AN AMAZING STORY

The father said, ‘You want my daughter? Take her! ' And I will become the first Roma judge in Croatia Rosana (20) did not know Croatian, and at school she only received units. And then she was adopted and enrolled in Law Writes: Višnja GotalPosted: September 15, 2020 3:35 pm Rosana Mihanović, a foster Roma woman who enrolled in college. Rosana Mihanović, a foster Roma woman who enrolled in college. Marko Todorov / Cropix Facebook Twitter Messenger E-mail Ju mes studentic law school š uj fi lawyer / judge. So Rosana Mihanović , half in Croatian, half in Romani, wrote us who she is and what she wants. "I'm Rosana, I'm studying law and I want to be a lawyer or a judge," he writes. She's not sure if she wrote it correctly. Although until five years ago she spoke more Romani than Croatian, in those 70 months her world turned upside down. She came to live in an apartment in the center of Zagreb from the poor Roma settlement of Sitnice in Međimurje. From units at the High School of Economics in Prelog, to the end of freshman year at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb. A year has passed, she has one exam left that she has the right to pass, but not to pass. He prefers to learn a lot. Great is Rosana, a confident young woman. A little shy. Rosana's foster mother and other mother, as she calls her, is Katarina . Although a lawyer by profession, a charming blonde, she dedicated herself to caring for Rosana and a girl we will call Mila , even though that is not her real name. She adopted the girls, and she takes great care of them. Both are different persons than on the day they came to live on the Square of the Victims of Fascism. Mila is a four-year-old mulatto woman, whose father and mother ended up in prison for abusing their children. Several times she had a brain hemorrhage from banging her head on the floor. They considered her a girl who would never speak or walk. They thought she was deaf and blind. Thank God, they were wrong. Rosana and Katarina regularly went to the Children's Home in Nazorova to visit Mila. Catherine asked for her blessing to be taken. She didn't hesitate. She and Rosana are real sisters. Mila talks and walks today, she loves Rosana more than anyone. Mud to the knee Although, Rosana has four sisters and a home in Međimurje. She is the oldest. She is eighteen. As a child, Rosana knew she wanted to achieve something. - To achieve that, I didn't know exactly what then, but I knew that I could only do it if I left the settlement. I meant, then, none of that. But, at one point, Katarina came - Rosana begins the story of how she turned from a girl from a Roma settlement, hand on heart - into a hopeless milieu, into a Zagreb law student. image Rosana Mihanović, a foster Roma woman who enrolled in college. Marko Todorov / Cropix Catherine came to the settlement as an active member of the Christian community. There was no asphalt in the settlement then, not so long ago. - The mud was knee-deep. There was no public lighting and people were literally hungry. A three-year-old child walks in a bodice on snow. We in winter jackets. The kids ate once a day so we brought them food. Education zero points. The children dropped out of primary school because they did not know the Croatian language. The school looks like the kids come home, throw away their backpacks and go outside. Their parents have several grades of school and there is no one to show them their homework - Katarina tells us. As in other Roma settlements in Međimurje, until recently they had a lot of weapons, drugs and alcohol. Today, however, the situation is much better. She was looking for a way out It was in such an environment that she met Rosana. - She came to our meetings, we talked more and more every time. She had very bad grades. I helped her with her studies, went to talk to a class teacher who didn't know what to tell me. She said that few Roma children finish high school at all - Katarina Rosana's fate tormented her. So she did not hesitate, but asked her parents to let her live with her. Anyway, informally, without paperwork and foster care status. They solved that part only recently. - Katarina asked me in our conversations what I would like, I said to leave the village where I am limited, I have no chance - Rosana was aware of her future, if she stays in the village. Although she doubted that her parents would agree to let her go with Katarina, it was very easy. It just turned out to be a question to ask. - Do you want her? Take her, 'said Rosana's father, aware that he was doing his daughter the greatest good. It secures her future. Today, they also send her for pocket money, to find her. image Rosana Mihanović, a foster Roma woman who enrolled in college. Marko Todorov / Cropix We somehow managed to transfer her there to the School of Economics. Both she and the school were skeptical of each other - Katarina laughs today. And Rosana, she says, no matter how hard it was for her to leave, knew that it was her only chance to leave the village until then.