my uncle enes salihebgovic volunteered to fight in the war when he was 25. he, and other soldiers who volunteered, were taken to the top of a mountain and he was forced to watch his cousin be burned alive before being decapitated himself.

my other uncle, nasir salihbegovic, was 34 when he died. he was picking up dead bodies when a piece of a grenade fell on him and he died.

I never got to meet enes or nasir but these two men were my dads older brothers and they meant the absolute world to them. my heart will forever ache for the way they died and left the earth. attached are photos of my dads house that was left to ruins when he escaped his village

my babo was only 15 years old when he had to escape his village with his family to a nearby city. when him his mother and sister left, his father and grandparents were left in his village because the boarders had closed off. for years my dad wlaked 14+ hours everyday

in the woods to avoid being sniped by soldiers in order or bring his family and grandparents food and supplies to survive during the war before reaching refugee camps in tuzla

my nena hata was in so mich distress and pain after hearing about the deaths of her own sons, she ended up suffering from a heartache.

before the war, my mama would constantly visit srebrenica every weekend and summer to visit her grandparents and family members. when the war began, her own mama was only supposed to be taken to the refugee camps in tuzla, however, she kept crying to the soldiers and they let her

In the summer of 2018, my dads sister showed me the mountain where enes was killed and the road where she had to pick his body up at.

leave with my nena zumra. unfortunately, my tetka nadira was left alone with her own grandparents and other family members in srebrenica. she was only 11 when she was left alone without her family members to look for food and shelter all by herself. my parents showed me the road

she would walk on and pick berries to eat because she had nothing else to eat at the time.

my dedo mustafa, who also volunteered to fight in the war, heard that she was all by herself and came to visit her. while he was there he ended up being shot and because there was no proper medical equipment to save him, he ended up dying.

her and my great grandmother were on their way to see my dedo mustafa. My great grandmother had a bag of plums in her hand because she knew my dedo loved plums. She saw an ambulance pass by her and a foot sticking out of the vehicle. She said “to be moj mustafa” and she was right

my tetka Nadira was only 11 years old when she had to bury her father with her grandmother and other relatives in srebrenica at the time. my dedo lost his life while trying to visit my tetka who was alone in the war. my nena zumra became a widow at 36 and has not married since.

my dedo mustafas sister adored her brother so much. he was the only one who supported her. after hearing of his passing, she couldn’t believe his death and slammed her head into a wall, had a concussion and died from it. she left two kids whose father would die later on inthe war

the majority of my other family members would ultimately die in srebrenica. my mom would lose her great grandfather, uncle, and over 20+ cousins in a span of five days after July 11, 1995. SOME OF WHICH WHOSE BODIES HAVE NOT BEEN FOUND IN 25 YEARS SINCE THE GENOCIDE HAPPENED

I know that this thread may be sporadic and some things may be misspelled but I really am writing from my heart and soul. my hurt hearts for all the pain my parents and family members been through. I am so upset that I never got to meet these people.

I hope and pray that my family and thousands of others gain some sort of peace in the upcoming future.