turned into an unrecognizable battlefield leading her to leave her hometown of Sarajevo for a safer life here in Canada.
Marija recalls the moment she knew things had changed, “My fiancé and I were walking down the street and saw our close friend who we had dinner with the evening before; he was in uniform and as we approached him, he crossed the street and refused to acknowledge us.”
“In Sarajevo 80 per cent of all marriages were mixed. For this reason, it seemed impossible that war would touch us,” she explains.
Within weeks, Sarajevo was fully entrenched in the quickly escalating conflict. Afraid for his daughter’s safety, Marija’s father forced her onto a bus filled with women and children fleeing Bosnia. For months, she made her way through the country in an effort to reunite with her family and fiancé.
Now married for over 12 years, Marija and her husband have two sons, Arnay 11 years old and Marsel 6 years old. She hopes that one day her kids will understand the journey their parents took to give them the life they have and to tell them about the Sarajevo that they both love so dearly.
When asked what her experience has given her, Marija responds simply – “I never take life for granted.” |
