In 2011, Brazilian Pedro Rodrigues was on a specialization as a clinical psychologist in the United States, when he met Sarajevan Lejla Kapetanović at a reception organized by the State Department. Today, Lejla and Pedro are living in Sarajevo and the first anniversary of their marriage is approaching. Although an expert with years of experience in a very important and deficit area, Pedro keeps failing to find a job in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the only matter that casts a shadow over their happiness.
“We met in America, where we were both scholarship recipients of the US Government at the prestigious Fulbright program Hubert H. Humphrey, which aims at providing a one-year professional training in the US with a combination of academic and practical experience through the promotion of cross-cultural collaboration”, explains Lejla.
She was specializing in public relations and digital media at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Pedro at Virginia Commonwealth University, actually at the Institute of Studies on Alcoholism and Addiction, where he obtained a license for a certified specialist in the field of prevention of drug abuse, and has specialized in the rational-emotional-behavioral (REBT) therapy and motivational interviewing technique.
They have returned to their daily jobs, Pedro as a supervisor at a hospital in Rio and the coordinator in the municipality with 250,000 inhabitants, in parallel with a private practice, and Lejla worked first as a consultant for communications on the project of the EU Delegation to BiH, and then as a PR manager.
After all they have experienced in life, the question of whether they would change anything in their lifetime if given the chance, the answer is: “Absolutely not. It is a unique feeling to have the opportunity to enjoy the diversity of cultures that each of us brings to our relationship, which is reflected in every aspect of life and the experiences that we have collected throughout the world. This unique feeling is daily enriched with tolerance, understanding, acceptance of diversity and the knowledge that all these elements will be present in your life no matter where you are; in New York, Rio de Janeiro, Sarajevo, or some other place on the planet”.
(Source: klix.ba)
