Exactly one year after Veljko Kajtazi‘s book “S riječi na djela” (op. prev. ”From Words to Deeds”) was presented at the Journalist’s Building in Zagreb, and two years after the publication of the autobiography “Dreams of a Romani”, the English edition of the autobiography was presented at the Roma Educational and Cultural Center in Zagreb, on October 25, 2023.
The author begins his life story with his birth in a Roma settlement in Kosovska Mitrovica in the 1960s. He describes his childhood in a primarily Romani surrounding, and then coexistence with the majority community after the family moved to the city center. Leaving his family home at the age of 13 and then coming to the Military School in Rajlovac in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he faced new challenges brought by maturing and growing up. Acquiring new knowledge and skills, he finished school and came to Zagreb for his first place of service, Pleso Airport. From his boyhood days onwards, he devoted every free moment to karate, which brought him his first medals and awards and lifted him to the very top of the national and world karate sport, and then into coaching, which fed him and his family during the long period of twenty years when he was without permanent employment, despite being highly educated. Discrimination and prejudice that followed him like a faithful shadow all his life encouraged him to show in his results all the senselessness and harm that such thinking and behavior inflict on the individual and the community. He decided to use his example to break stereotypes based on superficial attitudes and insufficient knowledge of the culture and traditions of his people and to become active through political activity with a sincere and strong desire to do something for the benefit of the Roma community.
Although in the book the author primarily deals with his life’s events and experiences, such as those that limited him from realizing his full potential, resulting in the fact that he had to be a hundred times better in everything to be considered valuable and equal to someone not of Romani origin, he indirectly describes the life in which almost every other Romani man or woman will find and recognize themselves. This represents the additional strength of this book. The presentation of the English edition was attended by representatives of the diplomatic corps in Croatia, representatives of the minority communities, and close friends. The Croatian Romani Union “KALI SARA”, as the organizer of this event wanted to contribute to the global dialogue on important topics and encourage the exchange of ideas and experiences.
Also, by publishing this literary work in English, the author wanted to enable a wider international audience to get acquainted with the world of Roma literature, which as an integral part of the overall Roma cultural creativity participates in building a bridge between cultures, promoting the understanding of different perspectives and traditions.
