It was not an easy step. It was necessary to endure mocking throws in the style of "What do you think you are better than us?" or “Are you ashamed to be Roma?”. But I was determined. As soon as he got a job, I started looking for a house outside the Roma settlement in Pribislavec, says DubravkoKovacic
It turned out that it was easier for him to find a job than to get the most ordinary loan in a bank. He had an indefinite contract with Ivan Todorić, a company that worked as a supplier for Agrokor, but bank officials rejected him twice. Then Dubravko decided to change his surname from Oršuš to Kovačić. He went to the bank with the same documents and look at the miracles, the loan was approved on the third attempt. - Such were the times then ... - he says, although only eight years have passed since "those times". In those eight years, Dubravko (34) and his two-year-younger wife Anđelka had, in addition to the eldest Aleksandar, two more children, a daughter Lana and a son Lovro. They all live in a house in the village of Mackovac in Međimurje, the one they bought with a loan they are repaying. There is no future in the ghetto - When I started working, I immediately said I would leave the settlement. And it was like that. I have seen that there is no future in a Roma settlement that is separate from that of the majority population.
Dubravko's and Anđelka's 12-year-old son Aleksandar became a real little media star thanks to his talent for painting. - As a child in kindergarten, I got inspiration. I won a lot of awards, I even traveled to Pula, for a drawing on the topic of firefighting. I like dry pastels, graphite pencils, oil on canvas ... - he says, showing us a drawing of a Mercedes. Sam earned money for his first cell phone because citizens gave him cash prizes for the pictures he exhibited at events.
- Everything I imagine, I can draw. My favorite is the portrait of President KolindaGrabar-Kitarović that I gave her when we were in Zagreb - says the boy who will go to the sixth grade in the fall. As his father loved the violin very much, he began to practice playing as well.
