Promoting the right to peaceful childhood for all children

Every child has a right to life without violence, but, sadly, every day millions of boys and girls are experiencing war atrocities.

With an aim to contribute to peace building, interreligious dialogue and child rights promotion and protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina, World Vision supported opening of Museum of War Childhood in the capital city of Sarajevo. 

Museum of War Childhood’s collection contains a number of personal belongings, stories, audio and video testimonies, photographs, letters, drawings and other documents offering valuable insight into the experience of growing up in wartime. Museum opened in February 2017 and currently has more than 3,880 items in its collection. 

The items exhibited in the Museum are belongins of people whose childhood was marked by the devastating war in Bosnia and Herzegovina that lasted from 1992 to 1995 and took more than 100,000 lives.

Each item is followed by a short description by its owners telling the story behind it.

One of the items in the Museum is a yellow apple with teeth marks on it. "We did not have much during the war. Sometime around its end, I received this apple. I was so excited that my immediate reaction was to bite into it. The apple was made of wax, and at its base was a pencil sharpener. My teeth left an imprint - a reminder of war childhood" writes Ljiljan, born in 1984. 

Blue bunny tells a story of young girl Meliha born in 1991: "(...) We fled from our home without a chance to lock the door behind us. Then we lived in a refugee camp. This blue bunny was the only thing that brought me joy (...)".