Anka (Drazenovic) Vukovic was born in Krispolje in the Yugoslav state of Croatia in 1931.
After the Allied victory in World War II, Yugoslavia was set up as a federation of the six republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. Anka lived in her homeland prior to the dissolution of Yugoslavia; her country is now known as Croatia and is no longer called Yugoslavia.
Anka remembers life in her homeland very well. She said, "I remember it all. It was not a nice time for any of us. It was a time of war. I was a child and I was scared most of the time. The German and Italian soldiers occupied Croatia for four years during the Second World War and our lives were changed forever. Night time raiders burned selected houses and children roamed the streets in the city trying to find food and at the same time they had to avoid being caught by the raiders.
"We lived on a farm and we worked hard raising the animals and growing crops associated with farm life. We planted almost everything that would grow in our garden to supply food for the family."
Unlike many of the people in the city Anka and her family had food. They remained in the country and as a result they were not near a school. The occupation lasted for four years and during that time she did not attend school.
Anka had three brothers and three sisters. Each of the three sisters got married and continued to live on the family farm; one of her brothers was in the army and another brother owned and operated a delivery truck.
Anka got married in 1950 and had a daughter; when the baby was two and a half months old, her husband was killed in a car accident. Anka raised her baby on the farm and worked right along with the rest of the family using horses to plough the land in order to raise their source of food.
Years went by, Anka's daughter Mary grew up and at the age of 20 she had an opportunity to move to Canada. One year after she immigrated to Canada, Mary sent for her mother. Anka said, "Mary was successful in her move to Canada. She got married and had five children and now I have four great grandchildren - two girls and two boys - and I am crazy for them all. I love and enjoy all of my children."
Anka immigrated to Canada in 1970 and worked as a housekeeper in private homes, she worked in the kitchen in restaurants and housekeeping in motels all the while picking up janitorial work on the side. Anka married Slavko Vukovic in 1975 and sadly he passed away in 2002.
Anka used to attend regularly at St. Mary's Catholic Church in fact she rarely missed a Sunday mass. Then poor health set in and she developed allergies and has since had three serious heart attacks. She passed out twice in church because of perfume allergies and ended up in the hospital both times so now she has to stay in her apartment building at Alward Place as much as possible.
She moved to Alward Place three years ago and she said, "I love it here at Alward Place. I am 85 years old and I miss my homeland; I have not been back to my country of birth for over seven years. I will always remember Croatia but I have to say that I love my life here in Canada. Everyone worked hard in Croatia but it was impossible to get ahead. Here in Canada the opportunities are endless."
When Anka came to Canada she had a tough time learning the English language. She explained it like this, "My daughter helped me learn the language. I am so thankful that I have Mary. Still I am not very good at English. I have a hard time understanding and sometimes people can not understand me but I try hard. I try to read and I listen a lot but a second language does not come easy for older people. I have prayed and I have wondered why God did not make it easy for all of us by only having one language for all the people in the world."
