Olga Oserban from Celje

Proposer: Ana Jasmina Oseban

Olga Oserban comes from difficult social conditions in which she was unable to afford the education she yearned for. "I always wanted to be a shop assistant," she says, "but when I was young there was no opportunity because there were a lot of us at home and we had to go to work as soon as possible. Then I got married and had children... something always got in the way!" Her jobs were only temporary, and even then these were menial - she worked as a cleaner and a production line worker. After getting married she trained to do office work in her husband's company. Then life robbed her of almost everything that meant anything to her: first she lost her husband; shortly after that her younger daughter died. Meanwhile, her older daughter began to live her own life and now lives elsewhere. Suddenly Olga was left to herself, without education or a job. She was left with the courage to learn and the encouragement of her older daughter. She resolved to fulfil her life's ambition and gain a qualification. She persevered, although she was the oldest person in the education programme she attended. On 11 February this year, she finished her schooling passing the final exam with distinction, and thus achieved a secondary vocational education qualification in commerce and became a qualified sales assistant. Now her world has once again come to a standstill. She applies for the few jobs that are advertised but so far without success: she has realised that her educational qualifications are still too low for her to be competitive on the labour market. And so she is prepared to continue her education, but because her income is too low she cannot afford to pay for it herself, and she is supposedly no longer entitled to funds from the Employment Office. She still hopes to find a solution that will bring her in contact with people that will give her the chance to be satisfied with herself and the results of her work.