Her Bosnian colleagues gave her a warm welcome. Suhreta, “They regard me as one of them. I know the culture and the war past. And as I do not belong to the permanent staff and therefore occupy a neutral position within the company, they are very open towards me and put the newly acquired knowledge immediately into practice. Frankly, I had expected them to regard me as too Western and to be more distant, but the opposite is true.”
Her work in Bosnia created an interest in Suhreta. “I do not know yet what I am going to do in the future and where this will be. I am learning an awful lot about how to penetrate new markets. So it is a useful experience both for the sugar refinery and myself. Officially, I’ll be staying for another month, but any extension of the assignment will be profitable both for me and the company.”
“Besides providing me professional work experience, this project
also helps me to examine who I really am. I think that the people
in the company feel that I carry Bosnia in my heart. Although I am
well integrated in the Netherlands, I still feel partly Bosnian.
This project enables me to do something in return for my country.”
