Meet 14-year-old Aida. She is a member of the school orchestra; she acts with the local drama club and plays on the volleyball and basketball teams. Aida is a national honor student and has received a presidential citation for academic achievement. She plans to study law. At the moment, things are looking terrific for Aida but life was not always so rosy for her.
Aida comes from Bosnia and Herzegovina. War began in her home country, when Serbs, Croats and Muslim people who had lived side by side for years started to fight each other. Women, children and the elderly were forced to leave their homes. Aida, her mother and her sister left their home town of Kljuc and made their way to Zagreb, in neighboring Croatia, where they stayed with Aida’s grandmother.
Aida has happy memories of her early childhood in her home town of Kljuc. "I remember it was a small town with a big river running through it. Everyone used to go there and we always went there for picnics and to swim in it. We went bike riding a lot. There were lots of fruit trees and we used to climb the trees and throw plums and apples at people and then run away."
When asked what she remembers best about living in Kljuc, Aida replied, "When we went to this really big fair. We had it every summer. The really cool thing is that the whole town goes there since it’s a small town. All your friends go there. There’s all this food and there are singers, and everyone sings and dances." She also has sad memories. "When war came to our part of Bosnia, the adults thought we should get out while we had time. Women, children and old people were being expelled, so Dad stayed behind to take care of things. We thought we would be back later but our house was plundered and the people took everything."
"Mom cried the most about our lost pictures and video tapes. We had taped my sister’s first birthday. My dad hid the video tape somewhere and it somehow reached my grandfather who passed it on to a cousin. We got this video tape back last summer. We lost all the other valuable and memorable stuff like pictures of my mom and dad on lots of trips. Sentimental things." The trip from Kljuc to Zagreb was made by bus convoy. The buses were crammed with elderly folk, women and children. The buses were stopped frequently by Serb soldiers who boarded and searched among the refugees’ possessions for valuables such as money and jewelry. Aida remembers that although the soldiers were not especially mean, she and her sister were frightened because they carried guns. They harassed the passengers as they made sure that no men were hiding among the refugees. Although Aida, her mother and younger sister left Kljuc, many of their friends and relatives remained. They did not expect atrocities to occur. Many of the women and children who did not leave were killed by soldiers. Their graves were later discovered in a big ravine nearby. The men, including Aida’s father, were rounded up and held in a prison camp.
When Aida’s mother received the news of her husband’s fate, she began working to have him set free. Through the Red Cross, she was able to confirm that he was alive and to find him. She then gathered up all her savings and through friends, was able to make an exchange: her savings for her husband. It had been a year since Aida and her sister had last seen their father. She woke up early one morning, "And this old, well not old man, but weird man came. I didn’t really remember that it was my dad, because he lost a lot of weight. It was sort of scary but I knew it was my dad. He had his ribs broken and part of his back too. My little sister started crying when she saw him because she was frightened. My dad was really sad but then my sister knew it was her dad, even though he didn’t look like himself. We were lucky that he came back. We stayed in Zagreb for another two years, and then we got papers and we came here." Aida’s family received help to resettle in the USA.
Life in the United States was different, and at times, difficult. For Aida, the first two months passed as if she were in a dream, but she finally realized that her future no longer lay in Bosnia, but in the United States. She reminisces about her first few weeks in her new country, "The hardest thing was that I didn’t know anyone. I think that’s the worst thing when you’re put in a new situation, when you don’t know anyone. I felt really stupid all the time. The first few days at school, during recess, everyone went off playing and I didn’t know anyone. I felt really bad. But after a while, I made friends. It’s nice knowing people. After I learned English, I didn’t really have a hard time."
When she first arrived at her new school, Aida says, "I was just treated like any other new kid. They didn’t know I was a refugee from Bosnia or anything. They were pretty friendly, but they didn’t become my friends right away. You have to be with people for a while."
Now, with her friends from school, Aida says, "I feel like an American because I’m talking English. I’m just one of the kids, eat the same stuff, dress the same way and listen to the same music." However, she does sense a difference when she is at home. The culture of her family life is Bosnian. Aida hopes to be able to return to Bosnia one day, perhaps even to live there. But right now, Aida is looking forward to the volleyball challenge match against the teachers.
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| Aida. © British Council |
