This is the story of a mother’s prayer, a young boy, and an organization called ADRA during the siege of Sarajevo in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1992–1996.
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leven-year-old Igor Radonjic crouched by the side of the road with the sudden realization that he was alone. He didn’t know whether his mother in Sarajevo had survived the daily bombings. Was she starving? Did his brother escape?
It had all happened so quickly. There were rumors of war, but no one believed them. Then the bombs fell. Electricity and supplies were cut off. Roads were blocked, and snipers were everywhere. Mother knew she must get her two sons out of the city. Though she wasn’t especially religious, she made a covenant with God that she would serve Him if He saved her children from the war.
A neighbor proposed an escape plan using an embassy that flew children on military planes to Belgrade. Unfortunately, they could assist only one of Mother’s children. She chose Igor. Everything went according to plan until he arrived at the military airport, and no one was there.
Igor didn’t know what to do. After watching buses come and go, he decided to hail one and hope for the best. When one stopped, the driver eyed him quizzically.
“Hello sir, I believe I’m a refugee,” Igor blurted out. “Can I catch a ride to the city to meet my family?”
The driver nodded, and Igor climbed in. The two chatted, and Igor explained how he escaped from Sarajevo and arrived at the military airport with no one to greet him.
“They’re probably at the civilian airport,” the driver correctly concluded.
United with his grandparents, Igor hoped that his life would improve. But he found the stigma of being a refugee almost as bad as living in a war zone. He also worried constantly about his mother. All communication and food from Sarajevo had been cut off. He must find out if she was alive!
Soon, Igor learned about a postal service run by a nonpolitical organization called ADRA. He didn’t know that the letters stood for Adventist Development and Relief Agency. He just knew that their convoys were never stopped.
Ralph Watts, ADRA president from 1985 to 2002, oversaw ADRA’s postal service and incorporated the Adventist Church in the region as headquarters for dropping off and picking up mail. “The big lorries would . . . pick up the ADRA-stamped mail and distribute it across Europe and the world,” Elder Watts said. “What a blessing it was to provide this kind of service to the people there.”
Igor wrote a letter to his mother and was overjoyed when she replied! Week after week, he sent her packages of food. Later, he learned that ADRA kept his mother and the children she had hidden in her basement from starving.
Years later, Igor moved to Australia, where he again encountered ADRA. When he told his mother that ADRA was associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she remembered those who kindly served the people of Sarajevo. She also recalled her pledge to serve God if He saved her sons, and both had been saved! Igor and his mother had never heard a sermon from a Seventh-day Adventist, but they saw one in action and wanted to serve the same God that ADRA served.
Igor Radonjic became a lawyer and now serves as legal counsel for the South Pacific Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. On October 9, 2023, he attended a meeting that commemorated ADRA’s 40 years of mission service and honored the contributions of Elder Watts, its longest-serving president.
Elder Watts was surprised on stage to meet Mr. Radonjic and hear his story.
“I am a Seventh-day Adventist Christian because of ADRA,” Igor told him. “I learned by watching ADRA that Christianity has a very simple concept: treat someone as you want to be treated. ADRA is generous. They are the epitome of how Jesus treated people. . . . ADRA . . . didn’t tell me a story about Jesus. They just showed me what Jesus would do.”
Greatly moved, Elder Watts embraced Mr. Radonjic. “I believe ADRA can play a significant role in preparing the hearts of people like this young man right here to follow the Lord,” he said. “I believe the best days of ADRA’s ministry are ahead; I just wish I were 40 years younger!”