“Until I was 28, I lived with the idea of going back home,” says Dzenita from Bosnia and Herzegovina. “But when I started working here, made friends, and went back to Sarajevo, I realized that what I longed for no longer exists. Let’s be honest: my country is still not doing well, it’s very complex, and there is a lot of corruption.“ She couldn’t settle down. ”But I needed to experience that and look it in the eye. At that moment, I realized that I had to build a new bond with my homeland and that I love Rotterdam. So I chose Rotterdam.”
Fled
She came here in 1992 at the age of 11 with her mother and brother. “It was an unexpected escape. From one day to the next, our city, Sarajevo, was surrounded by the Bosnian Serb army. There was little food and no electricity. I had severe bronchitis and medication was hard to come by, so I couldn’t stand musty basements. So we arranged with various agencies to flee the city. We were going to leave the city in a large convoy of five thousand women, children, and friends. But Sarajevo is a city surrounded by mountains, and it was now surrounded, so we literally had to pass through the Bosnian Serb army. And this held us hostage for three days in exchange for weapons and their own people who were still staying in a barracks in the city. That was incredibly scary. Those images will always stay with me. The convoy behind us was already being shot at, so I think we were the last convoy to get through. It was arranged that we would be temporarily housed in the city of Rijeka in Croatia. Army tents had been set up on a mountain, and you had to lay out your own duvets and blankets. But we couldn’t stay there because there were already too many refugees.”
To my uncle in Rotterdam
The aid agencies arranged for the refugees to go to Turkey or Switzerland. Unless they knew someone in another country who could take them in. “We already had an uncle in Rotterdam. So he came to pick us up. I can still remember that trip to the Netherlands very well. Everything around me was getting flatter and flatter, haha. My father and the rest of the family stayed behind. That was a very tense time. I didn’t know if they were still alive, I couldn’t get in touch with them. I was sad and wanted to cry, but I was also happy to see my uncle. I think we had planned to go on vacation to my uncle’s that year, that’s why. It was a strange situation, especially when you’re a child.”
A mix
The family was only supposed to stay temporarily. “We thought: we’ll stay here for two or three months. But that became my life.” The first encounter with the people of Rotterdam was in a park in Delfshaven. “My cousins were already living with my uncle. They took me and my brother to a park. There I saw children of different nationalities. I remember how wonderful I thought that was. I forgot why I was there; I was just curious about the others. I knew some nationalities from TV or books, but then I saw them in real life. She still considers diversity one of the most beautiful things about the city. “I also experienced that multiculturalism in Sarajevo, where you can find a synagogue, a church, and a mosque just a few kilometers apart. In that sense, those different cultures and religions have never been strange to me. But in Rotterdam, the number of nationalities is really greater; here, you literally encounter the whole world. Now there are more there too, but at the time there were fewer.”
She feels comfortable among different nationalities and cultures. “When you are torn from your birth environment, you always become a mix. So I feel most comfortable with people who also have different roots, because then you share an experience with those people. On the other hand, you can also share things with people who have the same roots as you. And sometimes it’s still difficult to determine: what is Dutch, what is Rotterdam, and what comes from Bosnia?”
No-nonsense
In addition to the diversity, she also appreciates the city’s no-nonsense mentality. “I like openness. That fits with how I grew up, and I feel comfortable with that as a person. It also overlaps partly with the mentality of my country. Although people in Bosnia are a bit more secretive. But I also think that we can sometimes be too blunt or direct here.“ She can clearly trace that directness back to the city of Rotterdam. ”I studied in Amsterdam, but even then I noticed the difference. Amsterdam was fun to experience, but the Rotterdam mentality suits me better as a person. So I started traveling back and forth again.”
Still, she misses certain things from her homeland, no matter how small. “Like the mountains. And the clothing style; in Bosnia, we ladies were always dressed up. I don’t think we ever wore pants. My mother quickly felt overdressed here.” In her home country, she is used to drinking coffee spontaneously. “You don’t have to make plans for that, you just walk to that place when you know someone is there. But here you really have to make plans. In my country, we can be a bit too close for comfort. But I do miss that spontaneity here.”
Still, she felt at home very quickly, even though she didn’t realize it at first. “It happened naturally. In the beginning, I went to school and later to work, but in my head I was still living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Because I didn’t know if my other family was still alive there. When the war was over, i still missed them and Sarajevo a lot.” The language and a warm welcome from the Dutch people helped a lot. “I spoke English, so I was able to talk to other children quickly. I also translated for older people at municipalities and such. Languages are really my thing, so I had mastered Dutch in six months. And I made some really good friends. I always felt welcome among the Dutch people. They brought us bags full of clothes or accompanied me to government agencies to help me. I will never forget that.
Hostility towards refugees
She wants to impress this upon other newcomers to Rotterdam, especially refugees, with whom she feels a connection. “Bosnians were the first large group of refugees to come to the Netherlands. There was some hostility towards them, but mostly hospitality. And now the political course is mainly to limit migration. If you follow the news, you can feel unwelcome. But if you can communicate here, it opens doors. So make sure you master the language. Start with English if necessary, but also Dutch, which is also enriching for yourself. And know that there are people who are willing to help. And when you find those people, hold on to them!”
Prejudice and ignorance
Fortunately, she herself does not encounter much hostility, but she does sometimes see prejudice and ignorance. “Some people don’t even realize they have prejudices. When people speak negatively about Eastern Europeans, they often say to me, ‘No, not you! You’re fine!’… and there is a lot of ignorance. For example, Bosniaks (an ethnic group of Bosnians) are mainly Muslim. Although I’m not very religious myself. But when I say that I celebrate Eid al-Fitr, many people are surprised because I’m white. I think people still don’t know that we have muslims in Europe, while knowledge is so easily accessible these days.”