Sanja Unsanovic (Bosnia), Nawaraz Alan (Kurdistan), Adriana Navarro (Colombia), Dustin Batson (Spain)
University of Virginia Students
"Children of War"
March 27, 2003

Sanja Usanovic: Early in í92 when Sarajevo was hit and bombs started falling, we justÖwe used to sit around the house just watching the flames and smoke just rising in the air. And we were guessing which part of the city was actually hit knowing where everything was. And as the time went on, we at that time didnít think it was going to come towards us. But as time went on they were moving closer and closer.

I remember sitting at home and watchingÖas grenades flew above our house, windows and walls just shaking, thinking everything is just going to crash any moment. Lights and justÖit was just pretty much amazing when you think when about it actually. But we used toÖwe used to spend days and nights in basements with our windows covered with blankets and wood just trying to stay covered and trying to make sure that nobody can actually see us. Like tried to stay invisible.
There was no electricity. There was no water. And so basically there were like maybe five or ten minutes a day that we actually sneaked out of the basement and got some daylight. Basements were below the ground and some of the above ground basements hadÖpeople had to make sure that they were double walls so actually it was like no windows and the grenades wouldnítÖto make sure that we were covered as much if the grenadesÖif they hit the one wall that they wouldnít make it through the second wall. So that was basically trying to stay covered.

FoodÖdue to no electricity all the food reserves went bad. So basically if we had one meal a day we were considered lucky. Having to listen to all the fighting and all the sounds of bombs and grenades around the house was mentally destructive. Me as a twelve year old was thinkingÖwas asking my Mom, what is going on. Why are people doing this? Why are they attacking us, like what did we do wrong? But nobody knew the answer.
My mom decided that we needed to move out. We needed to just leave as soon as we can just to preserve our mental state. The first opportunity we had we packed a few things that we had and got in the car and drove through Bosnia, making our way into Croatia. As we were moving through Bosnia based on the different territories and based on the groupÖethnic group that was occupying the territory, we had to change our names. Because if we didnít have the proper nameÖwe actually werenít allowed to go and they probably would have killed us. So somehow by changing our names, we made it into Croatia. And coming into Croatia was likeÖwe thought it was going to be new life. Actually peopleÖwe saw people in the streets walking just having a normal life. And we thought a new life was going to start from there but it didnít actually.

I remember which is actually funnyÖI remember getting off the bus and seeing a little child in the corner eating a banana. I remember looking at my mom and like, wow, look, they have bananas which at that time was a big deal to me. But, nothing to them. So we found a little apartment in Croatia. But, my Dad stayed in Bosnia and we went to Croatia. And we tried to find a job and everything but that is where the main problem started. They had all their fighting and different needsÖand people started separating and people developed a lot of hatred between each other. So my mom being of an Orthodox religion, she wasnít able to find a job in Croatia. So there was another struggle, another fight trying to find a job and provide food for her two daughters.
Not being able to stay there very long, we fled to Germany where we lived for five years. Not being able to stay there either, we came to America in í98. So that is where we started a whole new life again and that is where I am right now. So, thanks. (applause)

Nawraz Alan: I have a lot to tell you but I really donít know where to start. I will just start at the end of the Gulf War when I was eight years old. And being Kurdish we had led a revolution in the north against Saddamís regime because we were trying to be free. And by the end of the Gulf War we had actually been able to get control of the three main cities in the north. But then after the United States came to the Gulf War and Saddam was losing, he pulled all his forces back out of Kuwait and came toward us in the north. And we knew he was on the way so everybody fled their houses. They either went to Turkey or Iran.
My family and I, we chose to go towards Iran because my father was a POW in Iran for about seven years and had actually just returned a month before the Gulf War. So we thought we might have a better chance of getting into Iran. But by the time we got to the border, no one was allowed to cross the border into Iran territory. And it was chaotic and havoc. And two days later, about five to ten helicopters arrived from the Iraqi regime and they committed genocide that day. They killed hundreds of people trying to cross the border. They killed kids, adults, boys, girlsÖanything that they could aim at. TheyÖI guarantee you more than a thousandÖtwo thousand people died in a matter of two hours.

My family and I were fortunate. We were hiding on a side of a little hill that was right there. And all the bombings and genocide was occurring on the other side. But we stayed there for about a day and a half. And were really quiet. And then we realized we are not able to get anywhere from here. So we just started walking back to our city. It took us about four to five days. And on the way home I saw the most depressing thing ever. It is unfortunately the most vivid memory of my childhood. I saw a five-year-old girls holding a doll covered in blood, crying over her dead parentsí bodies and asking them to please get up and letís go home. It was depressing. She is screaming and yelling, Mommy please get up, letís go home. I am tired. I am hungry. But they were dead. There was no response.

I tell you the only positive thing that came out of this was the Kurds were allowed to control the north and be finally free from Saddamís regime. But we were far from being safe from the Iraqi regime. They were a constant terror organization, bombings, explosions in my city committed by the regime. And one of them unfortunately involved my best friend. It was 1992 after the Gulf War. It was a Tuesday. And my friends and I just got out of school at 2 oíclock. And my best friendís family owned a liquor store about a half-mile from our apartment complex. And he usually went to hang out with his father at the liquor store. Ten minutes after we got out of school, we heard the loudest explosion. We knew there was something wrong. The ground shook violently. There was smoke. And a few friends of mine and I started running towards it. And when we got there, there was a car on fire. And we saw this big, black objectÖthere was blood everywhere. It is screaming, and yelling and it is in anguish. And it is my best friend.

He had stopped to tie his shoes, leaning on the car. And the car blew up. By the time he got to the hospital, it was too late. He died.

That wasnít it, though. There were constant explosions and car bombings throughout. War had become part of our lives. Here, our lives are shaped by our schooling or our jobs. There it was different. It was explosions and wars. And after we got our freedom in the north, there were still civil wars between ourselvesÖbetween the two major political parties known as the PUK and the PDK in the north. They were trying to fight and gain control or dominance of what we had in the north.

Many nights in the middle of the night, in the dark, we were woken up by sounds of RPGs, missiles going over our apartment complex, gun shots, AK-47s, this all occurred in my neighborhood in the front of my apartment complex. It was 3 am. We woke up to the gunÖto the noise of the explosions and grenades thrown on the ground. And my little sister, she was about five years old at the time, she is freaking out, she is crying so hard. And we gathered ourselves in this little hallway we had with no windows. And you keep asking yourself, my god, is this one going to hit. Is this missile going to hit. Is the next one going to hit? Are we dead yet. AreÖis this grenade going to kill us all. There is a feeling you getÖI canít put into words. Just sitting there knowing that this is it. You are going to die right now, right here, at this moment. All you can do is pray and ask God to get you through this.

I can definitely feel what the people are going through in Baghdad right now. The innocent people. There is just a feeling you get when you hear planes fly over your house and drop bombs in your neighborhood. I donít care how macho you think you are or how strong or how big, how tough, you canít help but feel afraid. It is a feeling that you donít want to get any day.

That night we actuallyÖour building got hit several times. We could feel it. Glasses were shattering. Everyone was screaming. And it fortunately stopped around 6 am. And we walked out of our building and I swear to you it was a miracle. Our whole apartment complex was standingÖwas supported by one block. That was all that was left. And it was keeping the whole building together and hadnít collapsed on us.

We were able to reconstruct it but a neighbor was actually killed in theÖthat night. And he left about 4 kids and it is really hard being a single mother in Iraq with four little kids to raise up. I just hope no one gets the feeling that you get when you are about to die in the middle of a war. It is the worst feeling. And to put it into Platoís words, only the dead have seen the end of war. It is true. Thank you. (applause)

Adriana Navarro: The story I am going to tell you is somewhat different from what you heard. I have been fortunate enough in my life not to have lived in what you can call the front lines. You know, I havenít had bullets shot at me. But I have lived in a country that has been at war for a long time.

Columbia is a special case because it is an undeclared war. It is a war that started fifty years ago by a guerilla group that was following the ideals of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. And it got a little more complicated because they joined forces with the drug dealers. And they lost the ideals now and they just became terrorists doing horrible, horrible things like massacres, bombs, you know, kidnappings, tortures.

I guess the first exposure I had to the situation was when I was five years old and my best friendís father got murdered by drug dealers. And even though I didnít really understand what this meant, I mean, I just had a feelingÖI knew something was wrong. And then very soon after this, the Palace of JusticeÖbasically a supreme court building in Columbia got taken over by guerillas. And all the judges were massacred, basically. And right after this, Gallan was a presidential candidate, got assassinated while he was giving a speech.

So like I said, I was too small to actually understand what this meant, but all the stress and the anxiety and the fear going on around you, I mean, you could feel it. And it just became a way of life like you got used to living in that fear, I guess. And it became normal. But now it is not normalÖyou know, we had to leave the country because we got life threats because my mom was American. And they were threatening everyone that was related or had a link to the United States.

I guess I moved to Bogota whenÖwhich is the capitalÖwhen I was around nine years old. And I remember having, when I was around twelve, these probably like three horrible years where Pablo Escobar was putting bombs in the major cities all over shopping centers and public places. And I remember the first one. I was in my schoolís library and I was studying. And we had this glass dome, I guess. And there were some kids playing outside. This huge thunder came along and the dome just started shaking. And I thought it was one of the kids who had thrown a ball. And so I just turned around and I saw that everyone was just running. So I got up and started running with them. And then like it hits you and you know it is a bomb that exploded next to your house. And you donít know, are your parents alive, are your friends aliveÖdo you still have a home or not. It is a horrible feeling.

And this went on for a while. And I just remember like lying at night, not being able to sleep. And this is coming from someone who was very over protected. And I stillÖyou have that fear and that nervous feeling. It is a pain in your stomach and you canít get rid of it. And you learn to live with it. You start becoming indifferent to all that is going on. You basically learn to forget because it is the only way you can somewhat have a normal life.

A bomb explodes inÖI donít know, street 60 and they close that one off. But you know, 61 and 62, 59, 58, they are still open. People continue to live. And you, like I said, start becoming indifferent. You expect to turn on the TV and see towns massacred, horrible things, car bombs, I mean, when you are in Columbia and you see a car that is in front of your house and it has been there for more than five minutes, you call the police. And all this stuff is happening around you. Like I said, I was fortunate enough not to have anyone in my family hurt. But it is not a pleasant feeling.

And even today now that I am in the United States, every time I read the news, every time I am reminded of my country, it is just hard because you know, people are suffering. You know families there. I am sorryÖAnd I canít go back and visit. My parents are too afraid that something is going to happen to us. And because my brother is here with meÖyou know it is hard because it is my country and good or bad, you know, war or no war, you love it. And it is your home. And not being able to go back is extremely hard even though I am here. Seventy percent of me is still in Columbia. My heart is still in Columbia. And once again, this is coming from somebody who has been extremely fortunate, extremely over protected in life. And I can tell you directly or indirectly, war scares you. Thank you. (applause)

Dustin Batson: I was born in Florida. I donít come from a country that was totally terrorized by war, terrorism. But I did live in Spain from 1995 to í96 in the capital of Madrid. And during that time, ETA, the Basque Liberation Army, reconstituted their military campaign against the Spanish government. It is a separatist movement with questionable, popular support. ETA is a terrorist organization that when it declares and end to a cease-fire, blows up bombs in cities and throughout Spain but particularly in Madrid. And in the capital of El Pais BasquoÖthe Basque province.

And I guess what I wanted to do up here is sort of give you a snap shot of what a war looks like in a major, western city. It doesnít look like large-scale warfare that you see on a battlefield by any means. It is a military police occupation, at least as I understood it, with the National Guard on every hundred feet on every major street. It is an enemy that you canít see. You only feel.

And ETA did very little as far as popularizing and explaining what they were fighting for. As most people in Madrid understood it, they were simply blowing things up. And it is buses blowing up at the mall. I guess when I got to DC; parts of Washington look very much like Madrid. And I canít help but think of Tysonís CornerÖall the buses that go into there and the metros and what not. What would it look like if that blew up? If you had just a standard passenger bus explode in the middle of the street. And I saw that.

To sort of elaborate on the bus incident, it was a beautiful April day and my Mom and I said, you know, we canít let ourselves live in fear here. It doesnít help. And we talk now about letting the terrorists win but I think that is really a false assumption. That anyone wins in something like that. But we didnít want to just be completely immobilized. We wanted to live our life. And so we took the bus down into the north, central bus station. And then took it into the Calle Serrano, the main shopping street in Madrid.

And we got off at the stop and my Mom and I turned and looked up at the sign where we got off. Ah, shoot this is the wrong one. And then we turn and look up the street where we actually wanted to get off and as we did, the ground shook. And we saw smoke and we heard screaming. And obviously we heard the explosion. But it didnít really strike us as to what really happened until we carried on and we went shopping. We were completely numbÖit just didnít occur to us what we had seen. And it was only when we got back home that we saw on CNN International that a bus had exploded in the center of Madrid and we realized that had we gotten off at the bus stop that we intended to, we wouldnít be there to watch it on TV.

And it was then that, as my father came home, he was likeÖdid you see what happened? There was a bus that blew up downtown again. And we said, yeah we know. And it was then that my mother said, we are leaving. My father did manage within a week to get us transferred to his company offices in Holland.
I guess what I realized is how numb violence makes you because it is difficult to really comprehend what you see and whatÖwhat was it exactly that I experienced? And that was my friend that was bleeding. That was a bomb that made that crater in the street.

What I have learned and what I have sort of concluded is that there isnít justification for targeting civilians and non-combatants no matter what your cause. There has been a lot of rhetoric in the US about terrorism as another ñism, like communism or fascismÖbut terrorism is a practice. It is not an ideology. And for whatever beliefs you might have, terrorism is a way of presenting those beliefs and it is a wholly inappropriate one. Because, a fourteen-year-old teenager going shopping with his motherÖthey have nothing to do with your political agenda. It simply doesnít make sense that the people going shopping can be military targets.

And the last thing that I wanted to say is that terrorism is intended to break apart communities. To create mutually suspicious individuals out of families and neighborhoods. It is create an element of fear to make a society ungovernable and for lack of a better term, un-live-in-able. It is to make people want to flee and to leave their homes or their houses or whatever communities that they have set up. It is not an abstract principle for people who have lived through it and fortunate to have had to live in it very long. But I wanted to say what I did feel today for what it is worth and I hope it has helped something. Thank you. (applause)