Dobrila is 31 years old. She lives in Paris since 2015. She is a graduated architect from the University of Novi Sad and holds a master’s degree in energy efficiency from the university in Paris.
Serbia that Dobrila would like to live in is a country where the young and old people are taken care about. “A country where those who have graduated from college would have the right on a decent job, and those who worked all their lives would be entitled to a dignified retirement. Also, I think that we need to turn to ourselves in order to solve our problems, that is, we should look for solutions within Serbia, not in foreign missions. We should use the knowledge we have within our borders, and at the same time promote international cooperation at the academic and economic levels.”
The positive sides of Serbia are the people and natural beauties. “Apart from our natural beauties, Serbia’s greatest asset is the people, their perseverance, adaptability, intimacy and cheerful spirit, collectivism that we can still say is present as opposed to individualism that is characteristic for the West. People are still traditional, even in big cities. Perhaps because the big cities as we define them, are still small cities compared to the world’s metropolises. So, the people hold to their own reputation and respect our traditional values. In France, people are individualists, and they think about money more than us.”
One of the negative sides of Serbia is the neglect of the young people. “The downsides of Serbia are the lack of opportunity to employ young people, neglecting them, the holes in the law considering workers’ rights, disrespect of working hours, disrespect of one’s efforts, inadequate payment for work, insufficient number of the days for annual leave. In France, in spite of the current difficult situation, there are also a large number of unemployed people over there, but jobs can be secured regularly, by interviews. You can be sure that you will have a normal job interview with your possible employer, they are very receptive and have understanding for people who don’t speak their language. Weekends are forbidden to work except at the public service sector.”
Dobrila is a person who likes to care about others and has a sense of community and belonging. Despite the fact she lives abroad, her heart and mind are still in Serbia.
No Comments