't running together. But, as we ran my mind drifted back to the stories he'd told of this war ravaged city. What had been a developing industrial city today, nearly 20 years later struggles to provide sustainable employment for its citizens in the midst of a tenuous peace. Here we were, citizens of a part of the world that only sees such things in news reports or reads of them in papers or on the internet, taking a leisurely sunny jog along the river. I remember at least once complaining to myself about the trash, wondering why these people don't take more pride in their city. Duh.
Then, here came Jeff, rambling back toward Caleb and me, with that big goofy Jeff Summay grin a person can't help but love. I'm sure he sees the litter on the river banks. But, he also hears the guns; and knows the hearts of his friends. He knows that these folks don't need more condescension from the West. They've had their fill of that, thanks. What they need is a guy like Jeff who loves them as much as he loves life; maybe more. And Jeff loves life a lot.
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