Šemsa Hadžo

Rudarska tehničarka sam. Ja sam Šemsa Hadžo iz Breze.

U rudniku sam od svoje 19. godine. Nisam znala ni šta je rudnik, ni šta je jama. Ali eto, čovjek se s godinama navikne. U rudniku se osjećam kao kod kuće. Nikad nisam imala strahova. Hvala Bogu, nikad nisam doživjela neku nezgodu.

Budim se u 5 sati i izlazim u dvorište da bih pomuzla svoju jedinu kravu. Od svježe pomuzenog mlijeka sebi napravim nescafe, na miru i u tišini sama popijem kafu i onda se spremim za posao.

U 6.30 sam na radnom mjestu. Umjesto ’Dobro jutro’‘, „Dobar dan’ i ‘Doviđenja’, kolegama kažem ‘Sretno’, tradicionalni rudarski pozdrav  prije nego se siđe u jamu i kada sretnete nekog u mraku rudnika. Obukla sam tamnoplavo radno odijelo, stavila tešku kacigu i lampu, svezala oko struka staru metalnu kutiju u kojoj je maska za slučaj opasnosti, obula gumene čizme. Čizme su previše mekane da bi me zaštitile ako mi šta tvrdo padne na noge.

U 7 sati se sa prvom smjenom spuštam 250 metara dubine u zemlju i onda još dublje pješice. Kroz mračne hodnike, vonj sumpora, promjene temperature, blato, povremene nalete povjetarca koji donosi zrak iz vana i odbljeske sjajanog uglja.

Ja sam izdavačica eksploziva i moj ‘ured’ je u hodniku punom eksploziva. U prosjeku se oko 200 kilograma eksploziva dnevno potroši u rudniku. Nekada prođem i po 15ak kilometara pod zemljom, nikada bez bar 5,6 kilograma opterećenja. Nakon 3 desetljeća rada u rudniku, ostala mi je trajna bol u koljenima.

Ali ja ni kod kuće nisam rasterećena. Kuham, spremam, čistim, okopavam vrt, brinem se za kravu. Odgojila sam sina dok sam radila u sve tri smjene u rudniku. No ne žalim se. Znam ja da je posao u rudniku bolji od većine poslova u Brezi. Zarađujem i tri puta više nego da radim u trgovini, imam više godišnjeg odmora i ne radim prekovremeno, dok u privatnim firmama znaju raditi i po 12 sati dnevno.

Ipak, ako me pitate, reći ću da mi je žao što nisam išla u srednju medicinsku školu. Medicinska je bila u 27 kilometara udaljenom glavnom gradu Sarajevu i mama nije htjela da idem od kuće. Trebalo je imati novca za prevoz ili stanovanje u Sarajevu. A i za mladu curu nije priličilo, kako se tada mislilo, da bude sama u velikom gradu.

U godini kad sam kretala u srednju školu, u Brezi se otvorila nova škola. Tako sam i dospjela u zemljinu utrobu. Sve je počelo 1980.godine s prvom generacijom Rudarsko-geološke tehničke škole.

Ja sam prva ali bogami i posljednja generacija žena koje svoj hljeb zarađuju duboko ispod zemlje.

English version:

I am Semsa Hadzo from Breza. I’m a coal mining engineer. I have been in the mine since I was 19.

I didn’t know what coal mine was or what a pit was. But here, we get used to it with the time. I feel at home in the mine. I never have any fears. Thank God, I never had an accident. I wake up at 5am and go to milk my only cow. I make my own Nescafe from fresh milk, drink coffee alone, in silence, and then I get ready for work.

At 6.30 I’m at work. Instead of  ‘Good morning’, ‘Good day’ and ‘Goodbye’, I say ‘Good luck’ to colleagues. It’s a traditional mining greeting before going down into the mine.

I put on a dark blue work suit, put on a heavy helmet and a lamp, tie an old metal box with an emergency mask around my waist, and I put on my rubber boots. The boots are too soft to protect me if something falls on my feet. At 7 o’clock, I go 250 meters deep into the ground and then even deeper. Through the dark corridors, I smell of sulfur, changes in temperature, mud, occasional gusts of breeze that bring air from outside and reflections of shiny coal.

I am an explosive person, and my ‘office’ is in a hallway full of explosives. On an average, about 200 kilograms of explosives are consumed daily in the mine. Sometimes I go about 15 kilometers underground, never without at least 5.6 kilograms of load. After 3 decades of working in the mine, I was left with permanent knee pain. But I’m not relieved at home either. I cook, prepare, clean, dig the garden, take care of the cow. I raised my son while working in all three shifts at the coal mine. But I’m not complaining. I know that the job in the mine is better than most jobs in Breza. I earn three times more than I work in a store. I have more vacation and I don’t work overtime, while in private companies they work 12 hours a day.

But if you ask me, I will say that I am sorry that I did not go to medical high school. The school was in the capital Sarajevo, 27 kilometers away, and my mother did not want me to leave home. We didn’t have the money for transportation and housing in Sarajevo. And it was not appropriate for a young girl to be alone in a big city.

In the year when I started high school, a new school opened in Breza. That’s how I got to the bowels of the earth. It all started in 1980 with the first generation of the Mining and Geological Technical School. I am the first but by all means, the last generation of women who earn their bread deep underground.