This feature originally appeared in the 2020-21 Winter edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.
The NATO bombing of Belgrade during the Kosovo War started on March 24, 1999, 12 days after
Mima Mirkovic was born.
The Mirkovics lived in the outskirts of the Serbian capital at the time, near the atomic shelter where several politicians and Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic were hiding.
"The noise and destruction were huge," said Mima's mother, Lisa. "We had to hide in shelters before we moved to our friend's house in the center of Belgrade, where we hoped the bombing wouldn't happen."
It's been a long road for the Cal two-way volleyball star on her path to Division I sports in Berkeley. Mima was told over and over again she wasn't tall or athletic enough to play at this level.
Three years into her career as a Golden Bear, Mima is an all-region outside hitter for the indoor volleyball team and an All-American player in beach volleyball.
She has been defying the odds from Day 1.
During her family's first visit to the pediatrician after Mima was born, they were recommended to leave the country if they could because radioactivity from the bombing could possibly harm the baby and cause problems later in life. But before the move was even possible, there were several hurdles the Mirkovics would have to clear.
All men in Serbia were part of the active military and weren't allowed to leave the country. If they do, they are considered deserters and face jail time as a consequence. Even when Mima's father, Alex, won a green card through the USA lottery system, roadblocks remained.
Mima was two months old at the time without a visa to enter the USA. The U.S. consulate in Belgrade was closed due to the bombings, and all flights in and out of Belgrade were grounded.
The family's goal was to get a travel document for Mima to fly to Los Angeles and stay with her uncle, Milos Katanic. The closest airport with departing flights was in Budapest, Hungary – about 240 miles away – with a bus ride the only hope of getting there.
"With that plan in mind, we were able to secure a document that allowed Alex to temporarily leave the country for a week," Lisa said. "In that document, it stated if he didn't come back, he would be prosecuted."
The Mirkovics had a friend who was a travel agent and got them bus tickets to Budapest and airline tickets to Los Angeles without reporting it to the Serbian government. Yet, potentially the biggest hurdle was still to be cleared – getting past border control.
If border control officers between Serbia and Hungary found their green cards and airline tickets, they would know the family planned on fleeing, and Alex would have been thrown in jail. Alex found a spot under the keyboard of his laptop to hide the documents, praying that the agents wouldn't look there.
The bus ride to Budapest was planned for early in the morning on May 8, 1999, but while the family was packing the day before, a NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade knocked out most of the power in the city.
The family was only able to leave with a bag of diapers, two backpacks and $500 in savings.
The 12-hour bus ride to Budapest was full of mothers with kids. Alex was the only male. While her parents were full of anxiety and stress, Mima was the perfect baby, sleeping the entire way.
Alex became the main target of questioning on the bus at the border control station, enduring seven hours of questions and searches before they let him go.
"There were so many circumstances where we were just seconds away from life being totally different and I wouldn't be here where I am today," Mima said. "The quick thinking on my dad's part saved us from him being enlisted into the army, staying in Serbia and possibly even going to jail."
The Mirkovics made it past border control and were now lost in a new city where the citizens spoke a different language.
Lisa was able to find the phone number of a friend, who paid for a place to stay and helped make an appointment at the U.S. consulate. At the consulate, they secured travel documents for Mima and left for California on May 13.
Finally, so close to the final step, the family boarded the plane for Los Angeles and tucked Mima in to sleep. But the pilot then announced the flight was delayed for five hours due to NATO planes preparing for another round of bombing in Belgrade.
"We will never forget the number of tears, sadness and anger that consumed us for those five hours," Lisa said. "We left family, friends, great jobs and life before war started that felt like we were betraying everyone. But we knew we had to do it to give our baby girl the best chance to survive and thrive."
After arriving in Los Angeles, the family felt a sense of relief, but new life in America wasn't easy. They lived in Milos' rental place, and without any purchase history in the USA, it made even buying a crib for Mima difficult. They settled for a large used playpen because it was what they could get.
Milos co-signed on their first car, and after six months, Lisa found her first job, leaving Alex to care for Mima. He spent his days tending to her while watching cowboy movies with captions to learn English.
The Mirkovics ultimately got their first apartment in Irvine, and for a few years every time fireworks went off at nearby Disneyland, they thought it was bombs falling from the sky. It took awhile for the stress and anxiety to wear off.
"It was a really difficult choice for my family to not only leave in the first place, but also make the conscious decision to not go back because their whole lives were in Serbia," Mima said. "It's hard to talk about sometimes because we look at how fortunate we are now and when we look back, it can cause some PTSD on the whole situation."
Two years later, all Serbian men who immigrated were provided amnesty, and the Mirkovics were able to travel back to Belgrade as a family for the first time.
Before getting deep into volleyball and sports, Mima recalls going back to Serbia every summer to see family and friends and being immersed in the culture, including speaking her first language, Serbian, at daycare.
Now at age 21 and realizing her origin story in more depth, she realizes she wants to immerse herself more in her heritage.
"When people ask me, I do identify myself as Serbian," Mima said. "I was born there and it's about going back and speaking the language again, seeing the people who look like me and speak like me. I'm very proud of my heritage, and I always look forward to going home."
