Refugee stories, although woven from painful war and exile memories, are mostly crowned with satisfaction that life has returned to the pre-war place of residence, land, and property. New and beautiful houses have sprung up where you can live according to your standards, for yourself, your family, and your heirs.
On the occasion of World Refugee Day, one of such beautiful stories was recorded these days in Odzak, in plain Posavina, in the house of Bahrija – Fika Brkic. In 1997, she and her husband returned from Germany to the site of a destroyed house in the yard of which, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), there were trenches dug by members of the then Army of Republika Srpska (VRS).
“We came from Germany, and my husband and I were determined to continue living in Odzak on our land. I immediately started cleaning my property, removing sacks, beer bottles, and other garbage. I thought, if I stepped on a mine, it would be better for me to die than for my children, who stayed in Germany at the time. And so, gradually and slowly, without electricity and water, we cleaned up the burnt-out area of the destroyed house, later we started construction and built a new house, arranged the garden, the summer house, and auxiliary building”, says this 73-year-old Bahrija Brkic, whom friends, acquaintances, and family call her by the nickname Fika.
“Everything is beautiful abroad, in Switzerland where my children live and in Germany where we were in exile, but for me, it is more beautiful in my Odzak,” says this returnee.
Although she lives alone, Bahrija is not bored. During the day, she has work to do in the garden full of flowers, as well as the orchard, there are chickens in a separate yard. Everything is tidy and in order, giving the impression that it was done with love. Numerous details confirm this, such as decorative flower pots attached to holders, a fountain and a water pump in the yard, neatly stacked wood in a special auxiliary building, a chicken coop, but also painted fruit trees, homemade juices that she prepares herself, and the entire garden is bordered by a rose garden.
Bahrija – Fika Brkic confirmed, through her social engagement, the determination to make the return to the place of pre-war life sustainable through solving infrastructure problems (roads, sewerage, water), reconstruction of residential buildings, electrification, right up to solving problems of economic sustainability, health, and social protection.
Her house was years after the end of the war in BiH, the headquarters of the association of refugees and returnees not only for the Odzak area but also for the whole of Posavina. By volunteering with other activists, Bahrija participated in the implementation of numerous projects for refugees, returnees, displaced persons… Volunteer work related to helping people in the local community was unquestionable for her.
World Refugee Day is celebrated on June 20th to raise awareness of the plight of people around the world who are forced to leave their homes, N1 reports.
E.Dz.
