ABSTRACT
I came to feminism through my own life experience. In my life there was a phase when I decided to divorce my husband, and I experienced abuse and violence on many levels. It was just too much, so I called one feminist women’s house for help; I called them for information, legal advice, and support. And they gave it to me. I settled my problems and myself with their help. After two years of stabilizing myself, I became an external volunteer in this organization. After a few years of this work, I went back to Zagreb and found myself missing the work a lot. I was in a panic to find such an initiative or group here; that’s when I saw an advertisement for Women’s Group Tresnjevka. I started to work with this women’s group every Wednesday, discussing various women’s problems and issues. Out of those discussions came an initiative to found a telephone hotline, and I worked there three or four years on the telephone; we realized, after only a few years, that it was not enough: We needed a shelter. We started to write requests for space for the shelter, but we had no results, so we squatted the apartment we are in now. It was a great pleasure for me because I realized the strength of women together fighting for change. Since then the shelter has been living and working that way for three years. And now we are fighting again for legal status and looking for a new, bigger space.
