“I can’t sleep because of the pain and thoughts” – a former fighter in Kosovo is suffering from cancer and worries about his children!

“I can’t sit, but I can’t lie down either. When I have to get up, I clench my teeth. Sometimes I can’t sleep for the whole night – oh, the pain kills me, but when the thoughts take hold of me… I used to work, provide for my family, but now, by God, hard times have come. It’s mostly because of my children, they’re still young, what will they do…” Once a defender of the Homeland in Kosovo and Metohija, Dobrivoje Sljivic (58) who could not hold back his tears, is now fighting lung cancer and other health issues.

This caring and visibly tormented man, along with his wife Julijana (47) is the father of three children – Strahinja (15), Milica (12) and Valentina (7). Besides no longer being able to provide for his children, it weighs heavily on him that, due to poverty, he is unable to erect a gravestone for his brother, who passed away a few years ago from poisoning.  All this has caused him great stress, which triggered the onset of cancer.

They rushed my dad to the hospital that day, I was very sad, said the youngest Valentina, a grade one student and the only student at the school in the village of Popova near Blace.

The Šljivić family live cut off from the world, their house surrounded by forest. Their mountain hamlet of Kavgalija is reached by a poor and steep dirt road that seems to have no end.

We walk this road every day to school. Strahinja and I have nine kilometers to Blace and another nine kilometers back, which is harder because it’s uphill. Valentina has four kilometers to her school and it makes me very sad that such a small girl has to walk so far with a heavy backpack on her back. Mom always packs her a sandwich so she’ll have the strength and I cheer her on, but sometimes I can’t. Unfortunately, nobody uses this road because it’s not even suitable for tractors, let alone cars, said twelve-year-old Milica, adding that they are most afraid of wolves and wild boars because there are many in the area.

And indeed, even though the weather was warm and dry, we had to travel by off-road vehicle to reach them. It’s hard to imagine what it’s like when it rains and snows, we heard that they often come to school completely soaked. But harsh mountains forge great people!

I started cutting wood when I was 13. It used to be my father, but now it’s mostly me. When I’m not at school, we go to the forest at dawn, we have to earn something. I also go with a friend to pick plums. Sometimes when we are in dire need of money, I skip school. By the way, I didn’t go on the eighth-grade field trip. I had money then, but they were asking too much.  I saved it instead, and then I bought clothes for my sisters and me, said the eldest Strahinja, who is training to be a chef and who (too early) is increasingly taking on the burden of caring for the household.

Health, distance, and harsh nature are, unfortunately, not the only problems for the Šljivić family. The house they live in is unfinished and in very poor condition.

You work your whole life, miserable, everyone takes advantage of you, I even worked for just five eggs or a small piece of meat. Just so you have something to give to your children, but since he got sick, there are days when even that’s not enough. Now there’s less and less work, there’s no one left, and money has lost its value. Unfortunately, due to all the problems, we haven’t been able to completely fix the house. Instead of floors, we have bare concrete, the cupboards are falling apart, but the worst is the roof. It leaks on several sides, and the little we patch, the wind quickly blows it away. Water drips over the children’s beds, there’s dampness everywhere, and it’s not good for them to breathe this in.  I spent two years with them in the school building down in Popova, but the conditions there were even worse — snakes started appearing, so we had to return to the mountains, added mother Julijana, whom life has not been kind to at all and is slowly catching up with her, and she admitted that she often cries when her children aren’t looking.

It’s hard to live without any, social assistance. It hurts them even more that their child benefit was revoked in 2018 because of a piece of forest they own. Now they’ve been told to reapply and that they’re eligible, so they’re wondering “who was benefiting from their money for the past seven years?” In recent months, the situation has improved a bit for them because their mother has been temporarily hired as a janitor at the school. Although the salary of 13,000 dinars is meager, it means they have a little bit more.

Can you believe I cried for four hours after you called? I immediately shouted to my son – the house, son, Serbs for Serbs called! And this little one keeps repeating when will those gentlemen, when will the gentlemen come for the house. You have given us enormous hope. God willing, good people will step in May my children’s smiles return to their faces, concluded father, Dobrivoje.

The Charity Serbs for Serbs is launching a major fundraising campaign for the Šljivić family. The goal is to provide them with a new house closer to the school, hospital, store, work and other people. Help Valentina, Milica and Strahinja to no longer have to walk every day and for their parents to finally have peaceful sleep!

YOU CAN DONATE THROUGH THE DONATION PLATFORM: www.srbizasrbe.org/donacije

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