Joka Kutlacha of Masići married 17 times, still without a family home

Joka Kutlacha, a woman from the village of Masići near Gradiška in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has lived through 17 marriages. She first wed at age 23 and today says the long string of unions left her without the family home and children she had once hoped for.

Her first wedding took place in Gornji Karajzovci, in the Lijevče field, a traditional winter celebration with music and decorated horses. At the start the marriage seemed to thrive: her husband cared for her and loved her. But tensions rose when his parents intervened, suggesting their son could do better.

Leaving rather than staying where she was unwelcome

Joka refused to remain in a household where she felt unwanted; she packed her bags and returned to her parents. Of that moment she remembers saying, "I will not allow anyone to humiliate me!" and moving on to try again at life and relationships.

Her second marriage ended abruptly too. She introduced a man with the surname Ždral to her family in Masići; because she had no brothers, her parents hoped someone would stay by the family hearth. Soon after they began living together, police arrived at her door. She learned then that her new husband was wanted for stealing bicycles and faced prison, and the relationship collapsed as quickly as it had started.

Looking back, Joka admits she was not always easy to live with. "There were all sorts of loud arguments here, even physical fights. I could write a whole book about my former husbands, but I won’t put the juicy details in the papers," she says with a wry smile. Today she lives alone in a village that has emptied over the years: cafés closed, the school without pupils, and former celebrations reduced to faint memories.

Encounters with any of her 17 former husbands are brief and matter-of-fact—two or three words and each goes on their way. She still keeps her humour and energy, and says she is fit for work and village festivities, but when asked recently whether she might look for an eighteenth spouse she is firm: "That's enough!"

Photo: press material from the event