Zvone Žigon, Head of the Consular Office of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Banja Luka, assumed this position a year ago.
Immediately after arriving in Banjaluka, we established a very lively, active cooperation. Already in November, he presented us with the details of an exciting expedition to Kilimanjaro. Through an interesting and dynamic presentation and fantastic photos, he evoked the beauty of African regions and the feeling of happiness, pride and enormous satisfaction that the top of Africa was conquered. The presentation was extremely interesting and attended by a large number of members. That was the beginning of the activities, which followed one after the other: from reciting poetry, hiking together, cooking goulash on "Maria's Paths". His wife Irena and he were frequent guests at our culinary workshops. He was interested in everything and would always find time to get involved in all our activities. He also wanted to sing in the choir with us, but he didn't have enough free time. But we really sang and danced at St. Martin’s Day. He prepared a beautiful exhibition of photos he took in Bosnia and Herzegovina for us in Milanović's house, in order to gather us all and say goodbye to us. Everything was somehow spontaneous, as if we had known each other for years. And so in a good mood, we didn't even notice how the year passed. It was really hard for us to say goodbye to Zvone and Irena.
We gathered on the premises of the Association on September 1, 2026 and prepared a small snack, Zvone brought wine and we spent a pleasant evening evoking memories and making plans for further cooperation. As a sign of gratitude, we gave Zvone a picture of Banja Luka to remind him of the days spent with us in Banja Luka. The hardworking hands of our embroiderers made the Cyrillic Alphabet for Mr. Žigon in a “Zmijanje” stitch. We wished him success in his future work and agreed that this parting is not the end of our socialising and friendship. Because as the saying goes:
"Friends are like a four-leaf clover. You rarely find one that brings you great joy." I can freely say that Mr. Žigon is our four-leaf clover.
Ljiljana Memon
