The book “Ja sam Alen” (I am Alen) by author Alen Muhic has been presented in recent months in many cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) – Gorazde, Sarajevo, Travnik, Kakanj, Zenica, Tuzla, Visoko.
It is an autobiographical work of unusual subject matter, because Alen is a child born of wartime rape. Today, he is a young man, the father of three boys.
His writing is read in one breath, and the reader realizes what fate it is to be “guilty” only and solely for being alive, growing up under an undeserved stigma.
Alen’s initial idea was that the writings he had been putting on paper for years from a wounded soul remain forever outside the public eye, in the home archive, because of his children, one of whom is just as old as he was when he learned that he was adopted and abandoned at birth, by a dumpster. He was taken in and grew up with people who were not his biological parents, but they would – it would turn out – deserve to be considered by him as father and mother emotionally.
The writings nevertheless did not go unnoticed and were eventually printed in the covers of the book “I am Alen.”
“I wrote for several years until the writings came into the right hands, which advised me to publish them in order to help both my family and all other children born of wartime rape, our mothers, people dealing with traumas of this kind and who need guidelines on how to help children with the great difficulties of stigmatization, marginalization, silence and years of invisibility,” says Alen Muhic.
Every promotion of his book so far has had a special warmth and emotion, in his opinion.
“I am overjoyed when I see prejudices being broken down, when hearts open, and when people show empathy and understanding. Precisely those moments give me the motivation to continue, to go where it is necessary to speak and share this story, because we as a people are ready to suppress silence and stigma, to give support for this to be talked about,” he said, announcing new promotions after the book was presented on the eighth of this month in Sarajevo, on the ninth in Tuzla, on the tenth in Zenica and on September 11th in Visoko.
“Our journey continues. Already on September 19th, we will see each other in Mostar in the Center for Culture, starting at 7 p.m. After that, on November 7th, we will gather in Zagreb as well. Thank you to everyone who has so far been part of this story, because of you, it lives and grows,” he said.
The book is intended for a wide audience in BiH and beyond.
Its author is today a young man, in a physical sense a “big guy,” modest, dignified.
When he asked one of his sons if he knew what war was, he answered, “No.” As a father, he is glad that he managed to shield the child from war topics, but also finds it difficult in advance because the time is inevitably approaching when he must speak to him about his personal fate and origin, “so that he would not find out from others as I did.”
Alen’s message to all who search for identity is not to be silent “because silence definitely hurts, and the truth, no matter how heavy and painful, simply liberates.”
The message to the public, society, and everyone is to give space also to children born of wartime rape.
Because of his struggle for the human rights of such children, last year, he received an award in Norway.
The printing and promotion of the book “I am Alen” was supported by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the Ministry of Education of the Bosnian Podrinje Canton, and the Association “Forgotten Children of War.”, Federalna writes.
