Bowling Green freshman Melisa Karabegovic said everyone who knew her father, Bahrija Karabegovic, says she looks like him. But with only a driver’s license photo of him to compare, she doesn’t really know.

”That’s the hard part — not having pictures to remember him,” she said.

Karabegovic’s father was killed in action in 1992 during the Bosnian war. She spoke about her experiences during the war at the event “From Bosnia to Bowling Green” Tuesday night.

The event was hosted by the Office of International Programs for its second annual International Education Week. The national week started Monday, said Nadia De Leon, a graduate assistant in the office of international programs, who coordinated the week.

“We wanted to do something with the Bosnian community,” De Leon said. “There are so many of them here, but no one is part of the Bosnian community in our office.”

So she asked her friend, Dijana Muminovic, a 2008 photojournalism graduate, for help.

Muminovic, originally from Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, developed a thee-part photography project. The first consists of black and white photos about the effects of the Bosnian war. The second part, in color, shows what the Bosnian community is doing in Bowling Green. The third part, again in black and white, shows how several Bosnians have made the city their home.

The photos were revealed at Mass Media Gallery Tuesday night and will be displayed until Nov. 30.

Muminovic also led a program in Mass Media Auditorium in which some of the people she photographed told their stories.

Karabegovic was one of them.

She doesn’t remember when her father’s commander told her mother he was dead, but her older brother has told her what happened.

“It’s just another tragedy we had to live through,” Karabegovic said.

She then told of a dark day she does remember.

She was playing outside when a bomb went off about 65 feet away from her, Karabegovic said. She saw people being dragged away with their legs attached only by skin.

Four other Bosnian women also shared their stories at the program.

Many not only had to leave their country behind but also their husbands and family.

The stories were only a handful from the approximately 5,000 Bosnians in Bowling Green, Muminovic said.

Meliha Turkovic, a junior from Bijeljina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, attended the event. She and her family fled to Germany in 1994. Her father was the first to escape, then Turkovic, her brother and her mother followed.

Her family came to Bowling Green in 2000. She said she recognized many Bosnians at the program.

“Everyone has a different story,” she said.

Muminovic echoed Turkovic’s sentiment.

“None of us would have been here if it wasn’t for the war,” she said. “Everyone has been affected, but in a different way.”