When Maja Jakic was 5 years old, her family fled Bosnia (former Yugoslavia) when civil war broke out in 1993. Her parents were practicing medical physicians, and she had 2 smaller sisters. They escaped to the basement shelter in their grandparents’ home, where it was decided that Maja would go with her father to Germany, and her mother and two sisters would go to another part of Bosnia. It was a chaotic and frightening time for the family.
Maja learned to speak and study German and stayed in Germany until she was 11 years old. The family was sponsored to come to Canada by a family in Herbert, SK, where they stayed for a year before moving to Saskatoon.
Maja has university degrees in nursing and psychology, and a Master’s degree in public heath, and today is a Clinical Nursing Educator with the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Her entire life has been about change, and she reflects how her childhood experiences have shaped her. Her parents were the same age she is today when they made the decision to flee their country, and she admires how they navigated incredible change to provide a safe and better life for their family.