Diana's story

About Diana

A Personal Message from Sanela Diana Jenkins
This is a very personal campaign. My brother was killed just few days before the Dayton Accord ended fighting in Bosnia – the country where I was born, grew up and watched nearly die at the hands of a vengeful few. Nothing will back bring my brother – or the thousands of other brothers, sons and fathers, and daughters and mothers who also perished – but the community of nations can do much more to restore dignity, prosperity, justice and hope to all the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

My message, and the driving force of this foundation, is simple: The world must not forget Bosnia.

To much of the world, Bosnia evokes memories of mass graves and urban slaughter in an obscure and long-neglected corner of Europe. To me, though, Bosnia is a much more complicated and heartbreaking place – a place where memories of idyllic childhood summers collide with brutal images of war and constant reminders of its dehumanizing consequences.

The Bosnia I grew up in was part of Yugoslavia, a collection of states that also included Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Despite centuries of historic tension between various ethnic and religious groups, Jews and Muslims and Christians lived and worked together across Bosnia’s rolling hills and picturesque river valleys. My parents were middle class people who provided me and my younger brother, Irnis, with a comfortable life.

In 1992, that comfortable life was swept away. My life – and the destiny of Bosnia –irrevocably changed course when Serbian bombs began falling and hillside snipers made targets of schoolchildren. Serbia started the brutal aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992. Over the next four years, nearly 45% of Bosnia’s 4.5 million residents were made refugees as Serbian forces besieged cities and obliterated entire neighborhoods. More than 200,000 people were murdered – including thousands of children. Thousands of Bosnian women were raped. The massacre of 8,000 at Srebrenica, a little town in Eastern Bosnia, crystallized the horrors of the Bosnian War for the Europeans and Americans, who helped broker peace at the summit in Dayton, Ohio.

But for countless Bosnians, the end of war brought a peace that has been difficult at best. The country’s infrastructure was destroyed – from hospitals and schools to roads and power plants. The murder of my brother was a devastating personal tragedy – one that was repeated in countless families across Bosnia. It focused my efforts to ensure that the Bosnia both of us loved could one day be reborn.

That, however, will require more help from outside Bosnia. The nations, leaders and individuals who acted to end the fighting must now help nurture the peace. Peace means more than the absence of war. It means educational opportunities. It means access to quality healthcare. It means justice for those who were violated.

Lična poruka Sanele Diane Jenkins
U velikoj mjeri, ovo je moja lična kampanja. Moj brat je ubijen samo nekoliko dana prije nego što je Dejtonski sporazum okončao sukobe u Bosni – zemlji u kojoj sam rođena, odrasla i koju sam gledala kako skoro umire od strane zlocinaca. Ništa neće vratiti moga brata – kao ni hiljade druge braće, sinova i očeva, te majki i kćerki koji su takođe poginuli – ali zajednica naroda može učiniti mnogo više na vraćanju dostojanstva, prosperiteta, pravde i nade svim narodima Bosne i Hercegovine.

Moja poruka, glavna vodilja ove fondacije, je jednostavna: Svijet ne smije zaboraviti Bosnu.

Većem dijelu svijeta Bosna budi sjećanja na masovne grobnice i urbani pokolj na tmurnom i nadugo zanemarenom dijelu Evrope. Meni je Bosna, ipak, mnogo komplikovanije mjesto koje slama srce – mjesto gdje se sjećanja na idilična ljeta u djetinjstvu sudaraju sa brutalnim slikama rata te konstantnim podsjećanjem na njegove dehumanizirane posljedice.

Bosna i Hercegovina u kojoj sam odrasla je bila dio savezne Jugoslavije, koja je takođe obuhvatala Sloveniju, Hrvatsku, Srbiju, Crnu Goru i Makedoniju. Uprkos vijekovnim istorijskim napetostima između etničkih i religijskih grupa, jevreji, muslimani, pravoslavci i krišćani su živjeli i radili zajedno širom bosanskih valovitih brda i živopisnih riječnih dolina. Moji roditelji su bili ljudi srednje klase, koji su meni i mom mlađem bratu Irnisu osigurali ugodan život.

No, u maju 1992. godine, taj ugodan život je zbrisan. Moj život – kao i sudbina Bosne – su nepovratno promijenili tok kada su počele padati srpske bombe i kada su snajperi sa brda na nišan uzimali školsku djecu. Srbija je započela brutalnu agresiju na Bosnu i Hercegovinu 1992. godine. Tokom naredne četiri godine, skoro 45% od 4,5 miliona stanovnika Bosne su postali izbjeglice, nakon što su srpske snage u opsadi držale gradove i zameli čitave gradske kvartove. Više od 200.000 ljudi je ubijeno – uključujući hiljade djece. Hiljade bosanskih žena je silovano. Masakr 8.000 ljudi u Srebrenici, gradiću u istočnoj Bosni, je pokazao strahote bosanskog rata Evropljanima i Amerikancima, koji su posredovali u uspostavljanju mira na samitu u Dejtonu, Ohio.

Ali za mnogobrojne Bosance, kraj rata je donio mir koji je, najblaže rečeno, bio težak. Infrastruktura zemlje bila je uništena – od bolnica i škola do cesta i fabrika. Ubistvo moga brata je razorna lična tragedija – koju je doživjelo nebrojeno mnogo porodica širom Bosne. Ona je usredotočila moj trud na to da Bosna, koju smo oboje voljeli, jednog dana bude ponovo rođena.

Međutim, za to će biti potrebna pomoć izvan Bosne i Hercegovine. Nacije, političari i pojedinci, koji su radili na okončanju sukoba sada moraju pomoći u očuvanju mira. Mir znači mnogo više nego odsutnost rata. On znači mogućnost za obrazovanje. On znači pristup kvalitetnoj zdravstvenoj zaštiti. On znači pravdu za one koji su povrijeđeni.