New Humans of Australia: Sanja
I have always loved dancing. When I was a child in Serbia, my parents enrolled me in Serbian dancing classes, and I also loved samba, rumba, and Bollywood dancing. I loved trying new things.
I even met my husband at Latin and Ballroom Dance classes, while I was at University in Kragujevac! It was so funny, after a few weeks we realised we lived right near each other. We stopped going to the dance classes but kept seeing each other.
After 5 years we got married and came to Australia five days after our wedding, in 2023. It was bittersweet; the wedding was an absolute fairytale but we both knew that we wouldn’t see many of the guests again soon.
The 22-hour flight to Sydney was the first time I’d ever been on a plane. I was so afraid of the flight and so sad to leave my family.
I was born in 1998 in Serbia, towards the end of the Yuguslav wars. We lived in Kraljevo, a medium sized city, about 2 hours away from Belgrade.
I miss my family. Every Sunday we’d have a huge family feast, full of traditional Serbian dishes like sarma. The whole family would gather, and we would sit, talk, eat a lot of food: chicken with potatoes, and my favourite desserts, cherry cake and apple pie. Everyone was there, uncles, aunties, cousins. I loved it the most when we were all together.
When I arrived in Australia, I was too nervous to leave the house for a long time – I only went to the Serbian grocery stores nearby. Even though I’d studied English for so many years, I was very shy. We lived in my husband’s grandparent’s house in Liverpool, in Western Sydney. It was so big, so busy.
Eventually, I enrolled in the Adult Migrant English Program at Navitas Skilled Futures, and when I called the school to enrol, the lady that answered the phone started speaking to me in my language – it made me feel so happy.
I joined the Youth Class, and my confidence soared, I started exploring the surroundings, going to the shops, and communicating on my own.
I’ve been in Australia for a year now. It doesn’t feel completely like home yet, but I feel more comfortable now. I miss my family so much, but I’m not afraid anymore, I am confident and independent.
Now we are starting a family of our own, our little girl is due next week. I’m nervous, because I don’t have my mum, aunt and sister here to help me, to give me advice on being a new mum, but I can’t wait to meet my baby.
We want to help our daughter know as much about her Serbian background as possible – our heritage, traditions and dance, of course!
There are some Serbian dance troupes here in Western Sydney which we plan to send our daughter to. Once a year, the troupes go to Serbia for a tour. This year, they went to my hometown!
My dad was so excited that they came, and we all thought, maybe my daughter will do that one day. Go back to Serbia, visit my hometown, and spend time with her grandparents.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful.
Sanja
Serbia
Arrived 2023