Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

The stressor(s) that I chose to write about was that of war/poverty, the two go hand in hand. I have a very close friend that I have known for around 12 years who experienced the Bosnian war, that I interviewed for this assignment. I had known about her experiences when I first met her, but never really realized how it affected her childhood, or the lack thereof.
When she was 9 years old the war in Bosnia began, she was Muslim and the Serbs were taking over. Most of her friends and family fled as soon as possible, but they endured almost the full length of the war,  2 1/2 years. She said that parents can't even protect you, and its like being in an open field when it's thundering, you know it's going to hit you, but you don't know when. You learn to overcome the fear of death and the only thing you have left is your faith. You become afraid of being tortured and raped. When the soldiers came into her house to take things, you become afraid of being raped. She always prayed that this would not happen to her, and she was very lucky that she didn't.
She said that she didn't really have a childhood, and she grew up really fast. She had survivors guilt, thinking such thoughts as "why didn't I get raped or die?" She said when you live in war, you live in fear. There is no water, electricity, or food. She said that you sell everything in your house just to get food. You can't play outside, because there is gunfire and bombs going off. She and her brother couldn't go to school because the Muslim teachers were fired and the Serbs took over. They slept in a room underground, kind of like a bomb-shelter to keep them safe from the bombs that were constantly going off, one hit her bedroom once, blowing out a window. She said that you have no hopes or dreams, and you live day by day. She said that after her dad left to go to the concentration camp that her mom, brother, and herself snuck to her Aunt's house to sleep, which was five blocks away and very risky because of the spies that surround all of the houses.
Her family had gotten word from a Serb that her father had befriended that her house was the next one on the list to be raped and tortured and they fleed when she was 11 1/2. They had barely made it safely to Croatia where there was a safe place for them to stay for a night till they went to Germany. She still thanks God for her safety and have had many rough times from the stresses that she had to endure as a child.
I look back at my childhood 9-11 and it was very carefree. I had no fears except for a bad grade on a test. I would play with my friends outside, in the streets, or wherever I had liked. I could not have imagined losing my childhood to war. I feel for all those children that are currently living in war, such as Iraq, and Afghanistan or any other war-torn country.