93First personIn October 2017, with my parents by my side, I flew
to Sarajevo. I was excited, but also incredibly nervous.
I had no idea how any of us would react when we
finally arrived at the block of flats where Safa lived. After
I walked through the front door behind my parents,
Safa hugged and kissed me. Our reunion was
incredibly intense; I met my younger half-sister,
Dzejlana, who was born after the war, and also Safa’s
sister, my aunt, Fatima. Mum had brought photos of
me growing up for Safa to keep, and we were there for
four hours talking about my life.
Safa was 57 years old when we finally met and she has
Parkinson’s and epilepsy, but despite her poor health, the
strength of this woman left a lasting impression on me. She
might not be well physically or emotionally, but she’s kept
going and possessed the strength to see me. Before travelling
to Sarajevo we took advice from a psychiatrist with experience
of victims of rape in warfare, who said we should let Safa lead
the conversation. Safa is amazing, an inspiration and role
model and even though we couldn’t talk in the same language,
my friend Ajna Jusić was there helping with translation.
I met Ajna through War Child [a charity for children affected
by war] and she is president of The Forgotten Children of War
Association. She too was born out of rape in warfare. There are
so many of us – tens of thousands of women were raped,
and lots of children have had to grow up feeling unwanted and
carrying a terrible stigma. Many children were abandoned,
not knowing their mother or father, and have become
marginalised from society.
That’s why in 2012, I was driven to set up the Children Born
of War Foundation [currently a national organisation
operating in Bosnia promoting the needs and rights of
children born of war, mainly post conflict], and although my
normal day job is working in sales for a food company, I also
speak at events for War Child. Growing up in the UK has
helped me deal with the circumstances of my birth. I’ve
been able to keep it at a physical and mental distance. I’m
not reminded of my birth all the time, which would have
been very different if I had stayed in Sarajevo.
After everything she has endured, Safa’s courage inspires
me every day. We’ve kept in touch by letter and I write to my
half-sister, too. I have never thought about my biological
father. I am the product of rape, but I’ve been given an
opportunity and now I want to be part of the change. Rape
in warfare didn’t just happen in Bosnia, it takes place in
every conflict, and we have to put an end to it.’
Lejla will be speaking at the Preventing Sexual Violence in
Conflict Initiative (PSVI) international conference to be
held in November in London. SEMA is a new international
organisation for survivors and victims of sexual violence in
conflict, bringing together women like Safa to help them find
justice and support, mukwegefoundation.org /semaTHE BOSNIAN WARPolitical turmoil began when Yugoslavia started to
break up in 1991 and Bosnia and Herzegovina declared
independence. The civil war that followed lasted until
1995, killing around 100,000 people, mostly Bosnian
Muslims, and displacing around 2 million moreINTERVIEW BY LOUISE COURT. PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL LECKIE, GETTY IMAGES, ALAMY. HAIR AND MAKE-UP BY TALLY BOOKBINDER. JACKET AND DRESS, LEJLA’S OWN
THE SIEGE OF SARAJEVO
In April 1992, the Bosnian Serb
army launched a campaign of
ethnic cleansing, laying siege to
Sarajevo. It was the longest siege
in modern times of any capital city- lasting until 1996 – and 13,952
people were killed, many of whom
were victims of sniper bullets as
they ran though the streets trying
to go about their daily lives.
GENOCIDAL RAPE
Therape of between
20,000 and 50,000
Bosnian Muslim women
bySerbians ranks
among the worst
atrocities in modern
times.Many were
held and attacked
in camps.SREBRENICA
MEMORIAL
TheSrebrenica Genocide
Memorial Cemetery
honours the victims of the
1995 Srebrenica Massacre.
At least 8,372 victims
were murdered over four
days – the worst atrocity
in Europe since WWII.PRISONERS OF WAR
Emaciatedprisoners were found in a military camp
in north-west Bosnia in 1992. A US-brokered peace
deal wasn’t signed until three years later in 1995.