During the Bosnian civil war I assigned myself to produce an essay on how the children of Sarajevo were coping amidst the civil war raging around them. While their resilience was remarkable many of them, especially those who were orphaned or had lost a parent, suffered the most. Inadequate resources and staff to care for them in either hospitals or institutions were woefully apparent. Others like the group of young boys from as young as seven to teenagers emulated their fathers by playing war games that I found frighteningly convincing as if they had watched too many movies though they had the real thing on their doorstep. More fortunate children seemed to manage to carry on with their lives as if oblivious to the dangers and daily fear of being sniped at or shelled from as little as a few hundred meters away.
This set of images attempts to show some of the situations they found themselves in and their way of coping as best they could.
© Derek Hudson 2020