• November 4, 2024
 Little Dunja’s tearful eyes (2) hit straight at the heart. In a run down house, she fantasizes about getting a toy and having a pink room!

Little Dunja’s tearful eyes (2) hit straight at the heart. In a run down house, she fantasizes about getting a toy and having a pink room!

Hide and seek, is one of the games that Dunja (2), Mihajlo (1), Andrijana and Marko (5), Snežana (7) and Miloš (8) enjoy. However, the smiles of these wonderful children are overshadowed by their hard life. They are growing up in the shadow of an old, run down house!

The Tot-Dokić family lives in northern Banat on the outskirts of the village of Mokrin. The house they live in consists of only a small kitchen and one room where the eight of them sleep. The eight of them, as they say, “squeeze” into three beds!

I never thought that I would get married so young. Difficult living conditions and fate forced me to do so, and I dropped out of school and devoted myself to motherhood. Unfortunately, things aren’t much better here. The house is a huge problem for us, and I am most worried that the dampness will have a negative impact on my children’s health“, says Vesna, who already has six children at the age of twenty something.

The little ones are very well-behaved, kindness radiates from their faces and you can see that they are well taken care of, regardless of their circumstances. Next to their house is a barn that houses nine cows.

We sell milk for a living and thus do not go hungry. We enjoy doing it, both Nenad and I, along with the children. As well, he often works odd jobs. He is hard-working, and will work for even a few dinars, to provide for our children. We do not qualify for social assistance and child benefits because we have a registered farm and pass a certain financial threshold, despite the fact that we have six children and the house is as it is. Maybe we would get help if we sat around and did nothing,” Vesna disappointedly pointed out.

They don’t have a bathroom, so they bathe in a trough using water heated on the stove. Two at a time. Some of their windows are cracked, so they patch them with nylons, and the house is missing some doors.

As for personal hygiene, there is no ‘I can’t or I’m sick’. The children must be bathed daily in order to  be clean and presentable for school. We always celebrate birthdays, but, unfortunately, the older children have yet to invite their friends from school. They haven’t told me the reason, but I think it’s because of the house,” added Vesna.

While we were talking about the house and their lives, we noticed that the children also like to draw. When asked what they most liked to draw, we received a decisive but not at all surprising answer – “houses“!

I like drawing houses the most. I saw a nice yellow one, so that is why I always paint them yellow. I would love to have one like that. We also have some toys, I would really like to get a helicopter“, eight-year-old Miloš told us, and also admitted that it can get really cold in the winter.

We also asked seven-year-old Snežana what she would like to have the most:

“I am Snezana, Grade A student. I would love to have a pink room and a pink barbie!”

Raising children in these conditions is certainly not easy. Although Vesna and Nenad are really trying to provide them with the basics, they need support.

“We fight as hard as we can. Each child has their own wish that we try to fulfill, but sometimes we can’t. The eldest son and daughter would like to have their own rooms, so that my husband and I don’t bother them anymore. That’s my biggest wish, I don’t have any other. If they only had their own rooms, if they could invite their friends, if they could play, and may they never experience what I did, God willing. I am asking all good people who are able and willing, to help me fulfill my children’s wish and and my own!”

The Charity organisation Serbs for Serbs invites donors all over the world to join our new, major campaign to provide a house for the Tot-Dokić family. They need our attention and support now more than ever because they recently lost their seventh child, baby Mila, in a tragic accident.

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


SERBIA
1. SMS to 7763 (200 RSD)2. Account: 160-279491-71, Banka Intesa
2. Pay Pal
3. Foreign currency account

REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA
1. Call 17763 (2 КМ)
2. Account: 56201281300241-58 (NLB bank)
3. Pay Pal

MONTENEGRO
1. Account: 510-91548-03 (CKG bank)
2. Pay Pal

USA
1. Donation platform (credit card, bank account)
2. Pay Pal
3. Check to: Serbs for Serbs, Po Box 34206 Chicago, IL 60634
*all donors exercise the right to tax deductions

CANADA
1. Pay Pal
2. Check to: Serbs for Serbs Canada, 635 The Queensway, Lower Level, Toronto, ON, M8Y 3B3
3. Е-transfer to: donate@serbsforserbs.ca
*all donors exercise the right to tax deductions

GERMANY
1. IBAN: DE97 7606 9559 0002 7519 92
2. Pay Pal
3. Send text SZS to 81190 (2.99 Euro)
*all donors exercise the right to tax deductions

SWITZERLAND
1. Konto: 61-335679-5
IBAN:CH57 0900 0000 6133 5679 5
Hedwigstrasse 3, 8032 Zurich
2. Twint: donate.raisenow.io/stbdh
3. Pay Pal
4. SMS to 339, SZS 20, SZS 45, SZS 90, etc.
*all donors exercise the right to tax deductions

AUSTRIA
1. IBAN:AT97 3200 0000 1036 4339
SWIFT/BIC: RLNWATWW
Customer: Org. f. hum. Hilfe – Srbi za Srbe
Kalvariengürtel 39/6, 8020 Graz Austria
2. Pay Pal
3. Call 0901 300 201 (3 Euro)

SWEDEN
1. SWISH: 1230 133 900
2. Pay Pal
3. Bank Giro: 5302-1077
4. Account: 5226 1060 858

NORWAY
1. VIPPS: 104 414
2. Pay Pal
3. Account: 1503 83 80483

Aустралија

1. Donations via Bank Account:
BSB: 032-278
Account No: 878615
Bank: Westpac
2. Pay Pal
3. Donations via PayID
PayID Type: ABN
PayID: 57472783829
4. Donations via Cheque:
Check to Serbs for Serbs Inc, 18 Mantle Ave, North Richmond NSW 2754, Australia


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