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by Ana Stjelja, 24, Serbia

I’m in love with a person who is different from me.  When I say different, I mean in the religious, national, cultural sense.

My love relationship started 4 years ago and I didn’t even know that it would go this far or that it would become my fate.

I’m Orthodox Christian, living in Serbia – a Balkan country in Southeast Europe – and my lover is Egyptian and a Moslem.  We met on the internet, which wasn’t a common way of meeting at that time. 

When I started talking to him, everything seemed like ”déja vu,” like any other conversation.  But day by day, I was showing more and more interest in him which then resulted with love.  It took a long time for us to understand our relationship, to make a straight line between imagination and reality. 

For the first time in my life I felt like someone was listening to what I had to say.  I found out that there’s someone like me.  Beside having the same taste in music, movies and those basic things, we realised that we shared the same principles of life such as morality, honesty, respect, dignity, sense of justice, and many others. 

I knew that we would be inseparable.  But, my happiness  was interrupted with one thought.  What would people around us say?  Will they be able to understand? 

I started talking about him – first with my parents then with my friends – trying to make this story closer to them but I saw that they were not delighted and did not take me seriously. 

I had prepared myself for a long and difficult period of fighting for my happiness but I had no idea that my fight would last this long.  I do know that it’s the only way.  If I want to save my love, I have to fight for it and show the world it’s not just a game, a caprice.

The most beautiful moment in my life was when we finally saw each other in person.  We acted like it’s not our first meeting.  It was more like we had known each other for several years.  I was sure that we deserved to be together forever and that we made good choice.  It also showed me that my fight wasn’t useless, that love is worth fighting for. 

We’re living in a world of intolerance, hate, nationalism and religious fanaticism.  In such a world not just love but also a common friendship between a Christian girl and Moslem guy is almost impossible. Even if they are soulmates and truly love each other, their being together just can’t be accepted.  

But nowadays there are more and more people like me.  For them and for all of you who still doubt, I would like to send a message – that love is the strongest thing besides faith and if it’s true and honest it can’t fail.  

But for love to triumph we must be very brave, we must be persistent, and above all patient.  If I didn’t believe in love I wouldn’t take my part in this battle, which is a battle for free choice no matter what the obstacles may be. 

I believe in love without borders because only free love can make us united and make all the boundaries between us disappear.

Ana: “I graduated in Turkish language & literature on Faculty of philology at Belgrade University.  I’m about to get my Master of literature science.  I’m a writer and have already published 3 books of poetry.  Also, I’m interested in art and foreign languages.  I like to explore different cultures and religions.  I would like to travel around the world to meet different people, their customs and to write about them.  The values I appreciate are love, good education, strong will (which makes everything possible).  My aim is to become a famous writer so my works could be widely read and so I could make this world better.”

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