Bojana in between two worlds: (re-)integration and return

During the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, I lived with my family in Germany and attended elementary school in Munich. I really liked living in Germany, where I made many friends and practiced gymnastics at the TV Munich 1860 e.V. However, after the end of the war my family suddenly had to return to Bosnia without any preparation.

After the war in Bosnia ended, I had to learn my mother tongue again, as I now spoke better German. At first, we lived with family members in Mostar. It was not easy for us to reintegrate.

Although I had trained as a nurse, I was not able to find work, not even in the larger city of Sarajevo. However thanks to my education and my language skills, I had a good chance of finding a position in Germany.

Since nurses in Germany are scarce, I had no problems obtaining a visa. However, my Bosnian qualification as a nurse was only partially recognized in Germany, which is why I first had to complete a professional internship, during which I earned less than German nurses. After six months I  successfully passed an examination, which enabled me to work as a certified nurse in Munich.

I decided to join a gymnastics club, in order to find friends with whom I could go on weekend trips to Lake Starnberg or have a drink with in the evening. Resettling in Germany was not easy, but due to my language skills easier than expected.

A few years later, I decided to go back to Bosnia in order to start my own nursing service. Thanks to my training as a practice supervisor in Munich I am now able to hire and train employees here in Bosnia.