Croatian women in Latin America reclaim roots

Representatives of the CroActivas network in Latin America recently stated that they want to preserve their roots and the Croatian spirit while staying connected with Croatia, which is why they established the network two years ago.

"We want to preserve our roots, the Croatian spirit, and stay connected with our homeland," say the Croatian women from Latin America who founded the CroActivas network two years ago to promote unity among Croatian expatriates, CE Report quotes HINA.

CroActivas was established in 2023 on International Women's Day to promote unity among Croatian expatriates and strengthen the connection with the homeland in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions.

"This is a way for us to unite because each of us has her own story," says Dafne Bilich Santiago Queiroz, whose grandfather arrived in Brazil in 1947.

Bilich Santiago Queiroz is an entrepreneur in the insurance sector and lives in Espiritu Santo, in the southeast of the country.

"We Croatian women from Latin America are different, but we are all united by the Croatian spirit. The spirit of a people who have overcome difficulties and adapted in a foreign land thanks to their resilience," says Bilich.

She is one of 836 women who meet online at least once a month and hold workshops. The number of participants has doubled since the network was created two years ago.

Jelena Nadinić, born in Buenos Aires, was among the founders. She thought it would be a good idea to create a network in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions, as there were already some in English-speaking ones.

"In South America, we have people from the second and third generations who have lost their roots because they had to focus on their work. This way, we give them something, at least once a month, to reconnect with their roots," says Nadinić, the president of CroActivas.

"And why women? Because we women are the core of the family, tradition and language," she explains.

"We want Croatia to know who we are"

Nadinić, a specialist in the biochemistry-pharmaceutical industry and a member of the Croatian Government Council for Croats Abroad, along with her colleagues from Brazil, Peru and other South American countries, founded CroActivas.

They first met in person in November 2023 in Buenos Aires, and the recent meeting in São Paulo is the second such gathering. It is part of the broader 8th Meeting of the Croatian Diaspora in South America.

CroActivas is the only pan-Latin American Croatian organisation. It gained five new members during the meeting in São Paulo. These women are asked to fill out a form with their details and write their emigration stories.

"It’s important that they write their history because if we don’t record it, we’ll lose it. We want that history to remain, to be known how they came to Latin America," emphasises Nadinić.

Daphne Bilich wrote about how her grandfather Miroslav, a 35-year-old owner of a chemical factory in Zagreb at the time, was declared an "enemy of the people" by the Yugoslav communist regime. He was imprisoned, escaped and then made his way to Brazil via Italy.

CroActivas is full of stories of people who crossed the Atlantic Ocean for political and economic reasons and arrived in an unknown land.

"We in South America wanted the world to know about Croatia until 1991. Now we want Croatia to know who we are," says Nadinić.