Title
AHS-2019-05-12
Date of Interview
Summer 5-12-2019
Interview Location
St. Louis, MO
Length of Interview
1900-01-01
Date of Birth
2001
Gender
Female
Religion and/or Ethnicity
Muslim
Description
Born in Tuzla to mother and father from the city of Vlasenica, Has grainy memories of Bosnia mostly from pictures of spending a lot of time outside with parents, grandparents and sister, Family were pushed out of Vlasenica and moved to Tuzla due to the war, Due to the economic situation were unable to find proper employment in Bosnia and moved to the United States in 2003/03, Parents arrived in St. Louis with grandmother and sister, Had to relearn everything from the language to the culture, Family all lived in a one bedroom apartment in the city of St. Louis, First memories are of parents working nonstop and of not seeing them very often, Grandmother lived nearby where they often visited and where she gave them gifts, At the age of five family moved to Affton to the house they live in now, Remembers mother and father renovating the house and eating tomatoes while seated on the floor, Family moved to be in a better area with a better school system, After moving to St. Louis has never been back to visit Bosnia, Has a desire to visit Bosnia to see where she was born and to experience the city with its sights and sounds but the trip is too expensive, Friend group in school include everyone and not just Bosnian people, Friend group grew smaller as she got older but still had all sorts of backgrounds and cultures, Parents set the expectation of needing to have good grades all the time, Strives to get good grades to make her parents proud, Identifies as Bosnian American since she was born in Bosnia but in living in the United States has acquired the telltale signs of the American culture and identity, Bosnian heritage means understanding the hardships her family came from, Understanding that no matter how difficult something is you never give up and always keep going, Father is now employed at a trucking company while mother stays at home due to her father having a good paying job, Belives that what happened during the conflict tin Bosnia is a sad experience, Killing due to ethnic lines is not what should be happening and is a sad thing to happen, Family had to live in refugee camps and others lost family members that they still have no idea what happened to them, Wants future generation to know when listening to her that Bosnian went through many hardships and many hardships in order to get to where they are today.
Keywords
Tuzla, St. Louis, Affton, Vlasenica, Immigration, Education, Heritage, New Generation
First Country of Residence
United States
First US Residence
St. Louis, MO
Document Type
Oral History
Collection
Affton High School
Digital Format
MP3
Digital Publisher
Center for Bosnian Studies
City
St. Louis, MO
Copyright Note
These oral histories are made available by the Center for Bosnian Studies for research, educational, scholarly, and/or creative purposes only. All uses should adhere to the principle of fair use established under Section 107 of Title 17 the 1976 Copyright Act. More on fair use is available here: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/.
Rights Statement
