Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 5, 1994 TAG: 9409060056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUENA VISTA LENGTH: Long
"I didn't believe that I would come here one day," said 18-year-old Lejla Logo, looking a bit dazed but managing a tired smile. "I still cannot believe it, really."
Less than 24 hours after completing a grueling journey that took her from her family in Sarajevo to a school in Buena Vista, Logo was getting acquainted with her new home, Southern Virginia College for Women - and reacquainted with her cousin, second-year Southern Virginia student Zina Kavazovic, whom she had not seen in three years.
"I don't know what to expect," Kavazovic, 19, had confided the night before as she waited anxiously for her cousin to arrive at Roanoke Regional Airport. "We were very close, our families."
Judging from the tears and hugs that accompanied the reunion, Kavazovic needn't have worried.
Although the cousins both had been raised in Sarajevo, Kavazovic's father was transferred to Venezuela two years before the war began. The family had planned to spend just four years in Caracas and then return to Bosnia, but they were unable to re-enter Sarajevo once the fighting started.
During the years that her cousin's family has been in South America, life in their homeland has changed drastically, Logo said. Conditions are especially bad in the occupied city of Sarajevo, where reminders of war are present in even the most mundane daily activities.
Students dodge Serbian sniper fire on their way to school.
Residents fall asleep to the thunder of artillery shells.
Kids brave grenades to play outside.
Bravado isn't always enough to beat the odds. In February, six children who were playing in the snow in front of Logo's apartment building were killed by a grenade.
"People are now used to it," Logo said. "It has been almost three years."
Among residents of the besieged city, a dulled acceptance has replaced the frantic terror of the war's early days, Logo said.
"They don't care anymore," she said quietly. "But they will survive somehow, I am sure."
Kavazovic helped clear the way for her cousin to get to safety at the Buena Vista school this fall. But Logo worries about her 16-year-old brother, who is in secondary school and soon will be old enough to be drafted into military service.
He eventually may join her in the United States, but such trips are difficult to organize and dangerous to make. She herself had to leave Sarajevo via underground tunnel and armored car and then fly out of Croatia.
"I don't know what they're going to do with him," she said, then fell silent.
She fears for her parents, as well. Because communication with Sarajevo has been cut, she can keep in touch with them only through her cousins in Croatia. The separation and uncertainty likely will be harder on her than on her parents, she said.
"They know that I will be safe here, and I don't know what will happen with them," Logo said. "I mustn't think too much."
After a cease-fire that lasted for several months - but was always tremulous at best - the situation in Sarajevo has begun to worsen again, Logo said.
"When I left, things were better," she said. "But then snipers were starting to shoot again. They are playing with us all the time."
It is time for the Serbian forces to leave Sarajevo, to give the Bosnian people their lives back, Kavazovic said
"They destroyed everything, they killed people," she said angrily. "What else can they do?"
Right now, residents of the blockaded city have no electricity and little food, Logo said. Some medicine has been brought into the city by United Nations forces, but it is available only through hospitals.
Whenever they have been able to get packages through, the Kavazovic family has sent food and money to their relatives in Bosnia.
"We helped each other," Logo said. "That was the only way to survive."
At Southern Virginia, Logo has found a new family to help her, said Mimi Knight, the school's dean of students.
"This is a neat place for her, because there will be such support," Knight said. The 200-member student body embraced Kavazovic last year and certainly will do the same for Logo, she said.
"Our mission says we're small and caring, and that's the important thing," Knight said.
During the next few weeks, as the novelty of her new surroundings wears off, Logo will need that caring, Knight said. The realization that she has left her family behind, that she is safe while they are in constant danger, likely will hit hard, the dean said.
And even when - or if - peace is made and travel to Sarajevo again becomes possible, the uncertainty will continue for Bosnians such as Logo and Kavazovic.
What will be left of their war-ravaged country? Will they ever be reunited with the friends and family who have disappeared over the years? Will the memories of senseless killing and destruction ever fade?
"When it ends, it will not be the same," Kavazovic said. "It cannot be the same.
"But there's always hope. Of course, there's always hope."
Southern Virginia College for Women still is seeking financial sponsors for Logo and Kavazovic. Anyone interested in helping may call the college at (703) 261-8418.
by CNB