Tuesday, March 27, 2012

(56) Bosnia twenty years later a story from UNPROFOR

(View from PTT Building Sarajevo 1992)


1)Were did you first hear of Bosnia and and Sarajevo
 Olympic Games 1984, but of cause I know about Jugoslavia from School.

2) Do you remember where were you when the war broke out?
In Sweden watching TV

3) What made you go to Bosnia during the war? Were where you stationed?
I was UN Military Observer. Prepared to go anywhere. They needed more UNOMs to UNPROFOR. My first posting was to Sarajevo July 1992.

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was?
The bombing of Sarajevo

5) What made you hopeless during the war?
The killing of civilians…

 6) What gave you hope during the war?
„Stairway to heaven by Led Zeppelin“. The hope for a lot of people in PTT-building, Sector HQ in Sarajevo

 7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?
No

8) Were you wounded during the war? Where were you wounded?
No. Only mental…

9) What was the hardest part about the war?
Innocent people that lost family members, houses, trust, hope…

10) Did you leave the during the war?
?do you mean Bosnia? Yes on leave some times..

11) Have you returned to Bosnia since the war?
Yes

 12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened?
Not enough!!

13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?
A bit better

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?
Hopefully not – but high risk

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be?
If they want themselves, arrange democracy, respect each other. Yes then it could be bright but I have seen so many examples of how they destroy generations. So if Status Q for three generation then YES!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

(55) Bosnia twenty years later a friend of Bosnia tells his story

(UN Dutchbat base at Srebrenica, befor manned by the Canadian UNPROFOR)

1)Were did you first hear of Bosnia and and Sarajevo? I first heard of Bosnia and Sarajevo during the olympic games and then in 1992, when the war broke out.

2) Do you remember where were you when the war broke out? I was a reserve infantry soldier in Montreal and Ottawa Canada. I remember hearing that Canada was sending soldiers and I remember wanting to go instantly

3) What made you go to Bosnia during the war? Were where you stationed?I wanted to serve in an active theatre mission. I volunteered to go as a reservist reinforcement to the Regular Force units Canada was sending in 1993. I wanted to help and I wanted the military experience.

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was?Hard question to answer. The death of a little girl in Srebrenica who was about 12 years old. I was a first responder and I became numb when I saw her badly mangled body.

5) What made you hopeless during the war?

Our rules of engagement, the attitudes of many of my UNPROFOR colleagues.

6) What gave you hope during the war?

The overwhelming amount of gratitude I (we) received from the people of Srebrenica.

7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?
My colleague Daniel Gunther, several Bosniaks I had befriended and their families.
8) Were you wounded during the war? Where were you wounded?Yes, I have severe PTSD.


9) What was the hardest part about the war?My biggest loss was my job. I was demoted for being too friendly to Bosniaks. Leaving Srebrenica.


10) Did you leave the during the war?For 3 weeks, on leave. 2 weeks in June and then 1 week in August 93. I was in BiH from May to Nov. 1993. 5 months in Srebrenica one month in Visoko and Kiseljak. I never served at Fojnica or Bakovici with the other Canadians.

11) Have you returned to Bosnia since the war?I am very glad to have returned last year. It put what happened into better perspective. I am still very upset about what happened.

12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened? 
I am very glad to have returned last year. It put what happened into better perspective. I am still very upset about what happened.
13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?They are the same as I expected I suppose. I am impressed with how Sarajevo has rebounded, I am unimpressed with how Republika Srpska treats Bosniaks.

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?Unsure, I don't think so but it's hard to tell.

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be?) I have unenthusiastic thoughts about the future of Bosnia. I fear more political divisions and territorial disputes. I would like to see a return of the Republic of Bosnia Herzegovina, including the genocidal entities of RS and inclusion in the EU.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

(54) Bosnia twenty years later a story of a child from Banja Luka


(Banja Luka)

1) Do you remember where were you when you realized the war was imminent? What town and what location in the town?

I was only 3 years old so I don´t remember it but I know I was at home in the centre of Banja Luka

2) Do you remember where you were when the war broke out, Specifically?

At home in Banja Luka
3) Where were you when the war came to your town? Were you at home, relatives, friends, work?

I was at home with my grandmother and grandfather (mothers side)

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was?

When my grandmother died. She got sick during the war and because she didn´t want to leave the house and Banja Luka we stayed but when she passed away we decided to leave the country in December 1994. I was very close to my grandmother and I remember I cried so much, then I did the same that cold winter morning when we left our house...
5) What made you hopeless during the war?

As I was a child I guess back then I didn´t realize what was really going on, even if I knew that things where serious. Some days I feel more hopeless today when I think of the future of BiH...
6) What gave you hope during the war?

My mum,dad, grandmother and grandfather.

7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?

No, not directly because of the war but indirectly yes...
8) Were you wounded during the war? Where were you wounded? Anyone close to you wounded?

Where we lived, about 10 minutes from the city centre of Banja Luka, a lot of "serbs" lived and we were neighbours but they didn´t do anything to them but one night they put an explosive device outside our house as a "warning" that we had to leave. No one got wounded but one bookshelf that fell almost hit me as I crawled on the floor and the fridge fell and almost hit my mother. Also, all the windows broke both at our house and our neighbours´ houses.
9) Your biggest loss during the war was?

I had such a great start of my childhood, the first years where like paradise. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents while my parents where at work and my relatives came visiting, so losing all this closeness and happiness and everything we had, everything my parents had built up for a good life, all of that is a huge loss... And even though I would never admit it, sometimes when I´m in Banja Luka it feels like I lost my hometown the day we left our house. It´s very sad.
10) What was the hardest part about the war?

Losing my grandmother and leaving the house

11) Did you leave the country during the war?

Left Banja Luka and Bosnia in December 1994

12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened?

I think it was really stupid, the whole war. What happened is horrible and unforgettable and has left scars which we all could have lived without (all sides). I think "they" have their goal and they are very keen of reaching it (always been that way), which is unbelievable. I can´t understand that people have so much hatred inside themselves. I do see things happen today as well and the world is powerless but for me it´s still a mystery that the war in BiH happened only 20 years ago in Europe and went on for four years and no one could stop it or overpower "them" ?
13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?

I think that things in Bosnia seem to be worse than they actually were 1991, only there are no weapons. A lot of people still suffer because of what happened and the economy is standing still. Something has to happen, BiH has to move on - without RS. And the Dayton-agreement-solution -thing, why are "they" still referring to that?

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?

I hope not, which means I think it could but I´m not sure if I think it will. I pray for a solution that will not kill innocent lives in any way.

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be? 
I think we have to be more demanding and speak up! We can´t hand over our country to others to solve our problems because in that case will never get out of this bad circle. We must take part and not only sit and talk about what happened in the 90-s. As much as it is important not to forget and hide what happened in BiH we must also focus our energy on the future of the country. I think we are very weak and the other part is very stubborn with getting what they want so I am afraid RS will be independent if we continue being passive. I think some of the old men ruling over Bosnia's future should leave and let people who are really interested in the future of BiH take over. That feels like the first step if we want to move on. I have to stay optimistic and not lose my hope, so I think that´s what will happened and the Bosnian spirit will finally win and BiH will become the independent country it should have been since the very beginning of the 90-s.

Monday, March 19, 2012

(53) Bosnia twenty years later a story from Bihac

(BIHAC)
1) Do you remember where were you when you realized the war was imminent? What town and what location in the town?
A) Bihac

2) Do you remember where you were when the war broke out, Specifically?
A)Sarajevo

3) Where were you when the war came to your town? Were you at home, relatives, friends, work?
A) Work

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was?
A) Srebrenica

5) What made you hopeless during the war?
A) UN sanction of weapons!

6) What gave you hope during the war?
A) My Family

7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?
A) Yes

8) Were you wounded during the war? Where were you wounded? Anyone close to you wounded?
A) Me no but many friends and relatives!

9) Your biggest loss during the war was?
A) Friends and all people!

10) What was the hardest part about the war?
A) Killing for nothing !

11) Did you leave the country during the war?
A) Yes

12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened?
A) It was aggression and religious war !

13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?
A) Better just because of no more killings!

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?
A) Hope never but ...?!

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be?
A) Future of Bosnia is in people of Bosnia!

Monday, March 12, 2012

(52) BOSNIA TWENTY YEARS LATER A PROFESSOR FROM PRIJEDOR

(Manjaca concentration camp near prejidor)


1) Do you remember where were you when you realized the war was imminent? What town and what location in the town?In Prijedor, in the active employment of professors on the economic high school.

2) Do you remember where you were when the war broke out, Specifically? In Prijedor

3) Where were you when the war came to your town? Were you at home, relatives, friends, work? In Prejidor

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was? When we had to wear white ribbons - blindfolded when coming into town and non-white flags on our house to identify us as non Serb (as the Jews had in Germany in the Second World. War work).

5) What made you hopeless during the war? The fundamental destruction of all religious and sacred objects.

6) What gave you hope during the war? The expectation of assistance from democratic countries and organizations in the world that we at least provide a basic human right to self-defense.

7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war? Yes, many members of close relatives.

8) Were you wounded during the war? Where were you wounded? Anyone close to you wounded? No

9) Your biggest loss during the war was? Human sacrifice, with special emphasis on victims elitocida (the intentional targeting of social and econimic leaders teachers, doctors, municipal leaders, police etc). And since I educator, the intentional targeting and killing of a large number of my students' children and young people.

10) What was the hardest part about the war? It is more difficult periods that are difficult to classify, such as: bringing people into camps where survival rate in grave danger and are witnessed physical and psychological torture and starvation in a inhumane health conditions, then the loss of the closest family members for fear that it could not properly buried.
11) Did you leave the country during the war? Yes. I was in Germany in results of the ethnic cleansing from 93 to 95.

12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened? Throughout the war scenario is evident by the great powers, and appropriate international organizations more than politics and interests of humanity and democracy.

13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?  
This is what is happening now believe that it is not fulfilled the expectations of both parties. But it is definitely on the UN program who has not fulfilled its obligations or its term with us, and unfortunately in many other parts of the world. As this day is not devastating to the world shows us that this will solve the problem adequately.
14) Do you think war will return to BiH? I believe that there will be, though on this point is difficult to answer.

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be? In any case I am optimistic that BiH will become a normal democratic society, although it will take longer due to insufficient received treatment by the advanced democratic world which is not in their interest to be adequately solve the problem of Bosnia.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Appeal for funding of Nermin Divovic gravestone and help for the family

This is an appeal to help the family of Nermin Divovic who was shot and killed by a Serbian Sniper in Sarajevo in 1994. Nermin was killed while walking with his mother during the war. The family is too poor to pay for a proper headstone marker and almsost twenty years later Nermin's headstone is the same wooden board set up during the war. Help give this poor child a decent final resting place and a little money to help the family. I am hoping to raise $500 for the family $350 for the headstone and the rest for the family. I would like to find a way to buy them something sustainable that will continue to generate revenue or food for them something like a sewing machine, or some small farm animals that will help the family...

Here is a link to the micro funding project...
http://www.microgiving.com/profile/theblackswans

Here is a link to a ebay donations auction I have set up...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220971328970

This is a picture of the family from 2008 at Nermin's grave

Here is the original story...

Serbian Sniper Kills 7-year-old Bosniak Boy Nermin Divovic

Nermin Divovic - Bosniak Child Killed by Serb Sniper in Sarajevo (Bosnian Genocide)
Nermin Divovic - Bosniak Child Killed by Serb Sniper in Sarajevo (Bosnian Genocide)
By Srecko Latal
Lakeland Ledger, p.16A
20 November 1994.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — One day after he was shot dead on a Sarajevo street, 7-year-old Nermin Divovic lies in the city morgue, awaiting the return of his soldier-father from the front line before he can be buried.
About 100 yards from the morgue, his mother Dzenana Sokolovic lies in the hospital, unaware her son is dead.
Nermin was shot in the head Friday by a Bosnian Serb sniper as he sprinted across an exposed area of Sarajevo-s notorious “Sniper Alley.” He was among more than 1,500 children slain in the city during the 2.5 years war.
Funeral of 7-year-old Bosnian Muslim boy Nermin Divovic. Father Paso Divovic, soldier defending Sarajevo, attended the funeral of his son. (Bosnian Genocide)
Funeral of 7-year-old Bosnian Muslim boy Nermin Divovic. Father Paso Divovic, soldier defending Sarajevo, attended the funeral of his son. (Bosnian Genocide)

Sokolovic, 31, was wounded by the same bullet that killed her son. “She doesn’t know about her child,” said Mediha Smajlic, a nurse at Kosevo Hospital, where the mother was recovering Saturday.
“Everybody’s coming here, but nobody’s telling her anything,” the nurse said.
Neighbors said Nermin’s father Pasa Divovic had been told of the death and was rushing back to Sarajevo from the front in central Bosnia, where he is serving with the Bosnian army.
Sokolovic and her children were returning home from her mother-in-law’s house when Nermin was killed.
Neighbors said Nermin was a “cute and clever” child who did not want to leave his grandmother’s home, where he had been playing, and asked his mother to let him stay.
But she insisted.
“He was crying as if he knew,” said neighbor Emira Vasijevic. “He said, ‘I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go. Let me play.’”

So far we have recieved 5 donations totaling $170 we are over 1/3 way to funding this project!

(51) Bosnia twenty years laters a story of loss and hopelessness



1)      Do you remember were you were when you realized the war was imminent?
At my uncle's place.

2)      Do you remember were you were when the war broke out?
At my uncle's place.

3)      Where were you when the war came to your town?
At my uncle's place.

4)      The most memorable event of the war for you was?
Seeing testimony of Zehra Turjačanin on TV, witness of Serb genocide. She was in one house with 70 women and children, in Višegrad,  in a house where Serbs forced them in, and burned them. Who ever came out from house, they throwed them back in to burn. Her testimony is here: http://youtu.be/EKR8xXjDTmA

5)      What made you hopeless during the war?
1993, when Croat's turned  against us.

6)      What gave you hope during the war?
First great cowardice of Serb army, and second when I realise that a man when is cornered, and has no way out,  fight's  the best.


7)      Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?
I lost my father, and my aunt's son, my cousin, and my grandfather died out of sorrow for them. Also lost some distance cousins.

8)      Were you wounded during the war? Were you wounded?
No.

9)      Your biggest loss during the war was?
Father.

10)  What was the hardest part about the war?
Being without protector, and my father’s family of no help.

11)  Did you leave the country during the war?
No, left at the end for 6 months in 1995 for Spain, and came back before the war ended.

12)  20 years later, what do you think of what happened?
This is 11th genocide, same thing happened to my granfather, and his father, and so on in last 150 years. This happens to any nation who doesn’t has anyone to protect him, or a nation that doesn’t has it’s army, or it’s national state and country.

13)  Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?
Worse.

14)  Do you think war will return to BiH?
Yes, eventually, it happens every 20-40 years. As soon as USA leaves, and Russia becomes stronger, Serbs will again come to finish what they started 150 years ago.

15)  What do you think the future of BiH will be?
Nothing.  In the best case scenario, it will be status quo, it will stay like this, a country, but not really a country.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

(50) A story of a child soldier from Sarajevo who became a man


(Sarajevo)

1) Do you remember were you were when you realized the war was imminent?
 It took me some time to realise that we are actually at war. Strange but even though the bombs were falling and the gun fire was heard every minute of the day, people kind of excepted that the war is on weeks after it actually started. I guess the mind filled with war scenes from CNN and Hollywood could not acknowledge that this is what is happening.
2) Do you remember were you were when the war broke out?
I was at home, skenderija. When I come to think about it, I could bet that at that point when the JNA soldiers were killed next to burning trams on skenderija, was the event horizon of the Bosnian 4 year demonic playoffs to a roughly 4 decades of demising „after effects“.

3) Where were you when the war came to your town?
Since I was a little boy of 14 it was all fun and games for me in the beginning. No school, no obligations, adrenaline rushes every day. That did not last long, about a month, I joined the Terrirorial Defence of Bosnia and it all suddenly turned „real-life-trouble-in-the-most-unforgiving-(Bear-Grylls-is-a-wuss)-environment-lacking-everything-but-the-gunpowder-scented-air. A boy turned a man over night, providing for his family and himself, trying to stay alive for a long as possible.

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was?
There were so many memorable moments during the war. I guess its like that for everyone since everyone is dividing time into pre- and after-the-war. I could probably remember every single week of the first year. Later it became slowly withering away because all the major events took place in the beginning. Maybe because people stopped caring after. There was bloodbaths in Tuzla, Srebrenica, Potocari, Markale but people cool down during the winter of `93 and just developed a certain numbness. They could not care like they used to, their necks were on the line as well... Everything that did not take place in the very home seemed to far to be even considered a topic. I remember how the news of someone death were conveyed in just two sentences: „You know that friend of yours from 4th grade, his mother got killed in the water que the other day.“ – „Oh, too bad“. Actually I don't remember talking at all. If you were hungry you wait for a meal, if you had it sit tight.

5) What made you hopeless during the war?
 Winters! The winter `93-`94! Effects of no water, no electricity, almost no food, no cigarettes were multiplied by harsh Bosnian winter by 10. Darkest 3, or maybe it was 4, months in existence. I think that such conditions are rare even in 3rd world prisons today. I cant remember any thought from that period, it was just an empty... void.
6) What gave you hope during the war?
I divide war in three parts.
Part one is the 1rst year of Rambo movies reenactments – No need for hope.
Part two is facing the consequences of part 1, adapting to a few unpleasant facts and surviving your own conscious days, one at a time – No hope at all.
Part three started, the way I see it, in the late summer of  `94. People started planning as if something told them the wars end is near. People started living again, trams were on the move, even if occasional shell or two tried to slow them down. Life won, a stream of confidence boosted everyone into living again. Part 3 is like the air was hope, the water was life. We adapted, it did not kill us, they missed, we grew stronger!

7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?
 I lost a few of my friends in the part 2 of the war. Maybe it was selfpreservation kicking in, or maybe I am a selfish bastard but at the time, my well-being was top priority. I went to their funerals, payed my respects, but never wished to trade places.
8) Were you wounded during the war? Were you wounded?
Fortunately, only a few cuts and bruises. I mean it, mortar shells a few feet away was  like a spam e-mail, it somehow found your address but it does not your name on it, so you just leave it at that. I remember one day I was checking my look in the mirror for a few seconds and went for the door. Than I heard a loud but dull sound, like someone hit a wall with a hammer. I went back into the room where the mirror was and tried to figure it out. After a few minutes a saw a hole in the wall by the mirror. It was about 5 feet from the floor, neck high. It was a sniper 7,9 mm round. I closed the blinds and went on my way thinking that there is no way he aimed at me because he could not see me over the roof of a neighbouring house. He was probably blowing off some steam.

9) Your biggest loss during the war was?
I never lost anyone of my immediate family, so I was lucky and I am grateful. Other losses may seem trivial but some might not see them as losses in the first place.
I lost my childhood and had to take care of myself since I was 14. I met more than 1000 people at the time of equilibrium, when we were all in the same shit hole, so they all showed their real faces. So at a very young age I could tell if someone is a coward, or an opportunist, or a kiss-ass or a plain asshole. On the other hand I saw and witnessed some genuine bravery, patriotism, self sacrifice. If its a loss or something else you need to calculate the age. Does a kid need to know all that? I don't know if the war influenced my opinions and beliefs or my point of view in life and was it for better or worse, but I do hope that I could be the man I am today if  this war was erased from history.

10) What was the hardest part about the war?
For me, the hardest part of the war, are all these years after it. The war was about life and death only. A very simple choices. After the war, majority have faced poverty, misery, corruption and people got to put on their masks again so its harder to tell which ones were cowards and assholes and which were brave honorable men. I was never wrong about someone back than, but people got to enjoy their small joys for which most of them would trade their brothers let alone me, but in those times there were no joys only the man standing next to you in a trench or the one picking you up form a puddle of blood.

11) Did you leave the country during the war?
 No, I had a chance though. During the first year my fathers boss, who is a paraplegic wanted me to leave the country as his „plus 1“ when some international organisation arranged for them to be evacuated. My father also wanted that, but me and my grandmother were against. The destination was Holland.
12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened?
Well, somebody did his math. Like I said somewhere before. There are bad people everywhere and for a „good war“ you need as much of those as possible.
Lets say, for the sake of argument, that there are more Serbs on the planet than there are Bosnians and Croats combined. Lets say that every 5th man on the planet is bad (its not too hard to believe these days). Now, if you want a war, you need to throw a few bones into the picture and make those bad ones believe that they are doing something good (bad people do not see themselves as bad). Now you need a few bad lieutenants and the game is on. People who are to be attacked are shocked and trying to reason with the attackers, believing anything the attackers say until the first punch. Than, a „blessings“ of one or more „officers“ is required, in terms of embargo's, NATO strikes etc. Also you need to insure to have this war „in peace“ with as little interventions as possible in terms of all kind of UN suffixes. When you run out of steam its game over.
I do not know who orchestrated this war or why or was it the way that somebody hoped for, but I know that it took divine intervention to end it the way it did.

13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?
I never expected anything 20 years ago, I was 14. But I don't think anyone expected anything. Usually if you expect something and do not get it, you protest. People here are still honouring elections, tolerating corruption and crime, financing thieves of all kinds at their own expense. Therefore, it would be nice to say that „people are sheep“ but sheep do not choose their shepherds themselves.

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?
No. And when I say that its mostly based on some objective thinking but there is also a part of that „NO!“ that comes from hope, because I really do not think I could survive another.

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be?
I honestly have no idea. I hope that people will come to their senses but historically that's not likely. The show must go on and the audience will be the judge, we on the stage cant really be trusted when it comes to predicting future.

Monday, March 5, 2012

(49) Bosnia twenty years later a story of a child from Kakanj

(Kakanj)

1) Do you remember where were you when you realized the war was imminent? What town and what location in the town?I don’t remember all, but truly, remember when war started and our village was attacked. I was in town Kakanj at that time with my parents.
2) Do you remember where you were when the war broke out, SpecificallyI don’t remember that.
3) Where were you when the war came to your town? Were you at home, relatives, friends, work?I already said, I was at home, with my parents, and grandparents.
4) The most memorable event of the war for you was? When we all had to flee from our home, my dad was wearing me in his arms, and mum was wearing my younger brother. We hadn’t sleep all night, we had nothing to eat, I remember my brother was so hungry. I remember much more moments than this, but now it is very painful to talk about it.
5) What made you hopeless during the war? The nights that we spent alone without dad, he left to war.
6) What gave you hope during the war? Probably the fact I didn’t knew so much about that situation, and the fact that mum was with us then!
7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war? Few neighbours.
8) Were you wounded during the war? Where were you wounded? Anyone close to you wounded?I were not wounded, either no one close to me, fortunately.
9) Your biggest loss during the war was? Our house.
10) What was the hardest part about the war? The hardest part is that so many people were killed, so many child left without parents, so much mothers without their children, etc.
11) Did you leave the country during the war? I didn’t leave my country ever, not even then!!!
12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened? I think nothing in this world wasn’t worth of all that pain that we’ve been through… I can’t understand what kind of people could do this what THEY’ve done to us.

13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later? Things are worse than 20 years before.

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?  NO!
15) What do you think the future of BiH will be? I am an optimist. Together we can do that things start to be better, first of all, the Muslims and Christians must build our relations on respect, coexistence and tolerance.

Friday, March 2, 2012

(48) Bosnia twenty years later a story of a child from Buzim



(Buzim)
1) Do you remember were you were when you realized the war was imminent?

- I can't remember the moment because I was a child.

2) Do you remember were you were when the war broke out?

- I was in Bužim with my parents. Bužim is a small town in west Bosnia and Herzegovinia, near Bihać, located just on the border with Croatia.

3) Where were you when the war came to your town?

 As I said in my last question I was in my hometown with my family.

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was?

- Definitely when my father returned from battle, he was so happy he started to shoot in air. But I didn’t saw him, so I run away and hide under my bed. I was scared that aggressor came to my house.

5) What made you hopeless during the war?

- I never lost hope; I was a small child, so I didn’t realized what’s going on.

6) What gave you hope during the war?

- My grandmother, she was old, but every day she prayed for my father and whole country, once she said to me: ‘’My God I hope that this madness will come to end and we will live, like we lived before this war’’.

7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?

- My uncle lost his wife and few months old daughter. I don’t remember when that happened; later my father told me what happened.

8) Were you wounded during the war? Were you shot at or attacked?

No.

9) Your biggest loss during the war was?
My childhood, the best time of my life I have spent in constant fear for my life. My first toy was a red teddy bear, when I got I was the happiest kid on the planet. My father gave it to me.

10) What was the hardest part about the war?

I didn’t had time to play, my life was priority, when missiles start to ‘’pour’’ I didn’t think about playing I was scared. No electricity, that means no cartoons.

11) Did you leave the country during the war?

No.

12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened?

I think it was possible to avoid the war. NATO and Europe instead of watching, they should stop it.

13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?

To be honest I can’t answer to this question. Like 20 years ago we are divided except we don’t kill ourselves. Our government is something we can’t be proud of, they work for their own good and they try to destroy this country by spreading nationalism.

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?

I hope it won’t. Even though it could burst if Republica Srpska tries to separate from BiH. I’m against war; I don’t want that any child survives my childhood, without cartons and lack of freedom.

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be?
Wow that’s quite hard to say, my dream is to see one country without entities, cantons and districts, with one nation, one fair government, people working together, we will find money to invest into education, economy, infrastructure and I hope it will become reality one day.