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When I returned my apartment was completely destroyed, along with thousands of flats in Sarajevo and in every part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. My struggle for a new life lasted two years and included my addressing humanitarian organizations and asking for help to modestly furnish my apartment. I often stumbled on the way, tired from everything, the war, being a refugee, fresh emotional wounds from my biggest tragedy, losing my only child—my son. During the war I said and I believed that I would return to my home city. Many people looked at me in disbelief and thought that I was crazy. My strongest desire was more powerful than the petty obstacles I encountered every day. During that period, from 1996 to 1998, I was constantly traveling on the Zagreb-Sarajevo route. In Zagreb I was a refugee in a rented apartment and in Sarajevo I stayed at different addresses, in homes of my good friends. Even though they were all impoverished from the war, they gave me a warm and kind welcome. Every time I came to Sarajevo, I did some renovation work on my apartment with a lot of help from my friends. October 20, 1998 is an important date for me, a new birthday, it is when I finally entered my renovated home, completely empty, but MINE. Apart from the key to the front door, which I wore like a child on a red ribbon around my neck for luck, I had two bags with basic necessities. I had to look for a job. I needed basic things for living, which seemed like it had only just started, but I was tired already, like it was ending. I can say today that I received that life shot here in Zagreb, at the Center for Women War Victims. Working in the Center, I learned a lot about how to design your own life and help support others during the most difficult periods of life. Eventually, I found a job as a promoter for the firm Tuperkomerc, where I worked for three years because my pension was sometimes not even enough to cover my bills. This job helped me modestly furnish my apartment, basically beginning with a spoon. I am currently a sales representative for Oriflame, a Swedish firm that sells cosmetic products. I would like to do more humanitarian work, but what I do for a living now is necessary to make ends meet. I cannot retire yet; life forces me to be active. I am not afraid to work. I am glad that I am still able to work, and considering that a lot of young people are unemployed, I am not choosy, but work in jobs for which I believed I had no predisposition. (Katarina Popovac, Ac
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