Let’s prevent a tragedy! Little Danica (6) and her family live in fear every time a truck drives by. Their house shakes!

“The wall where we sleep has completely come loose and is about to collapse; you can even make it sway with your hand. When we play blind man’s buff, we’re careful not to bump into it. The road runs right next to the room, so I get scared whenever a truck passes by—the whole house shakes. Not long ago, the ceiling crashed down onto the table where we eat and just barely missed my older sister,” little Danica (6) began her story.

“We live in constant fear and winter is coming!”

This incredibly bright and sweet little girl patiently showed us all the “flaws” of her mud-built home. One of the most shocking features is that the living room ceiling is held up by a plank supported by a construction prop. Mladen (3), Nataša (10), Nikolina (11), Nevena (13), and their mother, Milica, also live in this unsafe structure, constantly living in fear. Tragically, after these photos were taken and just ten days before we filmed the family, they lost their father and husband, Slaviša. He passed away following a sudden stroke.

“We still can’t come to terms with it. Countless problems remain, and now they are mine alone. We bought this house relatively recently through a government program that offers grants for purchasing rural homes. With  €10,000, we couldn’t afford anything better, and it is pointless now to discuss whether we actually solved anything by doing so. I go to bed in fear and wake up in fear—the whole house is sinking. I dread the coming winter,” said Milica, now a single mother.

The house is full of mice and rats!

Nearby, in the village of Podgorac near Boljevac—an area offering a beautiful view of Mount Rtanj—there is a company warehouse; consequently, loaded trucks frequently pass along a narrow lane less than half a meter from their house. This makes the situation worse with each passing day, and action must be taken before a tragedy actually occurs!

“We aren’t just afraid of the walls, but also of the mice and rats. The house is full of them. It gets bitterly cold in winter, too, because the windows and doors are in poor condition and broken. We have two stoves—one my late father built from an old water heater—but it’s not enough. They produce a lot of smoke, making it very hard to stay here. But what can we do when we have nowhere else to go?” said Nevena, the eldest.

“They call us poor fools!”

The situation is further complicated by the mother’s health problems. When she was just a baby, her mother dropped her, causing her skull to split open from ear to ear; consequently, she has a plastic implant in her head. She used to suffer from occasional dizziness and severe pain, but due to stress, these issues have now become almost a daily occurrence. She has also struggled somewhat emotionally, yet her children are a great source of support, and she strives to stay strong for their sake.

“What hurts me the most is that other neighborhood children make fun of us. They call us fools and all sorts of other names. They look down on us because we’re poor and insult us,” Nataša added sadly.

“I still have some money left over from the funeral. What we’ll do after that, I don’t know…”

Unfortunately, the situation is far from promising. Despite everything, the children are full of diverse interests, and they are a real delight to talk to. While one dreams of a blue room, another of a purple one, and the youngest, Danica, of having a new friend, all their wishes ultimately boil down to the same thing: having a home where they can feel safe. Their only reliable source of income is the child benefit.

“They cut off our social assistance as soon as my late husband transferred the old car a friend had given us into his own name. They say having a car is a luxury. But we need it to get to the clinic and for everything else. When we call an ambulance, they don’t exactly arrive quickly. I filed an appeal, so now we’ve been waiting a few months for a decision from Belgrade. While my husband was alive, he did all sorts of odd jobs to earn money, even though he had a spinal deformity from when a tree fell on him. He was a jack-of-all-trades, as they say, so we somehow managed to scrape by for the essentials. Right now, I still have some money left over from what people donated for the funeral, but I don’t know what we’ll do after that. Thank God that at least you came,” concluded the mother, Milica.

Let’s save the Kadrić-Šobotić family!

Through the work of the Charity organization Serbs for Serbs, we have encountered all kinds of hardships, but the sight of walls that sway at the touch of a hand, a ceiling propped up by a wooden plank, and heavy trucks passing right beside the children’s bedroom places this family among our most urgent cases. We therefore invite you to join forces and help us get the Kadrić-Šobotić family out of this situation as soon as possible by providing them with a safe roof over their heads!

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

SERBIA
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Check to Serbs for Serbs Inc, 18 Mantle Ave, North Richmond NSW 2754, Australia

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