TRAUMA: A ROAD TO RECONCILIATION

25 years after the end of the Bosnian war, the memory of the 1992-95 continues to linger and impact those who live in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The war was primarily driven by ethnic and political tensions between the three major parties, the Croats (tend to be Orthodox Christians), the Bosniaks (Muslims), and the Serbs (Roman Catholics). This was a conflict that claimed the lives of over 100,000 people, most notably the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 muslim men and boys by the Bosnian Serbs taking place from the 11th to the 16th of July. This act has since been recognised as an act of genocide.

During my first term in high school I spent 7 weeks exploring the history, culture, and racial tensions that have come to define BiH. During that time I spoke to the mothers of Srebrenica, Hasan Hasanović (A Srebrenica survivor), local imams and priests, a translator for the UN, inter-racial couples, and an ex serb soldier. Each individual had their own story of how the events of the war impacted and continues to impact them to this day.