When the civil war broke out, life became difficult for us. So we fled, first in a truck to Slovenia and then by car to Geleen. My brother was already living there. In the Netherlands they first spent fourteen months at a centre for asylum seekers in Veendam, in the north of the country. Once their residence permits had been arranged they could get a place to rent in Maastricht, in the Pottenberg district, with their baby daughter Emina. Back in Zenica, she was a primary school maths teacher.
Denan worked in a shop. Once in the Netherlands they wanted to start working again immediately, after a month learning Dutch. There was a war on and they needed help. Denan got work at the Mora snacks factory, then at the car plant in Born.
At the Sappi paper mill in Maastricht he got a steady job. Nena also got a job fast. Not as a maths teacher -she would first have to learn fluent Dutch for that. For sixteen years. It was better than staying at home. They lived upstairs from us. The family bursts out laughing. They have happy memories of Pottenberg.
When the weather was nice people would sit out front and chat. Pleasant neighbourhood, but different. Less sitting outside, chatting. University and career The young Hamzics are doing well here. By early Nena stopped as a cleaner. She started with her distinctive mobile snackbar, roaming around Maastricht. Ideas of improvement The first thing they mention that could be improved in Maastricht are the city rules. And you have to pay for ten metres of space minimum, even if your trailer is only three metres wide.
The list goes on. In Wittevrouwenveld and Malberg it is not permitted to provide any seating, only tables to stand at. What about older people? They prefer to sit down to eat their snack. I think the city ought to do things differently. Back to Bosnia Last summer, they went back to Bosnia on holiday again, as every year since the war ended. Visiting family and old friends, like a lot of former refugees do who now live in countries like Australia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
