The British media these days again reported on Clare Findlay, a woman with a big heart from Scotland, who in 1992, during the aggression on our country, hosted 21 children and four women from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) into her home.
Almost three decades later, Clare met some of them, but also a woman who was a translator for the children and Clare.
This incredible story of humanity has once again came into the focus of the attention thanks to the BBC show “Saved by a Stranger”, in which 79-year-old Clare met Petra Lovrekovic (45), then a teenager, who was of great help to this humane woman and her husband.
Namely, Clare and her deceased husband Andrew hit the headlines in 1992 when they opened their country house in Fochabers for as many as 21 children and four mothers, who fled from war-torn BiH.
Clare and Andrew wanted to help and did not hesitate to provide a home for one, possibly two children. However, they eventually hosted 25 refugees.
“We always watched the news at six o’clock. I remember footage of people being evicted from their homes, there were small children, some of them were carried, some were driving in wheelchairs… I felt we needed to do something. In the newspaper, we saw a call for foster parents who would volunteer to take one child from the war zone for three months. I said why not, maybe we should take two? “, told Clare, as the Scottish ‘The Sun’ reported.
She did the right thing during a terrible time
They started the procedure, but then there was a sudden turn.
“They called us from charity and said that the plane with 21 children and four mothers, including probably the children who need to come to us, cannot take off until they have the address they are going to. It was an emergency, my head was in a mess, and then Andrew said, ‘For God’s sake, it’s only going to be a few days, let them come here,” Clare explained an event that completely changed her life.
She recalls she was worried about how it would work, but when she saw the children, whose faces showed suffering, she was sure she had done the right thing in that horrible time.
“It changed me. I felt completely different. I loved them so much. It is very hard to explain,” said Clare.
After the arrival of the children, the whole local community united to provide them with love and support. People came to her home with bags full of toys and clothes, while local bakers and butchers gave them free food. But, the problem was that none of the children spoke English, so there was no way they could communicate.
However, the principal of Gordonstone School from nearby Elgin called them and shared the good news – that they have a student from abroad who can help. It was Petra Lovrekovic, thanks to whom Clare had just learned the information about the children she had received and the horrors they were going through.
First of all, they realized back then that children are not orphans as it was thought, but that they have families in BiH. Clare thanked Petra on the BBC Two show “for giving a voice to those souls”.
”These poor little children would never have seen their mother again if it weren’t for Petra,” she stated, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
