Settling

At the end of 2020, Aida was in a similar position to where we left her story in 2019. She was working at the YMCA North Staffordshire, volunteering with charity Remembering Srebrenica as the West Midlands Board Member and studying for a degree in Modern & International History at Staffordshire University.

In January 2021 her husband, Robert, a grenadier guard, had a stroke whilst in London and was missing for over 10 hours, " I went to the train station here in Stoke to wait for him in case he actually made it to the train home.” She remembers, “I was in tears. I was devastated, you know. Not knowing what has happened.”. Eventually he managed to get a taxi back to his army base in London, and was immediately admitted to hospital. 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic social distancing measures were in place, Aida recalls, “ I said to him, ‘Does your window look out on the street?’ He said, ‘Yes.’, ‘Tell me which street. I'll be there tomorrow. I’ll wear a red coat.” Aida arrived the next day with a friend, “ It was the closest I could get [to him]. However, he escaped, and he came to see me. I told my friend just take pictures, just take pictures. I genuinely did not think I would see him again. I could tell he couldn’t hug me with both hands because his arm was basically just hanging.”. After an operation in January he went home to recover and retired from the army after serving for 24 years. His main duty is looking after their Dachshund Mali, (meaning Little One in Bosnian).

Around this time Aida was writing My Thousand Year Old Land with Borderlines director Susan Moffat. The documentary play is based on survivor testimonies of the Bosnia and Herzegovina war in 1990s. The play was inspired by Yizkor, Sue Moffat’s documentary play on the Holocaust Aida saw in 2015, “ That night Sue came to me and she said, ‘Would you make a play about Bosnia? You and I?’. And I said, ‘Yes’.  Ever since then I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”.

The play premiered at The New Vic in July 2022, toured the UK and was live streamed to 22 different countries, ” We worked a lot with the [widowed] mothers, that was incredible.” Aida recalls,  “You know, they lost so much, like 30, 40, 60, 80 immediate members of their male family. And they still do not preach hatred.”.

It’s important for Aida that she shares her experience with others, “I'm alive and I have a voice, so I'm going to use it for those who are no longer here and not able to use it. That's the least I can do.”. She reflects on her plans for the future, “ I would like to take the play to Bosnia. That's the biggest thing, for the mothers, my families and friends.”

Despite this difficult period, Aida completed her studies, with her dissertation focusing on interpreters who worked during the Bosnian war, which she found to be a cathartic process. Often interpreters felt ostracised or vulnerable due to being associated with foreigners, “they were also faced with a paradox” Aida explains, “of being neither a peacekeeper nor a local anymore, which forever left its mark.”. For example, some interpreters struggled to find employment in Bosnia after the war because of a lack of trust from locals. Aida hopes her dissertation can be a guide to others working with interpreters in the future. 

In June 2021 Aida was nominated for an MBE, she initially thought it was a spam email but soon realised it was genuine. She was nominated for her work spreading awareness of the Srebrenica genocide and combating hate speech. She decided to wait until spring 2022 to receive it from Princess Anne in person. They discussed Aida’a charity work and Princess Ann’s visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2015, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, “ I remember her travelling to meet the [Bosnia] mothers, I told her how grateful I am for that.”

By this time Aida had graduated and was working in the Borderlines team at The New Vic Theatre. Borderlines works with vulnerable and marginalised people, engaging them in theatre activities, “If somebody told me you'll be working in the theatre, you know, I would laugh in their face. Now I see the power of theatre and I’m one of the biggest advocates. I've seen how it works.”. She recalls the story of a previous project participant, “ He was non-verbal and did not want to engage, he did not even look in our eyes. Now he's high fiving us! You cannot get him off the stage, he loves it. His speech has improved so much, you know his confidence too. He's saying hello to everybody, like incredible, after only six hours of sessions.”.