Dr. Dzemile Berat: Kriva Palanka produced the most university-educated Roma in Macedonia
Dr. Dzemile Berat, the first female Roma doctor in Macedonia, retired psychiatrist promoted her autobiographical book "My Dream" in her hometown
"I was lucky to be born, study and develop as a person in Kriva Palanka. If it wasn't for my hometown and my people from Krivopalanka, I wouldn't have reached the success and be where I am today. I had support and help from everyone, from the children, teachers, neighbors and friends, we all grew up together, no distinction was made. The old Krivopalancans were noble and good people," said Dr. Dzemile Berat, the first female Roma doctor in Macedonia, a retired psychiatrist, at the launch of his autobiographical book "My Dream" in his hometown.
The promotion at the Culture Center was attended by many friends, relatives, classmates, acquaintances and fellow citizens with whom Berat shares common memories and moments from her childhood and youth. She wrote the autobiography in which she writes about her bumpy life and professional path, but also about her faith, perseverance and achieved success, in the most difficult period of her life, after the death of her husband Bajram, also a doctor, and she dedicated it to her brother Sebo.
- My dream would have remained just a dream and I would not have achieved it if it were not for the constant help and support of my brother Sebo - Mechka, who believed in me. Of course, I am also very grateful to my mother Ghana, who, although illiterate, knew how to value education and in 1976 allowed me to go to Skopje alone and study at the Faculty of Medicine. Although we had no money, we lived only on the family pension and I was often hungry. I ate potatoes for 10 days because I had no money to buy bread. But I always motivated myself that I had to endure and succeed, and I was also a scholarship recipient of the then Tito Fund - Berat sublimates his life path.
She pointed out that from Kriva Palanka, even though it is a small town, the largest number of university-educated Roma in Macedonia came out. Berat calls her family the vanguard of the Roma intelligentsia, because there are 4 specialist doctors in it, and her son David is a doctor of science.
With "My Dream" she wanted to leave a mark on her roots, family and life, which she says was both sad and happy, but ultimately successful. In it, she talks about the challenges of the war in Croatia, the military conflict in Macedonia, the pandemic, when her life was in danger, as well as the discrimination she faced as a Roma doctor. At the same time, the work also represents a chronology of the life in Krivopalanica in past times.
According to the promoter Maritza Nikolovska, Dr. Dzemile Berat's book is an important contribution to the literary activity and is an example of an individual's commitment to social and humane principles, characteristic of the author.
- It gives a chronological account of our hometown, everything we experienced in childhood, youth, old palanquins, streets, old shops are recognizable. But also the turbulent times, networks, wars that our generation experienced - said Nikolovska.
