Christmas action on Kosovo and Metohija
Report: Predrag Marinkovic, Serbia /BILLS/ /PHOTO GALLERY/
Within the traditional Christmas action, member of the Charity organization Serbs for Serbs visited the enclaves on Kosovo and Metohija. We visited and helped nine families, of which seven were visited at the end of 2013, when we plan to help them. We used this opportunity, together with the organization Majka devet Jugovica to deliver the aid we promised which consisted of the following:
• electric stove
• freezer
• 10 beds
• 6 wood-burning stoves
• 2 washing machines
• a package of groceries
Total amount of the delivered help was 454.940 dinars.
The first family we visited was a returnee family of Zarko Jevtic from the martyr village Zac near Istok. With the help of the fraternity from the monestery Visoki Decani, we conducted the action for this seven-member family.
The family Jevtic has five sons: Radenko (18), Zeljko (17), Veljko (14), Rados (12) and Mitar (10). They received a new freezer and an electric stove.
After that, we delivered the help in the region of Kosovo Pomoravlje, and the first out of two families we visited in the village Labjane was the four-member family Filic.
The family consists of parents Sinisa and Sonja and children Luka (3), and Nevena (eight moths old). For this young couple we delivered two beds and a wood-burning stove.
In the neighborhood village, we visited the six-member family Savic, consisting of grandmother Ruza and grandfather Dobri, sons Srecko and Dalibor, Dalibor's wife and children Bojana (5) and Lazar (1). We delivered identical help as with the previous family – two beds and a wood-burning stove.
In the village Izvor we visited family Stojkovic. Parents Jagos and Danijela live with their two years old son Andrija and Luka, who is two monts old. They live in a difficult situation, so we delivered two beds, a washing machine and a wood-burning stove.
Family Ristic, whom we visited next, lives in slightly better conditions. We delivered a bed and a wood-burning stove for them.
Our first day was finished by visiting the family of Ivan Ivkovic from the village Straza. The family has three sons: Lazar (24), Milos (22) and Bojan (18). This family is about to become a cooperative, because Lazar and Milos live with their wives. Since we didn't visit the family earlier during the Christmas action, we wanted to establish their needs.
We first met the family in 2009. during the Christmas action which was conducted then, and we delivered a refrigerator and two beds for them. Those beds are not in that good condition anymore, and now there are some new members of the family, so they asked us to get them another bed.
The situation is very difficult, because the family lives in one room, which is not suitable for Lazar and Milos who just got married and found their own families. We agreed to purchase the material for the upper store of the house, and for the hidro isollation since they also need a bathroom.
The parents sleep in a mattress in the unfinished room, so that the sons could have more space. We will try to solve this poor situation in the shortest possible time, so that Lazar and Milos could have their children.
We used the opportunity to visit a five-member family Djordjevic (near the monestery Draganac). During our visit in October we promised to build them a bathroom, and we succeded that a few weeks ago. After we checked the bathroom, we visited the monastery.
On day of Epiphany, after the liturgy in the Gracanica monastery, we visited family Petrovic, whose story is perhaps one of the saddest which we met during our charity work. A few years ago in Gracanica, the father of the family killed his wife, and then himself, leaving three boys who were then two, six and seven years old.
The boys are a bit older now. Strahinja (10), Mihailo (8) and Nemanja (5) live in their family home under the guardianship of their uncle. Their income consists of the pension of their father. Their situation is quite specific. Any help, other than building a new home, would be worthless, so we decided, together with our friends from “Majka devet Jugovica” organization to follow the situation, start an action which would include other individuals and institutions, and take part when the concrete project arises.
We delivered a package of groceries and some sweets for the boys.
We finished the delivery of help by visiting the village Janjina near Obilic. We haven't visited the village before. It is located next to the thermal power plant, and it is known for the kidnapping of Serbs during and after the conflict in 1999. The family of a single mother Gordana Ristic, who lives with her two daughters Tanja (8) and Sanja (11) received three beds and a wood-burning stove.
Nearby we delivered help for a single mother Daliborka Vukadinovic, who lives with four children: Miljan (18), Sava (16), Mirjana (14) and Aranđel (10). We delivered a washing machine and a wood-burning stove to this family.
The Christmas action for the families on Kosovo and Metohija was only partially finished, although we successfully delivered 10 pieces of household appliances and 10 beds. We will raise the funds and provide connectors for tractor for several families in the next few weeks. Those families will become more independent and be able to survive.
Charity organization Serbs for Serbs, according to its possibilities, will try to focus its help to the Serbian families south of Ibar on improving agriculture and development of cattle breeding, or any other form of production, because it is the only way to enable our people to stay on Kosovo and Metohija. Please donate to that end.