ABSTRACT
In the midst of the refugee crisis on the Balkan route which passed through Bosnia and Herzegovina, 15 former child refugees were asked to reconstruct their memories from that period of their lives. Child refugees who are sent away from home without parents, even when they are confided to close relatives, are particularly vulnerable. Five topics were investigated using a semi-structured questionnaire. They are: the most memorable experiences of one’s life as a refugee, the feelings associated with the experience of being a refugee, perceptions of one’s parents, the experiences which helped them overcome the feeling of being a refugee and the role of this experience in their lives. The participants were recruited via social media and were sent short open-ended questionnaires during May 2018. All participants volunteered to participate in the study. The parents’ ability to maintain the feeling that everything will be fine can be seriously affected by complex socioecological factors associated with the conditions of war.
