 |
|
| Bosnian refugee finds solace, remembers
violent past |
April Klaassen
Staff Writer
Multicultural Beat |
Josh Brown | Chief Photographer
|
As his family’s
car moved through the war-stricken streets of Bosnia, 8-year-old
Teo Vasilj peered through the car window. He stared, fascinated
and afraid, at the barricaded streets and the soldiers who stood
beside them, guns in hand.
Each time the authorities stopped the car, the
Vasilj family froze, hoping they would eventually make it across
the border to safety in Croatia. |
Vasilj, now a freshman
political science major at Appalachian State University, clearly
remembers the major experiences he faced during the war in Bosnia.
Although he was young and barely understood the situation, Vasilj’s
war experience and life as a refugee gave him a new perspective
on the life he holds today.
The war in Bosnia, which lasted from 1991 until 1995, was a complicated
situation, said Dr. Peter W. Petschauer, professor in the Department
of History.
“There was a whole series of different kind of war situations,”
said Petschauer.
The major issues at the time of Vasilj’s departure from Bosnia
were disputes between different provinces after the break of Yugoslavia.
Different factions wanted independent. Wceen Bosnia decided to become
independent, Serbia overran the country.
Vasilj remembers spending days in a neighborhood bomb shelter.
“It was just endless holes deep down under the buildings and
bunk beds all over the place,” said Vasilj. “The whole
neighborhood stayed there. You basically knew everybody, but after
a couple of days with so many people, it gets kind of irritating.
There were no restrooms. They had these huge barrels.”
Vasilj’s neighborhood lived in the bomb shelter for three months.
They were only allowed to leave after 6 p.m. each night to refresh
their resources.
“It was constant bombing, so you couldn’t go back to your
apartment, even though it was across the street,” said Vasilj.
“You had to bring just your basic stuff, like a couple pairs
of underwear. There were no commodities, like a shower.
“It was pretty tough on everybody, not as much physically,
but mentally. People were getting frustrated and some people were
in fear, but we had a greater fear to go out because every couple
of seconds, you have a bomb blowing up.”
When they were allowed to leave, they experienced power outages
and food shortages. “Those were the good times,” said
Vasilj.
A few months after the war broke out, Vasilj’s father decided
their homeland was no longer safe.
“After a couple of months, my dad realized it was not going
to be a short-term kind of thing,” said Vasilj. “Everyone
in the beginning thought it was going to last just a couple of months;
a small skirmish. It turned out to be a big deal.”
Vasilj’s family fled across the border to Croatia to live with
family members. After living there a year, the war worsened and
Vasilj’s father, seeing no end in sight, moved the family to
Germany.
Although Vasilj escaped the war, it never stopped affecting his
life.
“It did [interrupt life] not once, but several times,”
said Vasilj. “Even though the language was the same [in Croatia],
the mentality of the people were kind of different. They never would
accept you as their own ... You would have to adapt to the main
way of life.”
“In Germany, it was the same thing, just a higher degree,”
said Vasilj.
The Vasiljs lived in Germany for seven years when the government
decided all refugees must leave because the war ended.
“Germany and Austria were getting some 3,000 people,”
said Petschauer. “It got pretty tough on those societies to
deal with all those refugees.”
Having visited Bosnia after the war, Vasilj’s father felt the
situation was not good.
“We saw the economy wasn’t that good,” said Vasilj.
“Everything had to be rebuild. Everything was brand new. Everyone
had to establish a new country now. It wasn’t a good situation
to go back to.
“It would’ve been much harder to get established in the
community and find a job, so my parents decided to move [to the
United States].”
Vasilj’s family applied for an immigration program with the
Catholic Social Service. They were accepted and in 1998, they moved
to Charlotte where they live today. Knowing only a little English,
Vasilj learned another new language and adapted to another new culture
at 14-years-old. This time, he felt a little more welcomed.
“I think it is a very nice country,” said Vasilj. “I
mean, you got all the freedoms … In Germany, we had all these
problems with getting Visas every couple of months and all these
problems with lawyers, every year the same thing, all over again.
Here, everybody accepts you as you are. If you look at it, nobody’s
really from the United States. Everybody immigrated here some time.”
Adapting to new surroundings made Vasilj more self-reliant.
“You kind of feel very lonely at the beginning. Most of the
time I was the only one from [Bosnia] … So, you don’t
have anyone to turn to ask ‘How would I do this,’”
said Vasilj. “There was nobody there, so you have to figure
out everything for yourself.”
Vasilj’s war experience taught him the value of life.
“I learned to appreciate life a little bit more,” said
Vasilj. “For example, I don’t smoke, drink or any kind
of crazy stuff because I really know how much value there really
is in life. I don’t want to waste it on stuff that is secondary
importance to life.
“I appreciate things more now like education and family, stuff
that you don’t see if you live a normal life.” |
|
|
 |
 |
