Aida is from Bosnia and Herzegovina, she arrived in Stoke-on-Trent in 2010 after marrying a Grenadier Guardsman who was born and raised in Stoke.

She met her husband when he was on service in post-war Bosnia, “He was there in the winter of 2004 with the British contingent. I still remember they walked in, about 6 or 7 of them, and even though they stood right next to me they completely blanked me out. They never said hello or anything at all. When I saw the rest of my colleagues asked, “ How were they? How were the new crew?”, I was like, “Noo, I hate them they’re all terrible and so rude, I couldn’t believe it!”.

“It took us a few weeks before we finally got to know each other. After that I worked with him closely and he helped me a lot with English. And I had quite a lot of admiration for him he was very clever, and good looking.”

“Since he had a house in Stoke-on-Trent for 12 years but never lived in it, I thought he finally deserves [for] it to be turned into a home. It was difficult to leave family, work and friends but I wanted us to start living together as we had been dating for 6 years prior.”

“I have other British friends throughout the country and when I said I’m going to Stoke, they were all shocked, ‘Why Stoke?’, but actually I love Stoke because it’s been nothing but good to me. I just love it.”

Since September 2018 Aida has been studying for a BA Degree in Modern & International History at Staffordshire University, Stoke-on- Trent. She also works as a Housing Administrator at the YMCA, North Staffordshire and is involved with the Remembering Srebrenica charity. The charity promotes the annual Srebrenica Memorial Day on 11th July and educates about the consequences of hate. “Working for the YMCA North Staffordshire I finally have the opportunity to show people how precious and vital family is.”

“I use my wartime experience to show young people [and] others too, [about] what can happen when people are divided and filled with hate.”