A Darker Side

A Darker Side

While we were visiting Edna's grandmother in Osijek, it was hard not to notice the scars of war that still remained. We were told that at one point the Serbians were launching mortars and artillery rounds into the city on average of about 5,000 rounds a day. Edna's grandmother told us how she had to live on the floor of her apartment as she cared for her dying husband. As she did her best to describe the fear of the explosions that blew out all her windows, we could still see the marks where shrapnel had skipped off her ceiling and embedded in the wall. She told us stories about how people would be killed just trying to run across to the store to get food.


There wasn't a building around that didn't show signs of the battle that took place during the War for Croatian Independence. Even some of the playground equipment still has holes from shrapnel flying through it. Zlatko, Grandma's neighbor, told us that they try to forget about the blood and the fear, but the reminders are all around.


Zlatko shows Joshua where a round exploded just outside Grandma's window.


The red bricks mark where high-explosive tank rounds tore into the building only two floors above Grandma.