Valerija was 17 when she joined the House in early 2019, having endured years of abuse from her mother, brother and sister. Instead of taking good care of Valerija, they used her cerebral palsy as an excuse to keep her at home doing basic chores, and physically abused her continuously, making her life a misery. She described it as a “life of tears”.
Valerija did not allow any of this to hold her back once she found her new home at the House of Opportunity though. She graduated high school in summer 2019, and enrolled for university. After years of hard work, Valerija gained her degree in Croatian Language and Literature and Pedagogy, and attended the graduation ceremony with members of the House of Opportunity team at Osijek University in June this year.
One of her goals reached, Valerija took another big step, as both she and another House resident, Antonija, graduated from the programme in July. Antonija had been in the programme since early 2022, and has a steady job and now an apartment. The time was right for her to move on.
Valerija has an apartment too, but her big summer was about to get bigger still, because she has also gotten a husband, himself a former House resident!
Goran was separated from his sister when they were both put into care. After many difficult years Goran joined the House of Opportunity in January 2016. His sister came to join him that April, and they were reunited after years apart. Goran worked hard and graduated from the House of Opportunity in 2018. He had a steady job and a place to live. He remained involved with the House and its residents though, happy to give something back and help others who had been through a similar experience to himself. Perhaps the arrival of a certain girl in 2019 gave him another reason to stay close and keep working hard…
Goran and Valerija got married on July 15th, and the happy event has become one of the high points in the 16 year history of the House of Opportunity Programme. We are so delighted for them. To see these two young people making a future together with hope and determination is heart-warming and shows how with a little love, care and support, even those who have suffered terribly can have every reason to believe that life can and will be better.
And for Valerija, once again she finds herself in tears. But now she is crying with joy.
