Finding a common thread
TWIN FALLS - Two women sit in a restaurant booth, chatting and eating pie. Only once in a while does each woman glance away from the other's face to look at her plate or around the room.
Although four decades apart in age, they clearly have a strong bond.
Marya Duncan owned Imaginables, a small Twin Falls company providing costume-making and tailoring services. Three years ago, she handed over her company to Remza Jasarevic, who sits across the booth. Jasarevic still runs the shop at Kimberly Road, now called Remza's Alterations.
Duncan's gift was a token of a friendship which grew from unlikely circumstances.
Jasarevic came to the U.S. 11 years ago with her husband, Esef, and her two daughters, Advina, now 21, and Medina, now 18. Having survived war in Bosnia, the family came to the Twin Falls refugee center looking for a fresh start.
"We didn't speak a word of English," said Jasarevic, 39. The refugee center provides incoming families with food, shelter, translators and English lessons for a short period before they are expected to begin fending for themselves.
Workers at the refugee center soon realized that Jasarevic knew how to sew - she had completed school in Bosnia to master that trade. So, accompanied by a translator and a tip from the refugee center, Jasarevic met Duncan for the first time in the fall of 1999.
"She came to me in a suit she made in Bosnia," Duncan said. Jasarevic laughs at the memory.
"Oh, yes!" Jasarevic said.
"That's the first thing I noticed about her," Duncan said.
Duncan gave Jasarevic pre-cut fabric for a few outfits and instructed her to sew them together and bring them back to the shop within five days.
"I was so bored, I just did them all overnight," Jasarevic said, giggling. "I didn't have anything else to do, so I said, Why not?'"
Duncan looked surprised when Jasarevic pulled the finished garments out of a box, but even today Jasarevic doesn't know what Duncan said. Within the hour, however, Duncan had a translator in the shop to offer Jasarevic seasonal work as a seamstress.
"I don't believe when she first gave me work," Jasarevic said. "I say to her, 'Nobody knows me, I'm from Bosnia!'"
"Yes," Duncan said. "But I helped her learn how to pronounce words in English. Like home-schooling, I guess."
Duncan, along with women volunteers from the First United Methodist Church, used books to help teach Jasarevic English during sessions a few times a week.
"She gave to me a list with what to say to people at the shop," Jasarevic said, laughing. "It had things like the name of the shop, how to say 'What can we do for you?' because I was so bad! Remember?"
"Yes," Duncan said, smiling. "I remember."
Jasarevic was working full time in the shop by 2004, and in 2007 Duncan decided to retire. Since the company's co-founder, Sarah Benton, had retired in 1999, Jasarevic was the only person to keep the business alive. So Duncan simply gave it to her.
The women laugh at the idea of Duncan selling the company to Jasarevic.
"We used each other's things," Duncan said, looking at her friend. "We never bought anything from each other, did we?"
"Nooo!" Jasarevic breathes, astonished.
"No, we didn't," Duncan said.
"We are like sisters!" Jasarevic said. "We can't charge!"
Though Duncan is retired, the two women make it a point to meet at least once a week, and Duncan often stops by Remza's Alterations to visit her friend. Even now, they can't stop complimenting each other.
"People still ask for her," Jasarevic said.
"Remza has taken over so well," Duncan replied.
"I never took her sign off," Jasarevic said. "Imadijab? Imaginab?"
"Imaginables," Duncan said. Jasarevic laughs again.
"I can never pronounce right," she said.
Remza's husband, Esef, works as a bartender in Jackpot, Nev. Her younger daughter, Medina, was Canyon Ridge High School's first prom queen and plans to study at College of Southern Idaho to become a veterinary technician. Advina, the older daughter, attends CSI in pursuit of a nursing career.
"I don't have a story without her," Jasarevic said, motioning toward Duncan. "Bosnia was so nice before the war, but then everything was destroyed. It was not fun. I was worried for my daughters. There was no future for my kids, no jobs, no money, no help. It was very hard."
"When Remza came, she knew how to sew, but she didn't know about business," Duncan said. "But she learns quickly."
"I'm very happy," Jasarevic said. "She gave me everything here. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here. I feel like 'thank you' isn't enough. I feel like I need to do something to say thanks."