AHS-2016-11-03

Born in Velika Kladusa in 1984 where she stayed until leaving for the United States via Croatia, Remembers life during the war as a time where there was a lot of fear but as a child she did not fully understand it, Parents wanted to protect her and make sure she was always safe, The part of the city where she lived was under shelling and in conflict with another side of Bosnian who fought against each other, Traveled with family in a truck to Croatia where she remembers hiding under a blanket and see bodies around the truck as they moved to the border, In Croatia stayed in a refugee camp until their paperwork was approved to come to St. Louis, Uncle who was already in St. Louis was there sponsor and eventually were approved and came, Living in St. Louis was difficult at first as the area they moved in to first was a very difficult place, Knew nothing about the United States only that Bill Clinton was the president, Had to learn the language and the culture and then use that to mix and match it to the life she had before, Feels that her teenage years were stolen from her as she was always translating for her parents and being an adult well before her time, Memorized parents social security number and sometimes pretended to be them in order to make things work, Remembers conflict between Bosnian that had been on the two sides of the conflict sometimes ending in fights and some people being sent back to Bosnia, Began to write down notes and memories in order to preserve them for her family, Published the book While You Played I Ran that share her experiences during the war, Considers herself a Bosnian American and wants to raise her kids in the same wa