Against all the odds

Abandoned nations in the face of atrocity, snipers picking off innocent citizens, countrymen slaughtering countrymen while the world looks on: this was the story of Bosnia in the 1990s.

The Bosnian war was the bloodiest and most ruthless European conflict since World War II. And where Serbs Croats and Muslims had all once lived along side one another, after Bosnia gained independence this became impossible as the majority of Serbs refused to accept it.

Goodbye Sarajevo tells the story of ordinary people torn apart by the war, and their amazing fight for survival amid the utter incomprehension that the outside world is ignoring their plight.

It is told through the eyes — and written by — two Bosnian muslim sisters, Hana and Atka, and chronicles the 46-month siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s which caused more than 10,000 deaths.

During the war, Atka remains in the besieged capital Sarajevo, while Hana is sent by her family to seek refuge in neighbouring Croatia.

Atka’s story is all the more significant given that Serb warlord Ratko Mladic is to face trial for war crimes committed around Sarajevo.

As Atka’s story evolves, the landscape takes on a life of its own and you are in Sarajevo with her family as they navigate the apocalyptic streets. The simplest of tasks — like fetching water — becomes a deadly game of roulette.

The inhabitants of the once thriving neighbourhoods pick their way through a city of ghosts with bullets raining down on them from the faceless killers high in the hills.

Electricity is limited, food is scarce, they live on rice for months and burn anything they don’t need to keep warm.

Not a day goes by without casualties, and for those lucky enough just to be injured, the hospitals are a disaster with ever dwindling supplies.

On the outside, Hana and two of her other sisters cope as best they can. The worry is constant but at least they are free — Hana knows she cannot complain, she is getting her education and is living in relative comfort.

Although the war is very much present in this tale, it is ultimately an amazing and heartwarming story of one family’s fight for survival against all odds.

Atka and Hana constantly wonder when the UN is going to step in and save the muslim Bosnian population from annihilation, but help only comes in the form of foreign journalists and the kindness of strangers.