Youngest victims of war helped by fellow survivor

PALM HARBOR (FOX 13) - She's a war survivor and amputee, but that doesn't define Maja Kazazic.

She's also an entrepreneur and motivational speaker, and now, 23 years after she was rescued from certain death in the Bosnian war, she's doing the same for other children in war-shattered countries.

Kazazic is now the U.S. Ambassador of "Road to Peace" - a tiny organization dedicated to saving the children of war. A few weeks ago, she traveled to Boston, where she was reunited with the woman who saved her life all those years ago.

Sally Becker is traveling with three young Yazidi children from a refugee camp 14 miles outside Mosul. It's an emotional reunion as Kazaziz hugs Becker, who became known as the "Angel of Mostar" for all the children she saved from the genocide in Bosnia.

Becker says simply, "It's just what I do. It's what I do best I suppose."

This time Becker is working with Kazazic to bring these children to the United States and get them the medical attention they need. Driven out of their homes by ISIS, the Yazidis are refugees in camps where more than half the population is under the age of 18. Becker says there's no doubt ISIS is intent on wiping them out.

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She says, "They've gone from millions of people to about 700,000, so they're really struggling to survive. There's a lot of kids who were injured either in the war or after the war in the camps like these guys."

Ten year old Rayan's leg had to be amputated when he was hit by a truck as his family fled ISIS soldiers. As a war survivor and amputee herself, Kazazic knows what he's going through. She rolls up her pants leg to show him her prosthetic.

Says Kazazic, "I was them once. 23 years ago I was sitting in a wheelchair like this at the airport with a camera staring in my face not knowing what was going on."

It was a mine that destroyed 13-year-old Ayman's arm and badly damaged his legs. And 17-month-old Dilbireen suffered disfiguring burns all over his face from a heater in camp.

As all three boys begin life changing medical journeys here in the United States, Kazazic says she'll be there for whatever they need, including just to let them know it's going to be okay. She believes this is why her life was spared in the midst of all that death and chaos 23 years ago.

She says, "I was looking for a purpose, why my life was saved and why it is that I'm here--now to be rescuing other children, to be paying it forward. There really isn't anything better I could be doing with my life."

All three children are being treated at Shriners Hospitals for Children and are doing well. Ayman and Rayan have already been fitted for prosthetic limbs and are going through physical and occupational therapy at Shriners Hospitals in Minnesota. One boy will be going home soon. The other will have surgery in the coming weeks.

17-month-old Dilbireen has already had his first surgery at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Boston. He will need a few more procedures to reconstruct his face and minimize scarring.

Visit http://www.roadtopeace.org.uk/ for more information.