In 1992 the war in Bosnia was just beginning. Azra Vuk was 15 years old and had no idea just how bad things could get. As the soldiers forced them from their home her mother held her hand and promised everything would be alright. This is part 2 of a 2 part series.
In 1992 the war in Bosnia was just beginning. Azra Vuk was 15 years old and had no idea just how bad things could get. As the soldiers forced them from their home her mother held her hand and promised everything would be alright. This is part 2 of a 2 part series.
Description
Me You Us, sponsored by Consumers Energy, dives deeper into the physical, financial, emotional, social, and professional pillars that make up our overall well-being and contribute to our mental health. Through the sharing of personal experiences and conversations with industry experts, we can collaboratively support one another and increase our consideration for the personal well-being of those around us.
In 1992 the war in Bosnia was just beginning. Azra Vuk was 15 years old and had no idea just how bad things could get. As the soldiers forced them from their home her mother held her hand and promised everything would be alright. This is part 2 of a 2-part series.
William Krieger
The views and opinions of the guests of the Me You Us podcast do not represent the views and opinions of Consumers Energy. Hello, everyone and welcome to Me You Us, a wellbeing podcast. It's another wellbeing Wednesday here at Consumers Energy. And I'm your host Bill Krieger. Today is part two of the two-part series with my friend Azra Vuk. So we will pick up where we left off last week.
Azra
So my, my grandma couldn't walk anymore. My mom couldn't hold her anymore. So she was like, asking my mom, just leave me. Just guys. You go and you save your life. So it was really, really hard time for my mom to leave her on the street on the road. Because she was just like, you know? Like, you know. She was just, and she said, Just go Leave me. I'm old and just go and save your life and the life, you know, of the babies. So yeah, my grandma. My mom just left grandma there. And she promised her that you know, if she had any chance, she'll just come back and pick her up. So sometimes, like early in the morning we came to some city that was without power. Because everything was dark. So we came to some huge factory really dark. So there is like also the other soldiers that we didn't know who they are. They just told us to come in. And they give us some water and some food. I mean, we couldn't recognize nobody because it's really dark without electricity. So yeah, my mom's start asking if anybody can go back and pick her up the grandma, she was crying and she said they want to leave her on the road. And yeah, there are some guys who promised us that they will go there and try to find because there are many people who have been left on the road. So it was next day, son was coming out. So we just recognize that we are like between like many people around us just like in groups so yeah, I'd been explained there that there is not much food there is not much water or any liquid that that city was bombed before we came there. So no electricity I mean nothing so we were so tired and hungry, and we just couldn't move much in that time. So we were just laying you know trying to have rest, but you know when you're under stress and we didn't know what will happen next.
William Krieger
Right,so as tired as you where you really couldn't sleep.
Azra
Oh yeah. Baby was hungry, crying like many babies around us, like pregnant woman. Old people, sick people. You know, it was really, really terrible situation. So yeah, we've been told that we will stay there till next night. Again, it was waiting for dark, you know that they can shoot us. So my mom sent some soldier asked my mom if she remember where she left grandma? So he I should say, Yeah, I know. So she was asking him can she go with him back to find her? And he says, let's wait night you know dark, and we will go to find her. And that's what happened you know when sun go down, she been told us just stay here I will come back I'm going to find grandma. So yeah, she left with a couple of soldiers and in same time it was like afraid you know what will happen with her, so we didn't know anything. And she went back, and she found her next to the road you know, exhausted so she picked her on litlle car I mean I don't know how it's exactly name of that you put her on that, so she brought her to us and shortly after that we've been told again to go on trucks does it was dark again and that just didn't have that cover? They were so like….
William Krieger
Like a bench like wooden bench
Azra
Yeah, but not high, just like short Yeah, so that's again hundreds people on our tracks and again they took us somewhere and it was really scary because the soldier position are on the mountains so they could see everything were happening on the road and street so they start shooting us again so it was just like putting our heads down and trying to lay how much we could because it's so many of us you know there is no space so yeah there is like you know the shots like you know over our heads and again, I don't know how long you've been driving till we came someplace again like early in the morning middle of the street and they just say jump out of the truck again so yeah we came to a place that we did not and absolutely where we and then we saw like houses and my mom say let's just move in some house to hide.
William Krieger
Right get some shelter and be able to rest.
Azra
yeah so
William Krieger
So this town was empty that you went to like there was nobody there was nobody in these houses.
Azra
Nobody because it's same happened to them like what happened with us, they also been moved to another place somewhere. So that all most of the houses are empty. So we just move and just try to just rest a little bit. So there is not much of furniture, so we made like bed from two chairs. And we put the baby there and there is some old couch that my mom you know put Grandma there and it was all laying on the floor without blankets or pillows or anything just to have one but rest. I mean, now food is all just some little bit of people left their house like we did. And then day by day you have living there for like Months and months. In same time, we didn't know anything about our rest of family, right, like my two brothers and, and father. So we just need, like, long time to recognize what really happened with us.
William Krieger
So you where you were fortunate to be alive. But I have to imagine at that point, it didn't really feel like you were fortunate. Right? I mean,
Azra
It was just really hard. Really hard time for me and my family and rest of people. So after a while, we didn't have anything for eat. Because on first we ate the food that we found that house but like, after a short time, we didn't have anything. My mom, it was summertime. And we found some things in, in people gardens that we could use for, you know, just to survive. So there's so many people who came, like read it, you know, it was really for short time of period you know, people just, you know, grab everything from gardens. So shortly after that. My mom, she was just going to gardens to pick the grass. real grass. So, I've been asked her Mom, do you really think we can eat this grass? She say, yeah, honey. You know, I will prepare you will like it. So like, the babies were crying every night. Because they are hungry. We couldn't explain babies that we don't have food. So yeah, between all that bad situation. We had like a good neighbor. Who was there who had cow and chickens. And I remember she was bringing, like, every day, a little bit of milk and some eggs. You know because she heard baby's crying. And she knew it. You know, they're hungry. So yeah. She was bringing like, always something for babies. But the baby who was like just few months old, wouldn't eat anything, just milk. And yeah, that's day by day, we were just sleeping like that, you know, trying to.
William Krieger
So you where you were in this, I want to put a little bit of perspective on this too, is I remember when my kids were 15. And they were worried about the next iPhone they were going to get they were looking forward to getting their driver's licenses or going to prom and you were eating grass. And trying to live day by day not knowing where your family was at. So you're in this town you're living in this house. You still don't know where your father and your brothers are at. Can you talk a little bit about what happened? Did you find them and how did you find them?
Azra
Yeah, I mean, how you say your kids and all other kids in in the world? Yeah. And there's you know, dreaming about the toys you know about believe me? I was just dreaming about a piece of bread. And I told my mom if I ever have bread, I never will ask for chocolate or candies or anything. And I remember that moment. I was really dreaming during my sleep. I was dreaming that I'm eating bread. And I was so happy and then I woke up with my stomach was making like weird sound. I was really hungry. And then in morning I was like I'm carrying my body and holding my stomach because it was empty and in morning I told my mom I say you know what I dream last night she was like what honey I was dreaming that I'm eating bread and I was full and then I woke up and then I realized my stomach was empty and she was like, Honey everything will pass then you will be you will eat bread and you will eat chocolate again and again this is I don't care about candies. I just want to bread so yeah and like after and also, we didn't have any shampoo any clean water my mom was going like farther from the house to finding the water that we can have shower so she just she just made some homemade shampoos I mean, soaps and things like that that we can just you know clean ourselves and it was July 1991. So we start life like that it was much easier in our because summertime we didn't know I mean how long that will take so we were trying to ask be okay there was like in some point the Red Cross came to that city and tried to find our families you know, so they promise us they will connect us with men they are somewhere. So yeah, like I can't remember right now like exact time, but I believe like after two months we received the letter Red Cross letter from my father and my older brother. They just say that they are alive they are doing ok, and you know, so the Red Cross brought us the empty letters that we can write them that we are just telling them that we are somewhere also we are all okay and alive. You know? So yeah. If we knew it for renewed that my brother and all I need father and older brother alive, but we didn't know anything about the youngest brother who had two babies here and wife, so nobody didn't know what happened with him. So that was happening for like I believe four months beating her anything about him and then can you imagine situation like of his wife and two babies and then Winter came we didn't have any because there is no electricity, we didn't have any you know heat or anything. So again my mom you know she was thinking like real hero series should go and have the roots you know to make fire you know in in stove. Because that's really cold. Especially we blocked our windows with thick wood because of guards because they were shooting every day. And then there was like help from United States and all the Europe countries. They made like, organization, that start giving us food every week, let's say like, you know, there's exactly the so yeah, we've been, you know, giving us like, like, let's say a little bit of oil. Like I don't know, half pounds of the flour, rice, salt, sugar. It was enough, but it has some, some food, right? So yeah, I was like, kid like, kid I made friends there was playing outside, you know trying to have normal life.
William Krieger
As normal as it could be right?
Azra
So
William Krieger
It sounds like your mom really held things all together for everybody to Oh yeah. And I got to ask a question that's going to be a hard question for me to ask. I'm going to try to get through without crying myself. But I remember you talking about how you were on the road, and your mother held your hand. And she said, everything's going to be okay. And I just wonder when you see your mom today, and you hold her hand, and everything is okay. What's that like for you now?
Azra
It's just now, like, I'm mother. And maybe I didn't understand many stuff in that time because I was just teenager. And now sometimes I'm thinking how brave she was in that time to hold us all together and telling us everything will be okay, we will survive. How hard was for her in that time? So that's why how I told on beginning of this story, now it's my turn to help her with everything. That's why I'm going to Bosnia and trying to spend time with her and be with her how much I can because she was really, really hero. And there is no, you know, there is no thanks, enough.
William Krieger
Well, she kept she kept all of her promises, she said that you will be okay. She said that you would survive. She promised your grandmother, she would come back and get her. She promised you would eat bread again, as well as chocolates and candies, which I'm pretty sure you probably have, they probably all has a different taste and a different meaning though, I can only imagine.
Azra
It was just it hard to explain. Anybody who didn't go through that really had like, it was hard for me to understand that I don't have chocolate. I mean, really simple. Chocolate candy. But then when you're going through something you realize like how happy we are now you know, we have like, everything, what we need. So I mean, it was really hard to eat that grass without any days without any salt. Without, I mean, it has really, there is no taste. So now when I'm thinking in a way, I'm eating some food, and I heard people complaining, say like, really, it's now fair, and how many people is still now hungry in the world. So my message is people just respect you know, everything that we have right now on our tables, you know, in our lives around us. So that's the most important thing in the world.
William Krieger
And I can appreciate that and that's coming from someone who knows what it's like to truly be hungry, not just be hungry because I didn't have breakfast this morning but to truly, truly be hungry. Well, we are so glad that you're here. You know, for anyone in the audience who doesn't know Azra is really a part of our family here at the Krieger household. And we really appreciate her. We really appreciate you coming on and talking about this today. Maybe at some point in the future, I would love to sit down and talk about now that you're here and in what you've done and how you've gotten to where you're at. Unfortunately, right now we're running out of time. So again, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to talk with me and talk to the audience to give them kind of a perspective on how things were.
Azra
Thank you so much Bill for listening my story.
William Krieger
Thank you to the audience for listening in today. The Me You Us podcast is proudly sponsored by Consumers Energy leaving Michigan better than we found it. Remember, you can find the Me You Us podcast on all major podcasting platforms. So be sure to go out find us and subscribe. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please contact the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. That's 1-800-273-8255 If you are a veteran or know a Veteran who is in crisis, you can call 1-800-273-8255 and press one for the Veterans Crisis Line. And remember to tune in every Wednesday, as we talk about the things that impact your personal wellbeing.