Hello World • Leila Prnjavorac

Leila is an ambassador for peace and freedom in everything she does. 'I have been given a platform to share my stories and give a face to an ex-refugee. My story is that of the more than 473 million children who live in war zones or are on the run, and of those who are no longer able to tell it.'

On the run

Leila was nine years old when the war in Bosnia broke out, and eleven when she and her family had to flee. 'We were told that our city was being cleared and that if we stayed we would be killed. My father had already been in hiding for a year. The moment when homemade explosives exploded on our doorstep was the signal for my parents that this was really the last warning. There was no other option but to flee.'

Leila remembers: 'We were not allowed to take photos, this could be used as a means of identification, but I hid a stack of photos in my backpack. Fortunately, they were not found. The people who took our house, on the day we fled the city with the last convoys, burned all our photo albums in the garden. In this way, they erased our existence.'

War trauma

The family (Leila has another brother) ended up in Belgrade. Her parents stood there for months every day in the burning sun waiting for a visa. Through that route the family eventually ended up in an asylum seekers' center in Bloemendaal.
'My parents both wanted to work — to contribute, to forget their traumas and to regain their human dignity. But that was not allowed at the time. My mother had a war trauma and was never able to process that. She died when I was sixteen.'

After her mother died, Leila stayed with her father in Sassenheim for another four years. At the age of twenty, she moved to The Hague. 'It was only when I lived there that I discovered that this was the city of peace and justice — and that the Yugoslavia Tribunal was located here. At one point, I lived in freedom, in the same city where 'my' war criminals were locked up by the courts. A bizarre and beautiful 'full circle' experience.

'In everything I do I want to be an ambassador of peace, will you join me?'

Leila Prnjavorac

Human Rights Neighborhood

It seems almost no coincidence that Leila now lives in the Human Rights District. She likes to meet at the statue of Nelson Mandela. 'A hero of mine,' says Leila. There is also a mural with human rights activist Satta Sheriff and Boyan Slat, the creator of The Ocean Cleanup. In the photo, Leila is wearing a flower on her coat. She says she put it on especially for the photo. 'The flower is the symbol of the pitch-black page in our shared history of Bosnia and the Netherlands, the National Srebrenica Commemoration, which is commemorated every year on 11 July on the Lange Voorhout, with free access.'

Tell a story

Leila decided to talk about her experiences at a young age — however difficult that may be at times. During her studies, she was asked to be a presenter at FunX. She has now worked as a chairwoman for years and is, among other things, the Hague Freedom Ambassador. She has told her impressive story many times before, including on programs such as De Wereld Draait Door, Jeugdjournaal, Het Klokhuis and magazines such as LINDA. and Elsevier.

Leila: 'But it remains important to share stories — about World War II, but also about the war in my country where we share a common history. I hope that people are open to listening and learning from my stories or recognizing themselves in them. Maybe now more than ever. It could all happen again. It is important that ordinary people do not remain silent and act, but speak out and unite. Excluding groups of people and pointing out scapegoats happens slowly. Let's not go down that road any further.'

Peace and humanity

'That is why I call: join in and speak out, be an ambassador of peace! In ourselves and in the world around us. In the street where I grew up as a child, there were a Catholic and Orthodox church, a mosque and a synagogue close to each other. I lived in a country of brotherhood and sisterhood — until power was seized and people were set against each other. I have seen with my own eyes how words can become perpetrators in no time and that your best friend and neighbor can suddenly become your enemy from one day to the next.' Let us connect with each other in hope and loving humanity. In which peace and humanity are the bridge to a world in which we want to live side by side as equals.'

Leila is a chairperson, speaker, programme maker, guest lecturer and The Hague Freedom Ambassador.