Haris Behram from Mostar knows best what it means for an eight-year-old in the whirlwind of war to get candy from one soldier when there is not enough bread. He was reminded of this by a photo with Spanish soldier Salvador Andres Pelaez, who was looking for him and other children with whom he was photographed in 1993 in wartime Mostar.
“When I saw the photo on the internet and recognized myself with the Spanish soldier, I was overwhelmed with emotions. I immediately called him and he asked me to turn on the video call, which caused a storm of emotions and tears in our eyes,” explained a man from Mostar who rebuilt a broken relationship and is looking forward to hosting his benefactor in Mostar this summer.
He mentioned that he was most impressed by the concerns of a Spanish soldier who was on a peacekeeping mission in our country because he immediately asked him how he was and if he needed anything.
“He told me that he considers us as his children and that he had been looking for us for years. He didn’t know our real names or the way to find out if we were alive, where we were, and what we were doing. He noted he came in 2018 but no one could recognize us in the photos, so fortunately he now shared photos on Facebook which now news portals in BiH posted and allowed us to renew the connection. He intensively monitors the situation in our country and invited me to come with his family to Spain, because he doesn’t want us to go through the trauma again. But I explained to him that the situation in Mostar is good and he was especially happy when I told him that we all live together in this city and that my best friend is Damir Beljo, a Croat who lives inanother part of the city, ” Haris explained.
They also remembered the war days and the moments when he and his company from Titova Street spent half a day waiting at the United Nations (UN) transporters for him to come and bring them candy, an apple, or a banana.
“What candy meant to us then, when there was not enough bread, is hard to describe. I invited him to come and be my guest as much as he wanted. I want to show him Mostar in which we live and take him to all the beautiful places. Whatever I do for him, I can’t repay him for the joy he brought to me and other children in Mostar during the war, when our area of movement was only two hundred meters near their transporters, ” pointed out Haris.
Also, he said that a Spanish soldier admitted to him that he often talks to his colleagues about the peacekeeping mission in our country and that some of them still have nightmares because of the scenes they saw.
The photo with the UN soldier and Haris Behram shows his cousin Almir Behram, who is now a professional firefighter in Mostar and has also re-established contact with the Spanish soldier, and he heard that Sabina Segetalo-Baralija and Zlatko Pobric from other photographs also contacted him.
E.Dz.
Source: Klix.ba
