Sankar Raman

Music that Lifts the Spirit

When you think of courageous living, playing music is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But Dijana Ihas, a professional musician and refugee

Jim Lommasson

Coffee Pot & Grinder, Sarajevo, Bosnia

Imam Abdulah Polovina: In this photo you can see an old traditional handmade coffee bean grinder and the traditional coffee called “dzezva” for making Bosnian  

Jim Lommasson

Qur’an, Sarajevo, Bosnia

Imam Abdulah Polovina: This is the opening part of the holy Qur’an that I brought with me from Bosnia and Herzegovina where it shows my birth

Jim Lommasson

Books, Sarajevo, Bosnia

Imam Abdulah Polovina: This is the photo of an old collection of Mawlid poems and recitations. The term Mawlid is part of the daily vocabulary of the Muslim population  

Jim Lommasson

Viola, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

Dijana Ihas: This is the photo of my viola that my parents bought for me when I was 14 years young. I carried this instrument first, for 7 hours  

Brooke Hoyer

So Many People, So Many Miracles

Twenty-one-year-old Samir Mustafic was in the small orchard behind his home in Bosnia when Serbian bombs rained down upon his family’s property. 

Brooke Hoyer

It’s All a Matter of Perspective

His left arm lay dangling from his body. The angle was alarming–entirely unnatural. His midsection was in shreds, ripped apart by Serbian shrapnel that had punctured  

Nothing Else But Miracles

Samir was a teenager in love, his days full of farm chores, school and walking his girlfriend home. When war came to his corner of northeastern Bosnia,  

To Bear Witness: Even in Chaos

Teenagers when they met and fell in love, Abdullah and Hatidza did not let war stop them. After Abdullah joined the Bosnian army to fight for his country,  

John Rudoff

The Elusive Feeling of Safety

It was dark when they left. They walked and walked, women, children, parents, elders, through the woods, up hills, until his feet hurt and his grandfather had to scoop

Sankar Raman

And The Quartet Played On

“Outside the monster raged with flaming nostrils. But inside there was tranquility. The melancholy notes of Albinoni’s adagio drifted into every corner of the room,

Sankar Raman

Love in the Midst of Mayhem

It was a simple wedding and, but for the bombs exploding outside, a quiet one. She wore a plain gray skirt, a white blouse and a white hijab befitting a […]

Katy Weaver

Rebuilding Her Life to Reconcile

One of Dijana’s earliest memories is of sleeping in the woods with her family. They weren’t camping for fun though — they were hiding. “We were attacked in Bosnia