Harvest in the Snow : My Crusade to Rescue the Lost Children of Bosnia

At the height of the Serbian siege of Sarajevo, Ellen Blackman could no longer bear the televised images of wounded children desperate for medical care. So she set off for Bosnia. There she shared the tragedies and occasional triumphs of a brave people whose world was crumbling around them while a seemingly indifferent world stood by. And despite tremendous bureaucratic and dangerous obstacles, she got the children out. It was the summer of 1993, at the height of the genocidal Serbian siege of the Bosnian city of Sarajevo. No longer able to bear the television images of tearful wounded children desperate for medical care, a young Chicago woman decided to take action. She flew to Sarajevo determined to do whatever she could to help the children. Ellen Blackman's planned ten-day trip turned into an eight-month ordeal - and a triumph of will. Ellen shared the tragedies and occasional triumphs of a proud, brave people whose universe was crumbling around them while a seemingly indifferent world stood by. Harvest in the Snow tells of dodging bullets in Sniper Alley, smuggling relief supplies over hostile borders, and struggling just to live in the nightmare world of a nation at war with itself. And miraculously, despite tremendous obstacles, she got the children out. Ellen was the catalyst for the much-publicized emergency medical evacuations of children that you saw on television. This is her dramatic story.

The true story of the American woman who helped rescue children of Sarajevo

Publishers Weekly

In 1993, freelance journalist Blackman was so moved by TV footage showing the killings of Bosnian civilians that she flew to Sarajevo to offer her help. A 10-day trip turned into an eight-month rescue operation during which time the author ducked bullets to travel across the border to smuggle food and medicine to the besieged population and overcame many obstacles to arrange for the evacuation of seriously ill children to the U.S. Although the Serb war atrocities in Sarajevo have been documented elsewhere, Blackman's eyewitness descriptions of brutal living conditions and the everyday threat of sniper fire makes for affecting reading. The author condemns the U.N.'s ineffective peacekeeping force and questions why so many had to die before the U.S. sent troops. An inspiring account of a courageous humanitarian. Photos. (July)