AHS-2018-04-26-A

Born Mostar and lived with both parents and older brother, Remembers playing with the other children of the neighborhood in the surrounding forests and making bows and arrows, Feels that most of his childhood was taken from him due to the war, War began with the shelling of the city from the mountains, Family moved to a shelter that was a large room with many bunk beds, Remembers crossing the Old Bridge with father and brother and hiding form sniper fire, witnessed his home being burning down as family hid in shelter, Father was killed during the conflict while still in Mostar, Family moved to the Croatian side of the city and began to live in a apartment owned by someone in Switzerland, Croatian army came to door looking to take his 14 year old brother to a concentration camp, Mother had to rush to locate a birth certificate to show that he was only 14 and only looked older for his age, Soldiers left but told them that a bus would be in front of their apartment to take them to Switzerland and they better be there or they would be killed, Family was taken on the bus to a refugee camp and not where they were promised, The camp was a type of base for military, Fenced in and people were prevented from leaving, Remembers playing with other children and sneaking out of the camp to play in the forest, Did not attend school during this time but did play a lot of sports such as soccer and practiced karate, Remembers sneaking out once and picking sunflowers seeds and eating the seeds on a hill, 1994 At the age of 9 came to St. Louis, Remembers having a teacher of Arab descent with a funny accent like himself who always said practice makes perfect, took that phrase to heart, Easily picked up English and attended school, Mother is his hero who worked hard and raised him and his siblings by herself, The conflict in Bosnia was unnecessary and did not accomplish anything, It was difficult for him coming to the United States and making something out of nothing, Has a family now and a job and looks forward to a decent future, Wants all the people of Bosnia to move forward and hopes that the past does not repeat itself, Hopes that his experiences can be listened to by future generations and that those experiences can help them avoid conflict and avoid having to experience the same tragedies and hardships