The Acting Mum
How a Serb woman in Bosnia adopted children from another community.
The Acting Mum
How a Serb woman in Bosnia adopted children from another community.
Zorka, a Bosnian Serb woman, fostered and then adopted two Bosniak children, Elvedina and Adi, from the orphanage in Doboj, Republika Srpska.
When they first came to live with her, Elvedina was aggressive and Adi had serious educational difficulties, but Zorka said "I kept cuddling him and talking to him". Both children overcame their difficult pasts and are now flourishing.
At their first meeting, Zorka asked Adi whether he wanted her to become his mother , but reassured him that he could decide later. So now the children jokingly call her "the acting mum".
This film was produced by IWPR and Mebius Film to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of war in Bosnia, under IWPR's Programme for the Western Balkans and ICTY, funded by the Norwegian government.
