[wzslider autoplay=”true”]Vanja Crnojević was born in Maglaj. When the war broke out in BiH, she left to Switzerland with her parents. Leaving her hometown and her country was a very difficult experience for her, and she never got over it totally, partially because she was very fond of her hometown and people who live there.
“My grandparents did not want to leave town so I spent my entire childhood afraid for their lives, I suffered and developed a bad conscience towards my friends who stayed in Maglaj. I was wondering why it was precisely me who was spared from all that misfortune and I could not find peace with living in Switzerland in no way,” Vanja says.
Vanja sent them letters and chocolates whenever someone would go to Bosnia and wanted to take that and deliver it to them. She dreamt of helping her town until in May 2014 her wish came true, despite how horrible it may sound. The floods nearly destroyed her hometown. She decided to help and launched a campaign “Help Maglaj” in Zurich. (http://www.srf.ch/news/regional/zuerich-schaffhausen/secondos-rocken-fuer-ihre-alte-heimat)
Crnojević was a guest in the show of Vanja Semić, where she talked about the corrupt society that Bosnians and Herzegovinians live in. She supported the organization “Civil victims of the war” and received a recognition for that. After that, she talked a group of people into fighting for their rights, and they succeeded. The “flooded and discouraged” were established and entered the fight with windmills.
“In August last year, I saw on Facebook the scene where Macedonian soldiers beat the innocent refugees, I bought myself a backpack because I did not own one, raised 2.000 CHF from my friends and went to Preševo,” Vanja says about one of her engagements.
Vanja soon attracted the attention of many media.
“I think it’s because I am a woman, because I, Vanja Crnojević, teamed up with a group of Albanians who were helping in Preševo, because we are living in a very racist and dumb society where some people find it weird when people help other people. I always saw people as people and I do not feel the need to explain that now,” Vanja says.
Not long after that, Vanja formed her own organization called Borderfree, symbolizing the borders in the heads of people that should, according to her, be eliminated as quickly as possible.
Suddenly, it was all about her, not about the refugees. In the beginning she was bothered with that, but then she realized it is necessary because without donors and media attention she cannot help the people who need help.
“Now we are working on bigger projects and you can see it all on our Facebook page or webpage. I quit my job that I used to do and now I am fully committed to the refugees on the Balkan route. I work three weeks in Greece and Serbia and two weeks in Switzerland,” says Vanja.
Vanja is divorced and has a son, Noel, who is ten years old. He is staying with her parents, where she also lives when in Switzerland because she cannot afford the apartment that she used to live in.
ST
