SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

Every time news like this reaches me, I think about the futility of war. I wonder what kind of adults children will grow up to be who have experienced bombings and violence, or even witnessed the death of a father or mother ...

Months ago, I was kept up late into the night wondering what kind of parent that person would be, if that is what they would ever become. How will he cuddle his children when he himself has received neither peace nor cuddles, having been woken up by gunshots in the street instead of his mother's loving hand? 

I freely admit that I will never forget the teary eyes of frightened children and the piles of questions about children who wandered as refugees in a foreign land among strange and often unfriendly people. I also understand the childhood of my parents, who survived the war, much more now than I did when I still had them and did not want to listen to them.

That's why I was so surprised when I listened to the guide's short presentation while my husband and I were being pampered in the spa. After dinner, we listened to very interesting presentations from all of us who were there at the time. 

The girl, a young woman who was in charge of leading our group, introduced herself as »My name is Nika. I don't think any of you even suspected that I was Serbian and that my mother and I had fled Serbia after the war.«

It is not possible that she is really a refugee, I thought for a moment, and even got pissed off.

Nika continued, »When Belgrade was bombed during the war, we fled to a shelter. We made a temporary home there and survived the whole war. We even made a place for the children to play, and I involuntarily recoiled from the worst horrors of that time; the monstrous scenes in the middle of the city and all around. But even after the war it wasn't much better, so my mother and I decided to flee to Slovenia. I finished my studies here, I work here and I try to forget about the war.«  

Although I am working on all possible dialects, I haven't found out where Nika comes from. She speaks Slovenian so beautifully, even though she has only been here for a few years, I was angry with myself.

But the truth is that I admired her and looked forward to spending time with her, and at home I thought: 'It wasn't easy for her. Coming to a strange, unknown land. Among unfamiliar people. A foreign language. Even though everything was strange, unfamiliar and different from what she was used to, Nika decided that from now on she would belong to her new homeland. She knew she could do anything she wanted, so she learned the language, explored her surroundings, enrolled in college and, after a few years, managed to hide the fact that she was a foreigner. A young, beautiful and likeable girl who proved that the love of life knows no boundaries. She proved that will finds a way and that self-pity leads nowhere.

Oh, how I wish her well. Oh, how I wish that she could be an example to all those young people who live in peace and have enough, but lack the will and courage to embark on a creative and fulfilling path.

Darinka Kobal, 28. 11. 2025