Projects: Innocents: Life Together

When I lived with my grandmother, I liked to help her carry firewood and branches. Sometimes my daddy helped us, but then the war came, and they took him away from me. Now he lives in a concentration camp. 

When the war is over, I would like to build a big house. I will be a teacher, and we will all live together. 

Ivan Dostal, 5 

My mother left us a long time ago, and when the war started, our father went away to be a soldier. He said he wanted to die, because our mother wouldn’t take care of him. He got his wish; the army made his grave somewhere. 

My brother has a big imagination. They told him that our father is dead, but he always says that daddy is a prisoner, and he is coming home again. 

I like living in the children’s home; it is the nicest place I have ever lived. I can sleep here. I like feeding the rabbits, and taking care of my brother and the other children. I give them love, so that they will not lose themselves.  

Ivana Dostal, 7 

Lipik, Croatia 

Ivan and Ivana Dostal live in the Lipik Children’s Home.