Food Shortages, Violence Drove Family From Bosnia To Boissevain

September 30, 1999
Refugee Assistance

After spending the first decades of their lives in a cozy village home in Bosnia, with family surrounding them, the life of Cheely and Senada Traljesic was torn apart by war.

They endured four years of violence and food shortages as Bosnia convulsed in the ethnic violence that has gripped the Balkans this decade. Cheely fought on the Muslim side of the Bosnian conflict until, shaken by the horror of what was happening, he quit. He and Senada ended up in a refugee camp where they languished for a year.

"War destroyed everything that is normal for life," says Cheely. "All that you did is nothing."

"All that you had is gone." Still, he clung to the hope they would find a place to belong again.

Meanwhile, across the ocean in the sleepy farming community of Boissevain, Manitoba, the Mennonite Brethren church decided to help a refugee family. It took a few years of red tape and false starts, but eventually the right connection was made. The Traljesics had found a new home.

They arrived in the midst of a cold blast of winter in January 1996. Over the first few months they slowly became more comfortable with the English language. They found work, and by six months had bought a modest two-story house. "If you have to start your life from zero it is hard. But it is something," says Cheely, 36. "Boissevain is a little town but we have everything here."

Their story is the story of many refugees. They are people whose pasts have been destroyed. They are fleeing war, persecution, political upheaval. Refugees are looking for a piece of "normal" again--a taste of hope to propel them onward.

Of the approximately 15 million refugees in the world (not including the millions who have fled their homes, but not their countries), Canada accepts approximately 25,000 each year.

In the last 20 years, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has helped Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches in Canada sponsor some 10,000 refugees to come to Canada. Besides volunteer time and energy, the church groups have spent an estimated $50 million to help these newcomers settle in a new country.

In the Traljesic case, MCC helped the Boissevain church sort through the layers of paperwork and facilitate the right match.

The Canadian government covered costs for the first three months of the Traljesics stay in Canada, while the church guaranteed financial support for the rest of the first year, along with moral and social support. It only took a few months, however, before the Traljesics were fully supporting themselves financially, and beginning to fit into their new community.

"I know it has taken a lot of time with them and effort, but it's very rewarding to watch them learn English and so on," says Kathy Peters, part of the church's voluntary committee that has worked with Cheely and Senada.

A number of church families have spent a lot of time with the newcomers. And they've become good friends. "I think it's been well worth it," agrees Ben Martens.

"Now you have peace, you have food, you are working," says Cheely. "You need time....Now I have been here three years and I finally feel normal."

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