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Saha lives near Osjek in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in a house she
built herself. But this is not her home town.
Before the war began in 1992 she used to live in a village
near Zvornik. During the war the Serbian paramilitaries started
to attack the village from the hills, firing down on it.
All the men from the village went out to fight, leaving the
women and children behind.
Saha would hear of terrible things happening to the village
leaders, so she asked her husband to return home, and they
made plans to flee the village.
The couple gathered together their life savings of 7,000 German
Deutsche Marks and some jewellery.
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Not knowing what might happen to them on their journey as
they fled, they decided to bury the money under the apple
tree in their garden. Saha's husband insisted that she watch
him bury the money so that she would know where to find it
if anything should happen to him.
The Serbs came and occupied their home, and then forced the
family to leave the village. Saha ended up in Sarajevo, together
with her mother, daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren.
Her husband died during the war.
In 1999 Saha decided to gather her courage and
return to her village to try and retrieve her savings. She
found her home still intact, but occupied by a Serb family.
They had added a kennel to the property to house the pigs
they raised.
Anxiously, Saha asked the occupants if they had found anything
in her garden - but they said that they had not. So Saha asked
them for a shovel and began to dig in the spot where her late
husband had buried their savings. To her surprise and great
relief all the money was still there.
The notes were a little worn, but she knew she could arrange
for them to be exchanged. Saha used the money to build herself
a new house, near Osjek. However, there was not quite enough
money to finish the interior.
She approached Islamic Relief for a housing loan, and used
the money to finish her home. Thanks to the money under the
apple tree, and a little help from Islamic Relief, Saha finally
had a home for herself and her elderly mother once more.
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