Ognjen

Waiter

“I was shot by a sniper in 1993. The bullet hit me in the back and passed through my stomach. I was airlifted to a hospital in Croatia, and then I lived in Italy until the war finished. I moved back to Sarajevo after the war. There was a real sense of community here in Sarajevo during and after the war. We all suffered. But that seems so long ago. The political situation started going downhill here in Bosnia in 2000, and everything became more corrupt. The economy is so messed up now. I trained at a university to become a crime scene investigator, but I’m working as a waiter. There are no job openings for crime scene investigators, unless you have political connections. I’m divorced and have a kid. Some people tell me I should move to another country where the economy is doing better. But I can’t imagine leaving and starting over again at age 37. If war starts again here, I’ll leave the next day. I just don’t care anymore.”

(Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)