Adžija and Sevdija Ajvaz with their son Senad, daughter-in-law Behija, and grandchildren Medina and Alisa, Herceg Novi, April 2012

The Ajvaz family originated in Kosovo, but moved to Montenegro in the early 1970s. Adžija and Sevdija Ajvaz have two sons and a daughter. As a young man, Adžija loved sports and practised football. He is a plumber now and Sevdija is a housewife. Their son Senad is a car mechanic, and Džemal is in the hospitality business, as is their daughter Suzana. They live in Herceg Novi.

Adžija and Sevdija Ajvaz at the beach in Meljine, 1979

Sevdija Ajvaz as the bride at her wedding, the late 1970s

“Saturday, actually, Sunday, the day when my wife was supposed to come to my place to her wedding and bring her dowry with her, according to the custom. So we could see what she had been weaving. She’s the bride here.”

Adžija and Sevdija with their son Senad, 1982

“When I got married, I was in my first grade of secondary school, at ‘Ivan Goran Kovačić’. At that time, my physics teacher Zoran Radojčin got a daughter. So I said to him, professor, give me your hand so we can become friends, I got a son, you got a daughter, let’s be friends… But he was a good guy, quite a character, both he and his wife. Even today, whenever I see them, really, it’s always good…”