Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/1535304
32 WAC Magazine | wac.net S uzana was born and raised in the Balkans. During the spring of 1991, her high school was due to visit Plitviče Lakes Na- tional Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where awe-inspiring waterfalls cascade into terraced blue lakes. As her class was en route to the park, an armed clash at the lakes broke out and the trip was canceled. at Easter, at dinner in Vukovar, Croatia, about an hour from her family's home, Suzana and her par- ents heard about road barricades barring passage back to Bosnia. ey le their food uneaten and fled. "We drove through blockades, and it was getting dark," Suzana recalls. "We made it out by the skin of our teeth." At the time, she was 14. Tentatively safe, Suzana and her dad decided to cross back into Croatia, where she had been accepted into a high school program. "e gymnasium was taken over by the army," she recalls. "ey weren't getting ready for school; they were getting ready for war." at same day, there was an invasion at the barracks. Suzana and her dad were stuck on one side of the Sava River, her mother on the other. When they finally reunited, things got progressively worse. "e bombing started at night," Suza- na says. e family stayed, hoping things would calm down. Aer several months, they decided to leave. "It was intensify- ing," Suzana recalls. "You can hear bullets buzzing when they get really close." It took 20 minutes to pack the car and eight hours of traffic to reach safety. As they drove away, Suzana could see the city glowing in flames. "I thought I'd probably never see my home again," she says. Suzana and her parents lived for two years as refugees in Montenegro before returning. By then, their city had been leveled, their home destroyed. ey fre- quently stayed in hotels and abandoned buildings. rough it all, Suzana studied, particularly English. "Working hard was my salvation because it gave me focus," she says. "It was the only thing I could control at the time. I wanted to speak English really well, so I studied on my own a lot." Peacemakers arrived aer the Dayton Accords, which ended the nearly four- year conflict in 1995. One day, while working in the small store run by her family, Suzana noticed a female NATO officer and offered to help—in fluent English. With that, her future began to take shape. "She asked me to meet her in a restaurant, which I did without telling Clockwise from top: Suzana during her days as a translator. She worked with NATO and U.S. forces during the aftermath of war in southeast Europe. Suzana, Robert, Maddy, and Ella on the Seattle waterfront. Suzana and Robert. The couple met while Robert was stationed overseas. They have been married for more than 26 years. R E V A K E L L E R ( 3 )