LIFE IS BITTER CHILDREN, BUT WE MUST LIVE IT
Mejra Đogaz, one of our mothers and a beneficiary of the project
“Love for Mothers of Srebrenica”.
A woman who often looked death in the eyes but it did not hesitate her to return to her hearth. To return to the paths where her children walked, her husband, hundreds of neighbors and relatives who were killed because of some crazy ideas. The only thing that no one can kill is a memory on their loved ones until the judgment day, as she often tells us, when she will be able to stand next to his children again and finally hug them tightly.
Mother Mejra Đogaz lives in Đogazi, not far from Potočari, she was born in Srebrenica on January 24, 1949. She lives alone in a house she built with the help of donations. “The house was all damaged by grenades, 29 grenades fell into this house, and I managed to rebuild it somehow, one part with a help of donations, and the other part from my own funds, “recalls mother Mejra.
We should have on mind that this settlement is quite far from civilization and bad road infrastructure, Mejra still lives alone and there is no one to help her with housework. Occasionally, she stays in Potočari in a house of a man who entrusted her house for safekeeping. She accepted it because the house is located near the Memorial Center, where, as she says, “her children lie”.
“Before the war, life was beautiful,” Mejra said us: “I lived on my own land, I had my husband and children, worked and was happy, nothing was difficult for me. I got married when I was 17 years old. No one hoped this could happen, you could sleep outside without a fear of being touched by anyone. When my son got married, I invited my Serb neighbors to come to merrymaking, because those were my neighbors. My husband and I often invited them to our home, we haven’t felt nor a shred of hatred towards anyone. ”
However, little by little, “some fear got into people,” says mother Mejra, “until yesterday they were our neighbors but now, they began to intimidate and frighten us.” She describes the period from 1992 to 1995 as: “Only Golgotha, life in fear, that’s how it was, they took everything from my house, they took cattle to have food for their children and mine was left without anything. They used to call my husband and ask; Mujo, do you need milk? “.
Mejra’s return to her area was not easy, she also had to fight with the Serb neighbors, who have occupied their courtyards and fields. She says, “One day I was in the garden, I was sowing something, then I heard something, I remember was my neighbor, singing those Chetnik songs, he came near me and sang and sang, and one day I shouted at him, enough, you’ve taken too much from me, you are still here sitting on my head singing songs. And then I told him: Remember, we are unhappy mothers, we are mothers of Srebrenica and you made of us mothers of Srebrenica, and because of that we do not approve singing! I haven’t heard his voice since then “: Mejra told us in tears.
Mother Mejra says: “If my children had harm someone or committed crime, I would never have returned to Srebrenica, but I have the courage to look every villain in the eyes.” She further states: “No one asks me if I need help except the Emmaus organization and the girls who work on the project” Love for Mothers of Srebrenica “, my soul is full when they visit me. Life is bitter, children, but we have to live it. ”
She buried her two sons, Omer and Munib, in 2009, whose remains were found in a mass grave in Snagovo, Zvornik municipality, and her husband Mustafa and third son Zuhdi were killed in 1992.
