Sunčica Mandić
1985
Sunčica was born in the Lower Town district, but lived since 1990 in England with her mother, where she also received her education. Motherhood changed her as a person. She divorced her husband, a Frenchman, and in 2020 returned with her daughter to live in Osijek.
My ex didn’t agree with my decision to return to Croatia, and we had a huge fight in court over this. A lawyer from Vukovar, who represented my daughter’s father, went against me on the basis of nationality: my mother is Serbian and I wasn’t here during the war, so let’s try to use it. Luckily, the judge was fair. She granted custody to me and I’m extremely grateful for that. This is proof that even as a Serbian woman, you can have equal rights in Croatia as everybody else.
Paddington Bear is Sunčica Mandić’s favourite stuffed toy, which she brought along as a five-year-old girl when moving with her mother to London. It reminded her of her home. This stuffed bear returned together with her to Osijek in 2020. It is interesting to note that in the books by the children’s author Michael Bond, the fictional Paddington Bear came from Peru to London in search for a new home.