Branka Bakšić Mitić is ignored by politicians. It really gets on their nerves. It raises the criterion of a good politician to a level they are not inclined to follow. They ignore Branka even so much that the deputy mayor of Glina, the bosses did not give any tasks or powers.
When her employers don't give her a job, she finds it herself.
And these days there is too much work. There is no village around Glina where the deputy mayor did not go to check how the people are doing after the earthquake, what they need, how to help them.
"It's terrible what happened. Every day I cry one round with people when I come somewhere. Emotions are strong", Branka cried in front of the cameras...
She is not fragile, but the situation is dire. And she participates in every minute.
From Tuesday at the fateful 12.19:XNUMX p.m. to about the same time on Saturday, she slept a total of about five hours. A devastating earthquake turned her week into one endless day. When she goes to bed and wakes up in half an hour, an hour, her day starts the same as yesterday. And the day before yesterday. He goes around the field, talks to people, lists who needs what. The list is getting longer every day.
Branka has been working with politicians for a long time and is used to all kinds of things from them. However, the dispute over state money to help Bania is "disgusting" to her. It was initiated by the mayor of Petrinja, Darinko Dumbović, when he said that he would return the HRK 30 million paid for the first hand to the state. It bothers him that Glina, which is more than twice as small, receives only five million kuna less than Petrinja. He says that the money is distributed according to the political key.
On Friday he said he didn't want the money, but on Saturday he changed his mind.
Dumbović is from the Reformists, the mayor of Glina, Stjepan Kostanjević, is from the HDZ. Branka Bakšić Mitić won the elections as an independent.
"I have too much work to do on the field to get involved in arguments about who got more money and why," he says.
People for people
She provides every linden for those she helps herself, with a group of similar enthusiasts through the "People for People" initiative.
It is dedicated to ensuring a dignified life for the residents of Bania. To begin with, electricity and water, which some villages around Glina have not had for 25 years. Her working week is significantly longer than 40 working hours.
"I was shocked when I became a deputy and went to the field and saw how many people don't have electricity or water. In the 21st century, they haven't had the basics for 25 years. To this day, that hasn't changed," she resigned. And grateful to the good people who donate the installation of solar panels. Grandma Ljuba got the first one from an emigrant in Panama.
Branko doesn't remember the last time she put on make-up or stood in front of the mirror. Well, she doesn't even know when she washed her hair.
"Thank God for dry shampoo and hair spray," she laughs.
He has no time for himself. Even before the black holiday week, the rhythm was not much slower. But at that time there were not five dead people in her area, in Majski Poljane, nor old people and children with a bed in a caravan.
He does not agree with politicians.
"I could, like others, thresh empty straw and get a good salary, not to worry about how others live. But I'm not that kind of person," she answers the question of why she does what she does, when none of her colleagues support her.
SUV on loan
So much so, that they did not give her an official car in which she would go to the field for humanitarian tasks.
"I had to submit a written request for the use of an official car two days in advance. And then they still have to approve it. They told me that I cannot get an official car for the delivery of aid and that I should hand over that aid to the Red Cross. I said 'that these people wanted give to the Red Cross, they would give to them, not to the Initiative," she was angry.
Impulsive and stubborn as she is when she sets out to do something, she took out a 4.700 euro loan and bought an SUV with four-wheel drive, so that she could drive on the many unpaved roads of Banija and Kordun. She paid 4.800 euros for a gas car. Her installment is HRK 1.900, she still has six months to pay it off.
"Gas costs me HRK 2.000 every month, and I can't say how much the repairs will cost me because I'll have a fight with my husband," she laughs.
Pride of Croatia and Terrible Woman
Somewhere along the way, she was declared "Pride of Croatia" and "A Terrible Woman".
We are talking in the building of the Driving school, today a convenient collection center in Glina. I can see that the team is unhappy because I am keeping Branka for too long. No one will decide anything without her, it will be dark soon. Zadrani left, Kopran ask if they can bring help, just unload and leave. The Rotarians announced themselves. The atmosphere is chaotic, but Branka has everything under control.
Her husband no longer pays attention to her absences from home. The music professor is retiring at the end of the school year.
"He did 41 years of service without a sick day. We have a daughter, Maja, and a granddaughter, Andreja, who is 11 years old," says Branka quickly, because now she is already being pulled by the sleeve.
Her family house was also destroyed in the earthquake.
"Harmless compared to many others. The walls and chimney cracked, the tile fell off. We haven't repaired anything yet because I'm on the ground all the time," says the former head of commercial in several large companies.
She quit her job in Zagreb
The last job before the position, she worked in the commercial sector of the City of Čakovec.
"I had an excellent job in Zagreb. I was working in the commercial department of an Italian company when my husband's brother, then the mayor of Glina, Milan Bakšić, asked me to apply for a competition. My husband had already returned to Glina. I applied, passed and came to work for double the salary, but to be with my family. All the time I was involved in humanitarian work. Friends in Zagreb would give me a stove, a sink... I would bring it to the villages in the trunk of my Fiat Uno, so who needed it. I would see what people is missing the most, so we introduced public lighting in three villages during his mandate. I didn't let him force me to become a party member either. When Milan died in a traffic accident in 2015, everything stopped in Glina. Both in the City, and my husband and I got sick. He got diabetes from the stress, he doesn't even leave the house anymore. We still believe that Milan Bakšić would not have died if they had provided him with adequate help. With bleeding from his ear, they left him in a sitting position for hours, he was the last to turn in hospital. When he finally went in for treatment, he passed away," she is sad when she remembers.
Four days before submitting signatures in the 2017 local elections, friends persuaded her to run.
"I was completely suspicious, 450 signatures had to be collected. They took the forms and collected the signatures. I won as an independent, along with four party opponents", she is glad.
The devastating earthquake also exposed Croatian shame. That citizens live without water and electricity. Returned to the 19th century. And until the nineties, they had it all. Both electricity and local water supply.
After Jutarnji wrote about it two years ago, HEP brought electricity on a political initiative. It's so reluctant and obvious, clumsy, that every now and then it 'pops'.
Twilight Zone
Villages full of abandoned houses and tall bushes have no public lighting.
"It's like in the twilight zone, and children live there," said poor Branka.
Glina is one of the few, if not the only, local self-government units that did not allocate a penny for civil society in last year's budget. So there is no free legal aid, so there is no one to write them petitions, appeals... Branka has been doing all this for them for a year.
Although the Serb, Branka Bakšić Mitić, does not support the Serbs in the Parliament.
"If the representatives of the Serbs in the Parliament know that here people have to pay more than HRK 7.000 again for electricity connection, and they have already paid it once, could they not propose a law that those who have paid once, do not have to pay for electricity connection again? It would be logical to me. All politicians are equally inert, one or the other. Here, a Croatian veteran bought a house in Klasnić 16 years ago. He wrote to ministers, President Kolinda, everyone and anyone. He got electricity last year, after 15 years of struggle ", she is disappointed.
The fact that more than 800 people left in the last exodus shows that Glina has gone all the way to hell. Once upon a time, not so long ago, there were six shoe stores in Glina, today there is not one.
"Today I have to go to Sisak or Zagreb for shoes," Branka is disappointed.
Distrust in the system
Many good people are skeptical about giving money to the state treasury so that it can use it for reconstruction. They do not believe that the criteria will be fair. Because of such mistrust, Branka has even more work to do. He goes around the villages with them and they themselves directly agree on who will build a house, build a barn, buy a generator.
"It will only be fair and clean", he does not want to risk politics being a stronger trump card than a broken home.
What will he do for himself first when all this is over?
"Take a rest".
The deputy mayor of Glina was on the field until 1.30:4 am on Friday. She went to bed, got up at XNUMX and got to work.
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