“We drank a sip of water from the bottle cap, so that it would last longer” – this is how Semir, who was evacuated from the Gaza Strip a few days ago, begins the story. He and his family lived in the northern part. At first, they thought it was an earthquake. They realized that the war had started when they saw the dead bodies in the streets. He is now safe in Salakovac, but he is waiting for news about other family members every day.
“Everything was left behind me, the house, brothers, sisters, I haven’t heard from them since the war started, I have four sisters, some of them have already left, some have stayed. If I were to think about going back there, it would be disastrous for us. You really can’t imagine, that you lose dearest people. We want peace for us and our children. You take care of a child, but it’s not a tree, and suddenly you see it’s dead,” says Semir El-Barawy.
Although they no longer attend such scenes, they are afraid of the dark. When they close their eyes, the shocking images of war reappear.
They found refuge in a reception center near Mostar. The 29 of them say they are satisfied, grateful, they are finally warm and safe, but they are not happy. They thoughts are still in the Gaza Strip.
“It cannot be forgotten, we still have family that is there. My brother hasn’t come yet, uncles, mother-in-law, there are a lot of them. Disaster, the situation is a disaster. We escaped from my apartment, because they were throwing grenades while we were in it. Thank God we stayed alive. “Ten people died in my apartment while I was there,” young Ista Shehada said.
Sutka El-Barawy, a native of Bihac, felt safe when she set foot on the soil of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Now, she says, she is looking forward to the day when she can hug her daughter again. And he wonders where they get the strength to survive all the horrors.
“My heart started beating when I entered BiH, I said then that I and my family were saved. Enough more, we are alive. We went knee-deep in sewage to fill a bottle of water for the children. One and a half thousand students can be in the school, there were nine and a half thousand of us enrolled there, so a total of eleven thousand, side by side. No water, no food, if you need bread, you have to walk 5 kilometers, stand in line for 4-5 hours, you can get it or maybe not. A grenade goes off, a lot of people die. You come back without bread, the children are hungry.”
However, they are pleased with the friendliness that was provided to them in BiH.
“We are here willingly, we don’t have any problems, we have everything we need, every moment they ask us if we need anything, if this is good, if you want anything. Every five minutes, people, official bodies come to us to look after us and see if we need anything,” says Ahmed Shahin.
After recovery, the process of obtaining new documents and finding new, permanent accommodation awaits them.
“As far as apartments are concerned, we have them all over BiH, in over 10 cities, and we are waiting for their decision whether they want to go to those apartments or not. When they decide, they will have a list of apartments, the square footage, the place, the city, they will be there where they declare they want to be. The state stands behind that apartment and pays all the costs,” says the Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, Sevlid Hurtic.
For now, they are not thinking about moving. They need more time to recover and move forward, N1 reports.
