The great search of Ivana from Austria: My mother got pregnant in 1985 in Dalmatia, I want to find my father

I don’t know if my father knows about me at all, my mother didn’t know how to tell me, but I know I’ll look for him until I find him. Mom has been hiding information about potential fathers for a long time, and what she has told me over the years is small, not enough to find something concrete. She told me that her father was named Ivan or Miljenko and that they met at the former Discotence of Rošo in Salima on Dugi otok, for the Assumption of Our Lady, in 1985. Today, after half a year of active pursuit of his father, I know that his name is not Ivan, but probably Miljenko. In those words, Ivana Mujan (39) began an unusual life story. She was born in Zadar, and since the ninth month of her life she lives in Austria.

She always wondered who her father was, but her mother couldn’t help her much. Through growing up, Ivana was curiously asked questions about him.

– In my teenage years, I dared to ask my mother who my father was. Then she just told me her name was Ivan and that she was a fisherman. But at that time I couldn’t do anything with this information. At the age of 20, I asked her the same question, but the answer was different. ‘It’s called Miljenko and worked in Industrogradnja’ – recalls Ivana, who started posts on her Facebook profile last year to « look for Dad. »

As she says, she realized the old man, but the old and her father. She is aware that she cannot get a race with time. It was a terrible thought that her father could die and that she might not meet him. For a long time, she didn’t even have an idea of ​​how to go to look for because « How will you seek someone do you know only that Ivan Ribar or Miljenko is from Industrogradnja? ».

– My mother Milka, 66, from Zitnić, was working at the Sardin Mardesic factory in Sali on Dugi Otok, it may be possible that this man worked for the same company as a fisherman or a truck driver … All attempts to find out information from my born mother were unsuccessful. She lied to me and was called Ivan and was a fisherman, and Miljenko and worked in Industrogradnja. I don’t know if my father knows about me, neither could my mother answer me … – Ivana wrote in one of the first Facebook posts and asked for help.

Went to DNA testing and

She split the posts into several groups, and after a while, a member of the « fisherman Ivan from Pag » reported to her.

He connected her with a man she thought might be her father.

– I was overwhelmed by emotions when we got in touch. We even look similar, and at that period, when I was conceived, John was with my mother Milko. Everything at first made sense. He told me that when he heard my mother gave birth, he thought he might be his, so he was looking after me too – he recalls the moment the fisherman John came to her.

She decided to send him a DNA test to find out if he was her father, or if she was his daughter.

From the My Heritage page, she ordered two DNA testing kits. John sent him his and both tested and sent samples to Germany, and they send them to America.

– The whole procedure, sending a test and waiting, lasted two to three months. It seemed like whole eternity. We talked all this time, connected and brought together. We were almost sure that could be it, ”he explains.

– Until January 7 this year, the results arrived. They were negative. And we thought, wanted to, hoped it would be positive – Ivan recalls that day with sadness in his voice.

She was shocked, disappointed. She called Ivan’s niece because, as she says, she had no strength to call Ivana.

– I tried to refresh the page at her advice, maybe something would change in the results. After a while, I had to break the phone conversation because I couldn’t talk from crying. I called John’s cousin who lives near him and asked him to tell him personally, ”Ivana said.

After DNA confirmed that John was not her father, she went in search of Miljenko.

‘I don’t condemn my mother’

– Mom told me at my 20 years that my father Miljenko, who then worked on the island of that summer in 1985 in Industrogradnja. Supposedly, when she realized she was pregnant, he had already left the island so she couldn’t tell him. Before that she was with John, who was on board at the time. They later reconciled, but Mom went to Zitnić, then gave birth to me in Zadar and soon moved to Vienna. John knew she was pregnant, but as Mom suddenly disappeared from his life, he knew nothing about me or my name. I couldn’t find out anything more of my mom because she didn’t want to talk about it. It was just one night and supposedly a great shame for her, especially during that time – Ivana tells us, who thinks her mom still needed to tell her the truth.

– I don’t condemn my mother. But she should have been honest and say that it really was when her child began to question her. Without shame and without fear, ”Ivana said.

She adds that she recently found a new mark on Miljenko and awaits DNA test results. This time, she found that trace in the Krapina-Zagorje County.

– I’ll look for it forever if necessary. He probably doesn’t even know I exist. I don’t plan to harass him if he won’t want to contact, well, but I have to tell him I exist. I believe we will find each other. Less than a year ago I had zero information, today I have a seemingly little, but I have a lot compared to last year, and these are the people I met through the search – Ivana told us, adding:

– I want my dad to know me, no matter what he was called and wherever he was, I do not condemn him. And if I find him, I will not say publicly who he is. I want to find him alive and spend the rest of the time.

Although hundreds of people shared her story on social networks, and many have contacted her with the words of support and her own experiences, Ivana’s search has no happy ending yet. Part of her identity is still missing – and she can’t, nor does she want to, give up until she finds it.