The life was everything but easy for Zijo Ribic. He grew up in the war in which his entire family was killed.
He was only eight years old when members of the paramilitary formation “Simini Cetnici” killed nine members of his family, including both of his parents, six sisters and a brother, in the village Skocic near Zvornik. Eight-year-old Zijo was the only one who survived the shooting.
After the shooting, two Serbian soldiers found Zijo and transferred him to the hospital, and later he was transferred to the Institute “Simo Milosevic” in Igalo, Montenegro, where he spent two years because of severe trauma and sleep disorders.
Zijo’s only wish was to try to continue with a normal life. He was in the Home for children without parental care until 2005, after which he finished his education for a professional chef, which he paid from his own savings account.
At the end of 2016, a real twist happened in Zijo’s life after he received the keys of a social apartment in Si Selo in Tuzla. He received the apartment in accordance with the Public Call for submitting requests for lease of social housing units in the area of Tuzla under the project ” System of Social Housing”.
He moved into the apartment in January last year, and after just a little more than a year, Zijo announced the most beautiful news on his Facebook profile: he became a father. Zijo retreated several times that there is no place for hatred in his life and that he has forgiven the killers because he wants to live a normal life.
(Source: fokus.ba)
