Grandma Love

So..Last Friday I arrived in the Republic of Serbian part of Bosnia, in the north. A little town called Gradiska, where my parents grew up and where my grandmothers are at the moment. It has been mind blowingly difficult to be here. Really hard.

This family here is in an incredibly challenging environment, socially, physically and emotionally...all the time. This area is now dominated with people from a Serbian background - most of which moved in during the war as refugees. But they never left, and took over the houses that were originally built by Bosnian muslim families.

The youth here are largely unmotivated and hugely scared from their own first hand experience through civil war and the repercussions that followed. Most of them finish school - nothing fancy and usually with average grades. Some go on the university if they're lucky, but when they finish they struggle to find work. So they usually have little motivation for anything extraordinary - and they don't really believe in themselves.

The older generations are just getting by. The life they have here is kind of all they know. Most of them have some kind of mediacation for some kind of illness...and they have a lot of nasty memories.

In amongst all of this tragedy and wierdness though, I've found that somehow these older and younger generations are still quite positive and seem to have things to laugh about and be greatful for. My grandmothers especially. They're both extremely greatful women and huge pilars of strength.

I've learnt a lot about my parent's upbringing and what they went through, the kind of households they grew up in, etc. Things that never made sense in my own childhood and upbringing are now making sense. That part has been mind blowing and has seriously affected my own ability to reflect and understand my own mum and dad in a whole new light.

This is largely what I came here to work out.

But in saying that, there is still Sarajevo.

Thanks for reading!

Sej xx