M39

Here is part 2 of Mony's story who went from being a Microsoft sales executive to completing a pilgrimage on the world-famous Camino de Santiago, which made her decide to complete a 5000 km long Walk for Peace for 13 months through 13 countries. Click here to access part I of her fascinating story.

8. From Italy you continued on into the Balkan countries. Please comment on your pilgrim experience there. I believe that Croatia was a particularly unforgettable experience for you. Please tell us about your experience in the other Balkan countries.

We walked through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia/Hercigovina, and Serbia/Montenegro. Our experience in Croatia was the most intense. The people here embraced us totally. We were in the newspapers and on television. Their hospitality and desire to help us was incredible. Our message seemed to resonate especially strongly here, in a country recovering from their own war. It was also there that Alberto and I separated. He walked ahead to Medugorje, in Bosnia/Hercigovina with the agreement that I would only be a few days behind him. Medugorje is a village in Bosnia/Hercigovina where it is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to five young children about twenty years ago offering messages of peace at a time when the country was strife with war. The messages of peace continue to this day with a new message announced every month. Alberto wanted to arrive for the next message while I couldn’t walk that fast. We ended up being separated for over a month with no way of contacting the other. We only managed to speak twice during that entire time. He called me once to let me know that he had arrived safely. And I managed to finally contact him, after days of failed attempts, the evening before I was about to arrive in Medugorje.

Circumstances seemed to conspire to keep us apart. I fell ill a few days after we separated with an infection of the lymph nodes under my arms. I was told I may need surgery to drain them since they were badly infected and the doctor didn’t know if the antibiotics would be strong enough. In the end, they did work but I needed over two weeks to recover from it and to regain the strength to walk again. I was taken care of and welcomed by an incredible community in Brodarica where the priest of the local church took me into his home, brought me to doctors and medicine, and where the nuns there oversaw every step of my recovery. They appeared as angels in my way to help me at a time when I was alone.

That experience of being looked after and protected on my way gave me the confidence to continue walking alone. For Alberto as well, it was important for him to know that he can walk without me. We always felt more confident together knowing that a couple would be accepted easily and given accommodations. It was more difficult for people to trust in a young man walking alone and give him accommodations. His experiences were not always easy but he found angels along his way, just as I did, who stepped in and helped him when he needed it most. It was a valuable lesson for us being apart and one that reminded us that we enjoyed walking together but we didn’t need to do it. We would always be taken care of.