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Monthly Report No 7 January, 2011

Charity organization Serbs for Serbs

PO Box 34206, Chicago, IL 60634 Phone: +1-312-85-SERBS

Website: www.SerbsForSerbs.org E-Mail: Office@SerbsForSerbs.org

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

Dear friends and donors,

Charity organization Serbs for Serbs have

finally registered in the state of Illinois in United

States by the group of the Serbian youth. Charity

organization Serbs for Serbs is currently in the

process of applying for a 501(c)3 non-profit

organization status. We registered organization in

Jun 2010 and we have already started working and

began raising donations.

Since this is our fresh start in the United States

please excuse us for any difficulties and mistakes

that we make in the beginning.

About Us

The mission of Charity organization Serbs for

Serbs is to affect on consciousness of Americans,

Serbs and their friends through planned

projects, social and humanitarian activities in

order to develop and foster better society for

future generations and provide aid for

underprivileged families in need.

Although there are many humanitarian

organizations and associations, help often doesn't

reach the most jeopardized. Due to unnecessary

administration, missing information and slow

decision making, the delivery of aid arrives too late

to the final consumers, or not at all. It is a sad and

embarrassing, but true fact that more than 18.000

children daily die around the world because of

starvation and malnutrition. There, among us, the

blind and deaf.

We are witnesses of the bad demographic situation

of our nation, decreasing natality, increasing

number of singles, abortions, accelerated aging of

the population and generally bad economic

condition of the households in Serbia, Republic of

Srpska and Montenegro and other countries in the

Balkan.

An average couple has "fallen" on one child.

Analysts warn that Serbs will become a minority in

its own country in the following century if the

nation, individuals and government don't wake up

from the nescient in which they've fallen!

On the other hand, nobody is talking about the

families with many children which grieve by living

in bitter poverty. Occupied by their everyday

struggle for survival, they are being humbly in their

desire for implementing rights which belong to

them. Their life stories, fears and problems are

identical, but almost invisible and unheard in order

to gain the attention of the public, media and even

state. That's why the idea of the Charity

organization Serbs for Serbs arose. Organization

was formed by a group of young and trustful

people, who are united by the common vision of

helping families blessed by many children and who

are aware of the fact that even a small help means a

lot for those who don't live in a material excess.

We are united by the humane idea to help the

poorest part of the Serbian nation.

Charity organization Serbs for Serbs try to

revive the spiritless energy of the Serbian Diaspora

which would be able to reinforce people of Serbian

heritage as well as all good people throughout the

world with minimal, but constant monthly

donations.

We hope and believe that there is also a grain of

doing good and that you will join us in the endless

struggle against poverty.

God bless and save all Serbian families with many

children and our honored donors who participate in

the noble effort to return smile on children faces.

CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE!

www.SerbsforSerbs.org

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

Ambition

The mission of Charity organization Serbs for Serbs is to

affect on consciousness of Serbian people through our

projects and humanitarian activities, in order to develop

better society for future generations.

Why Serbs for Serbs?

We wanted to alleviate impaired spirit of Serbian

people in togetherness and brotherhood help through

humanitarian work and social aid.

Who do we help?

We help Serbian families who live in the Balkans, have

five or more children and live in terrible poverty.

How do we define “terrible poverty”?

Under terrible poverty we define absence of one or

more basic factors required for living: food, clothes,

shoes, and safe space for living.

Why do we help?

We believe that there is a basic need for one human (or

a group) to help others in distress. A help is not only

human virtue but also a Christian responsibility. By

focusing our help on families with many children, we

directly affect on their stirring toward becoming

independent from social-dependable government

programs. Indirectly, we want to affect on birth rate of

Serbian people that has been in great decline in last 20

years.

What are our long term goals?

- family is ready to support itself daily and manage to

pay all required expenses and bills

- their children are encouraged to continue with school

and raising their own family

- our donors are satisfied with the activities and they

are ready to help other families

- our organization is satisfied with the results

- family is ready in the future to become our donor and

if necessary help other families that are in need of help

Who do we need in organization?

We need members and donors that will secure financial

stability through supporting our programs and activities

in the future. Donors may join our daily activities

within the organization in order to coordinate our work

better. We also need volunteers ready to donate several

hours per week for actual work within the organization.

Activities of volunteers and their specific tasks would

be determined by the required projects and their

personal interest. From that group of volunteers we

would look for future leaders of organization.

We want to inform all donors and friends of

humanitarian organization Serbs for Serbs that live

in North America we have new Pay Pal account so

you can send your donation via email to:

szsamerika@gmail.com

Обавештавамо пријатеље и донаторе

хуманитарне организације Срби за Србе који

живе на тлу Северне Америке да органак

СЗС у Америци има нови Пеј Пал рачун на

који можете да уплатите своје донације. Да би

ојачали организацију глобално морамо да

јачамо регионалне одборе. Хвала вам

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

. Additional help for Gutalj family

We have already helped twice the single mother with

five children, Zdenka Gutalj from East Sarajevo in the

Republic of Srpska. Zdenka somehow manages to cope

alone, and apart from the appeal this summer to buy her

a refrigerator, she's been avoiding to ask for help.

However, she didn't have a choice this time. She had to

take her youngest child, Nemanja (11) to Banja Luka for

tests due to the problem in development. The costs of the

road, no matter how small, were impossible for her to

finance.

She asked us to buy some clothes to Nemanja, so that he

wouldn't go in old things into the hospital, and to help

her pay the accommodation and journey. Nemanja

received plenty of new things we bought for him. We

brought some of the donated clothes to his sister Bojana,

but we didn't have anything else for the boys, so we had

to buy some in Belgrade in the amount of 6,000 dinars.

We payed return tickets (80 KM) and gave Zdenka

money for two-night accommodation in Banja Luka (85

KM), thus spending 120 KM from our account in the

Republic of Srpska. In any case we managed to help the

children whose parents can't afford the money for

unpredicted costs. Nemanja has problems with his

marrowbone, and his growth is rapidly slowed down.

Zdenka hopes that the treatments will help him, because

he should lay in the hospital in january.

Serbian Report

Help delivered to little Darija

Charity organization SZS together with student fund

"Osmeh na dar" and friends from Belgrade and

Kosovska Mitrovica gathered a small donation to help

little Darija Antovic. She lives with her parents in

Zvecan-Kosovo and Metohija.

Two year old Darija has cerebral palsy and she is

currently in the process of recovering from it. The help

from SZS organization consisted of gym mat, Pilate's

ball, rocking horse, eye band aids, different toys and

candy in the value of 4,800 dinars.

Our organization friends from Kosovska Mitrovica, have

delivered this help few days ago. They also paid a visit

to little Darija and talked with her parents. Her family is

forever grateful for all of the help they have received and

to the people of great will and open hearts. God willing,

We are hoping that little Darija will soon fully recover.

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

Serbs for Serbs in Lopare

Representatives of humanitarian organizations Serbs for

Serbs from Switzerland Dusan Đaković and the

Republic of Srpska Dobrina Kusmuk and Vaslija

Obrenovic met the mayor of Lopare Dr. Rade Savic

with the activities of humanitarian organizations and

how to help families in Majevica. The potential of the

Serbs in the diaspora is huge, and with small but regular

individual donations and allowing the families to work

and earn income would be able to quickly solve the vital

problems of those who do not have sufficient means to

live.

Laptop computer awarded to All Honors

Student

Marina Jovanovic from Leposavic, received a gift

Laptop computer delivered by Organization "Mother of

Nine Jugovich" and donated by Organization "Serbs

for Serbs". Visitors of website for soup kitchen's

remember the story of Marina Jovanovic, senior student

at Medical High school in Kosovska Mitrovica. besides

the horrible conditions that she lives in and all of the

horrors in her life, she has somehow managed to be

elected as the Honor Roll student 3 times at her High

school. The problems for her family still persist, but she

never looses hope, she tries as hard as she can to be the

best student.

She says that the story about her life on the website of

Organization "Mother of Nine Jugovich" resulted in a

certain number of people offering help for her, but the

actual help did not arrive yet.

The Laptop computer gift she received from

Organization "Serbs for Serbs" has brought nothing but

joy to her. Computer will be extremely helpful for future

education if she has enough means and funds to

continue. Marina also wanted to express gratitude and

thanks to all of the people involved in providing

necessary help she needs, wishing them joy, health and

happiness so that they can continue their work and

efforts in helping all of the Serbian people in KiM.

We would like to remind everyone interested in helping

the Jovanovic family, you can contact them directly 064-

235-1733. Also, you can send a donation to account,

name: Srdjan Jovanovic 1160626602000105 PRO

CREDIT BANK OF KOSOVO.

Serbs for Serbs again in Prijedor

Reports: Dusan Djakovic, Switzerland (Photos)

First week after Christmas, representatives of Serbs for

Serbs Charity Organization from Switzerland Dusan

Djakovic and the Republic of Srpska Dobrina Kusmuk

conducted three major actions in Srpska. They tried to

make holidays more beautiful for at least one of many

families living on the edge of poverty. First week after

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

Christmas, representatives of Serbs for Serbs Charity

Organization from Switzerland Dusan Djakovic and the

Republic of Srpska Dobrina Kusmuk conducted three

major actions in Srpska. They tried to make holidays

more beautiful for at least one of many families living

on the edge of poverty.

The first day of our visit to Republic of Srpska our

destination was Prijedor. To make us feel like home in

―angry frontier‖ our friends from café ―Kameljara‖ took

care of that. That is where we discussed future plans!

After a short break and hanging out with our great

friends from Prijedor we went to action and visited

family Marijanović.

The family has 11 members: father Drasko, mother

Mira, and children Dragan (18), Suzana (15), Marinko

(13), Zeljka (11), Jelena (10), Dragan (9), Zeljko (7),

Predrag (4) and the youngest Svetlana, who is only 8

months old. After we greeted the family and wished

them a Merry Christmas we decided to first delight the

oldest and youngest member of the household, the

father Drasko whom we bought a chainsaw ―Huskvarna

435‖ so that he can make at least some kind of earning

for his family and little Svetlana we bought a baby crib

so that she does not have to sleep any more in the

basket of the stroller in which we found her during the

last visit.

After that father invited us into his modest home that is

old and dilapidated but full of smiles and lives of

children, what could be more valuable or important than

that? At Marijanovic‘s home with pleasant conversation

we agreed to purchase food that they need to make their

winter at least little shorter until our next arrival. Just

like the previous time mother Mira is worried about the

food for little Svetlana, who cannot process the regular

milk yet and is needing formula which is really

expensive. Father Drasko informs us that he managed to

secure some material from the company he used to

work for who owned him money. In an addition we

discussed how we can help them permanently. Short

after that we went to shopping center in Prijedor in

order to bring the action to the end. At the shopping

center we bought various supplies for hygiene, food and

of course we cannot forget the candy for the children.

Total value was around 400KM. We returned to

Marijanovic‘s home to leave the merchandise we

purchased and with good buys we deported for

Bosanski Samac, where we slept overnight ahead of the

second day of our action in the Republic of Srpska.

We delivered tractor to the Ekmečić

family

Photos /

On Saturday, January 22, the representatives of the

charity organization Serbs for Serbs from Serbia and the

Republic of Srpska delivered the financially largest

contribution since the inception of the organization! We

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

officially delivered a new tractor, which has arrived

several days ago to the Ekmečić family in the village of

Prebilovci. We owe great gratitude to the Ministry of

agriculture, forestry and waterpower of the Republic of

Srpska, which has donated 14.035 KM (7.314 EUR) at

the end of 2010 for this project. Our organization added

another 2.500 EUR and that has enabled us to buy a new

tractor sooner than expected.

Prebilovci is located about 30 km both from Mostar and

the Adriatic coast. It has always been a Serbian village,

and a symbol of suffering and martyrdom. During the

World War II, 52 families were killed, and 36 homes

were ruined. The killed were buried in collective grave,

which represents one of the greatest tombs of the

murdered Serbs in the World War II. After the slaughter,

there were only 174 inhabitants left, out of more than a

thousand before that. During the last war, most of the

villagers went to exile, and the Ekmečić family is among

the approximately 20 families that came back.

We met at the town of Pale with Dobrina Kusmuk the

president of our organization from the Republic of

Srpska. She and her husband accompanied us to

Prebilovci. We received an amazing welcome. They

were sincerely happy and excited due to our arrival, and

welcomed us wholeheartedly. Despite their humble life,

they organized a true feast, and their relatives, neighbors,

friends and the local priest joined them. The host

Miladin insisted on the pray and the blessing of our

gathering and especially to consecrate a tractor. We

delivered several books of Orthodox and historical

theme to the youngest and finished the formalities of

signing the contract of donation with Miladin.

Miladin is a former member of the Army of Republic of

Srpska. He and his wife Sojka have five children: Bojan

(19), the student of informatics, Bojana (16), Branka

(10), Biljana (9), and the youngest and the cutest one

Božana (3). This very hardworking family lives from

agriculture. They grow potato, zucchini, tomato, peppers

and onion, which they sell, and they grow other

vegetables and some fruit for their needs. There was an

article about Miladin in the local papers, because he is a

producer who managed to produce ―Watermelon for

Guinness‖. The land around the Neretva is very fertile,

and Miladin knows how to use that.

Our impression about them was very positive. They

aren‘t giving up due to the difficulties in life. Miladin

and his son Bojan are growing the land given to them in

lease, mostly from the neighbors living in Diaspora. Up

to now they managed to do that only when they were

able to rent a tractor, which made them dependent on

someone else‘s plans and free time. The land in their

property is far away from them, so the tractor we gave

them will now enable them to grow their land as well.

The reaction of everyone present assured us that we did

the right thing by delivering the tractor. That was

confirmed when we all saw Miladin‘s determination to

use this donation the best way possible. The tractor will

surely help this family to become completely

independent and financially stabile family in short

notice. We should mention that this action has not yet

come to its end. We need more money to buy the

appliances for the tractor, so that Miladin could upgrade

the production. We hope to get the appliances soon,

which will end this important project. However, we have

seen that all things said about Miladin and his diligence

was true, because he is not waiting for our organization

to buy everything, but he‘s borrowing from others, thus

not wasting the precious time for farming the land.

This project of the organization was not only the largest

financially, but also the most important. The buying of

the tractor represented the fulfillment of our primary

goal concerning all the families – to allow them to stand

on their feet through work and production, a long-term

perspective and financial independence. We got a

promise from Miladin that he will use the tractor to help

other Serbs from Prebilovci and nearby as well.

We left the Ekmečić family with the desire to meet them

again soon. On our way back we stopped to see place

where there were once the monument dedicated to the

murdered Serbs in the World War II and the Orthodox

Church, both destroyed at the beginning of the war 1991

by the descendants of those who killed the Serbs earlier.

Despite the attempts to hide the evidence of the suffering

of Serbs, a new church and the monument will be built

again.

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

We will conclude by ascertaining that the Ekmečić

family is not in extremely bad social position as is the

case with some other families we are helping, because

they have their home, and manage to send their children

to school. Their condition is, however, very sensitive,

and an accident, like the one last year, when Sojka was

hurt, can destabilize them. The cows are being taken to a

distant pasture. The renting of tractor was quite waste of

time, and that is now over.

We thank all the donors again and also the Government

of the Republic of Srpska. We owe special thanks to our

representative Dobrina Kusmuk for all the things done.

The project is not over yet, and we need additional donor

help to complete this nice story.

Serbian Report

SfS visited family Matić in Novi Sad

After visiting the Republic of Srpska, the representative

of the charity organization Serbs for Serbs from

Swizerland visited the ten-member family Matić in Novi

Sad. The members of the family are the single mother

Jadranka and her children Milena (26), Milorad (24),

Đorđe (22), Milica (17), Miloš (16), Dragana (14),

Snežana (14), Predrag (14) and Verica (11).

The family has an income of 8.400 dinars (just over 80

EUR) which Jadranka earns as an employee of Clinical

center in Priština.

The monthly expences for the rent and utilities are 220

EUR, so it‘s not difficult to conclude that this family

from Knin is having a hard time to survive. It is worth

mentioning that Jadranka‘s first husband died defending

the Serbian people in Srpska Krajina.

When we visited the family, not all the children were at

home. We could only talk to Đorđe, who is a quiet boy.

He is prepared to work anywhere, as long as he is being

paid, because he had had bad experiences. Đorđe and

Milorad were both employed in a firm that provides

security, but they weren‘t registered nor paid, so they

left the firm.

Milena is the only employed member of the family, but

she lives and works in Montenegro as a waitress, and

manages only to earn for rent and food. After talking to

Jadranka we went to the mall and bought the necessarry

groceries – flour, oil, sugar and milk in the amount of

7.200 dinars, because they only had some flour, and they

wouldn‘t be able to buy bread.

We said goodbuy to the family, and promised not to

forget them.

Serbian Report

Serbs for Serbs provided a cow in

Majevica

Reports: Dobrina Kusmuk, Republic of Srpska

On the second day of the visit in Republic of Srpska

representative of charity organization Serbs for Serbs,

Dusan Djakovic and Dobrina Kusmuk visited Lopare. In

Lopare our host was Mr. Vaslija Obrenovic, a man with

a big heart and a great patriot, even though we spent

couple hours with Vaslijem it was enough for him to

become one of us and be a part of what we do. On that

occasion, and before the planned visit to the family, we

met with the mayer of Lopare Dr. Rado Savic.

At the meeting with Dr. Savic he introduced us with

the problems that municipalities have in taking care

of the poor and how they help. We were pleasantly

surprised with the effort made by the mayors

invest in fundraising to address the basic needs of

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

those families as well as his desire to facilitate our

visit to the families that we choose to help in this

action. Thanks to the hospitality and kindness of our

hosts, although we were in Lopare for the first

time we felt like we were among friends of many

years.

We

quickly found the village Peljav and family

Cetkovic. Milorad got married ten years

ago with Genoveva, Romanian woman, with whom

he had four children Gina

(9), Miodrag (8 ), Milijana (7), Mirko (1.5) years.

They live in an unfinished house that has only two

rooms. Milorad wages and thus trying to feed his

family. Genoveva, very valuable and a good

mother she ties to contribute as much

as possible. Children are beautiful, loving and

raised well, they are good students as well.

During our visit Mirko was sleeping so tight that

even our voices didn‘t wake him up, while other

children curiously accompanied our tour. We found

out that Genoveva stay was not legalized in our

country and in the meantime, her passport has

expired and we promised to help her collect the

necessary documentations. In further conversation

with them we tried to figure out what is the most

effective way to help Milorad,Genoveva and their

children so we concluded to buy them a cows, for

which they have good conditions and enough land.

In this way they don‘t have to buy milk for the

children and could sell rest and have a monthly

income.

Around New Year Vasilije donated money to less

fortunate families in Majevica from Switzerland and

100km we gave to the mother to pay for milk for

two months, there was no need to buy food because

they had enough.

Accordingly, we decided to leave money with our

representative Vaslije so that he can buy them a

cow and if there is remaining money he plans to buy

more chickens to be grown.

Geneva could manage to enter the production chain

of chicken that would have provided allocation of

additional money. We previously agreed with the

mayor that we will keep in mind to help with our

other brotherly organizations and municipality

Lopare in a near future to finish Cetkovica small

house and round up all their needs.

From Peljavo we were escorted by little Gina, then

we went to Bobedina hills near family Teodorovic.

Radislav, his brother, wife Jadranka and three

children (Jovica '97, Daniel '99 and Stojan '02) live

in what I would call ruins than houses. Adults and

the oldest child are people with special needs. The

girls were sleeping during our visit so we only met

the brother Jovica who does not attend school but

from whom we learned that girls were excellent

students last year. Dr. Savic in this case managed to

animate the village and raise some funds to make

their homes. They are hoping this summer

municipality will complete the project and collect

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

sufficient funds to complete a modest home so that

kids can move before the house they live in

collapse.

Because Todorovic family received assistance for

New Year from Majevicani we tried to figure out

what could be the best possible way to at least little

bit improve children‘s dull life.

Radislav told us that they carry water every day a

half kumometers distance. During Vasilije‘s last

visit he told us that he sow lice in the girl‘s hairs so

we agreed to help with other brotherly

organizations and municipality so that we can at

least provide water a front of the house for the

children.

Our plan was to visit household of thirteen

members, family Todorovic in the village Labucka

but we were told that this village was far and it

could not be approached by a car. Since Vasilije

helped them for the New Year with some urgent

needs of this family, we agreed that he will visit

them later to see if we can help the family with

something in long term.

After visiting Lopare we had lunch, which we were

honored by the Mayer and we discussed the impressions

of that day and made the final conclusions. We said

good bye to Lopare with the hope that we find a long

term solution for these children and reduce the number

of them who live in poverty.

With a book of Lopare that we received as a gift from

the Mayor, we went thinking that it seems like things are

moving forward as more and more people in responsible

positions such as Dr. Rado Savic, begins to fight for

their residents.

Organizations such as ours, the good people who help us

and enthusiasts like Dr. Savic in our institutions will lead

to no more hungry Serbian children.

Serbian Report

KOSOVO SUNRISE…

Written by Predrag Marinkovic /GALLERY/

FINANCIAL REPORT /RADIO KIM/

On January 15th and 16

th, 2011 representatives of the

humanitarian organization, Serbs for Serbs (Srbi za

Srbe) launched a massive Christmas humanitarian aide

mission for the ninth year in a row in aide of Serbs in the

Kosovo-Metohija region. Joint forces of the organization

SAD, Austria and Switzerland, in conjunction with the

ongoing and immeasurable support from NVO branch

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

‗Mother of Nine Jugovica‘ from Zvecana, have once

again successfully garnered much-needed support for the

most vulnerable Serbs. A total of eleven families from

the Novo Boro and Strpce townships have been assisted

as well as the soup kitchen in Prekovac. Contributions

totaled approximately 5,100 Euros ($6,939 USD).

This most recent humanitarian effort has yielded the

following:

- 15 beds (51,840 dinars + 720 euros)

- 4 refrigerators (18,800 dinars + 375 euros)

- 6 washing machines (105,400 dinars + 520 euros)

- 2 sinks (9,720 dinars)

- 16 chairs (8,640 dinars + 216 euros)

- 1 wood-burning oven (180 euros)

- 1 vacuum cleaner (60 euros)

- 10 blankets (100 euros)

- 22 books (5,367 dinars + 30 euros)

- Housing fees for three students (300 euros)

- 11 packets of sweets and candy (5,850 dinars)

- 5 bags of toys, clothing and small household items

- 10 kilograms Aleve pepper for everyday cooking

(6,600 dinars)

Expenses:

- Transportation for 5 representatives from Belgrade –

10,280 dinars

- Housing in Zvecan for 4 representatives – 3,300 dinars

The five representatives of Serbs for Serbs arrived on

holy Serbian land in the early morning hours of

Saturday, January 15, 2011 and were greeted by

representatives of NVO ‗Mother of Nine Jugovica‘.

Upon brief consultations and planning regarding the

visiting of Serb families, they departed for their first

destination, Novo Brdo. On route they stopped by

Monastery Gracanica, one of the holiest Serbian

Orthodox monasteries. Following their short visit they

were welcomed by representatives of Radio ‗KiM‘ from

Caglavice with whom they discussed their agenda before

continuing on their journey.

The campaign officially began in the village of

Jasenovik in St. Sava grade school, which is a specific

school in that it serves both Albanian and Serbian

children. Albanian children have classes in the afternoon

on the first floor and Serbian children have classes on

the second floor in the morning. Upon arriving, plenty of

children, villagers, teachers and the school principal are

already awaiting us in front of the school. The

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

schoolyard is full of smiles, the clamor of children and

happiness at our arrival. It is difficult to explain how our

visit alone is cause for great joy to the children and

people of the Kosovo-Metohija enclaves. Quite simply,

it is difficult to understand unless one experiences it

directly. In the school‘s facilities, lined with all twenty-

four little ones from first to eighth grade, we distribute

packages prepared by NVO ‗Mother of Nine Jugovica‘.

Following our brief interaction with the children and

school personnel, we continue our mission with their

heartfelt farewells.

The first family we visited was the Zlatanic family from

the village of Bostan. The family consists of two sisters

and their brother who, are in a difficult mental state and

who, through the help of their neighbors and the soup

kitchen in Prekovac, manage to survive. We helped this

family two years ago with the purchase of a wood-

burning oven. This time we have purchased a bed and

washing machine for them with the hope that it will

lessen their strife at least a little.

The next family on our itinerary is the Milic family from

Prekovca. This family consists of husband and wife,

Vitomir and Leposava and their twelve-year old son,

Stefan. Even though they live in poverty they have

nevertheless taken in a single mother, Miljana and her

two-month old daughter, Anastasia, who have been

outcast by her family. The Milic family is managing to

survive thanks to meals from a nearby soup kitchen.

They have shown great humanity in taking in Miljana

and Anastasia as if they were their own. For this noble

household we have donated a bed, kitchen sink and

refrigerator. Little Stefan received books on Orthodox

themes and several toys.

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

Our journey continues taking us to the village of Zebnice

and to the Simjonovic family. The family consists of

Dragan, the father and Jelena, the mother of two little

girls named Andela (3 yrs.) and Andrijana (9 mos.). This

extraordinary family possibly made the strongest

impression on us. The young married couple quite

simply refuses to succumb to the circumstances life has

dealt them. On the road to their cottage, which dates

back to the early twentieth century, we encountered

hard-working Dragan and his herd of sheep (currently

their greatest wealth aside from their daughters). In our

conversation with them we learned that they are

surviving on modest social assistance. They are hindered

by their difficult living conditions in particular because

they are not the owners of their dilapidated abode but

rather pay a rental fee of 200 Euros a year to Dragan‘s

uncle, the owner, for a ―satisfactory‖ dwelling built in

the early 1900‘s. Dragan has a great desire to further his

work with livestock and wants help in the meantime

with the purchase of additional sheep in order to expand

his herd.

Through a consultation with the representatives of

‗Mother of Nine Jugovica‘, it was decided that they

would assist with that aspect of aiding the family and we

would provide a washing machine, bed, sink and for the

youngest ones packages of toys and sweets. With words

of support and encouragement, we bid farewell to this

hard-working family and continue to the village of

Straza.

In Straza we visited the Stojanovic family; father,

Gradislav and mother, Biserka and their four sons, Milos

(21 yrs.), Igor (20 yrs.), Stefan (18 yrs.) and Aleksandar

(12 yrs.).

While the Milic family amazed us with their big hearts,

the Simjonovic family with their persistence, sadly this

family left a bitter taste in our mouths, a lump in our

throats and eyes on the verge of tears. The mother and

father are in difficult psychological and physical states

and their sons even worse. Instead of being full of life

and flourishing through various athletic activities,

socializing with girls and finding first loves and crushes,

empowered by knowledge and planning their own

families, with great misfortune they are suffering from

post-traumatic stress disorder from the NATO bombings

of 1999. They live their pain-filled lives inside four

walls. The only ray of light is the youngest son,

Aleksandar who, alone cares for the family‘s two cows.

The one in deepest despair is Igor, who doesn‘t get out

of bed. We aim to ease their profound struggles with the

purchase of four beds, a washing machine and four

chairs.

The last family we visited in the Novo Brdo township

was the Vasic family from the village of Koretiste; father

Stanko, mother Zorica and their children Milos (19 yrs.),

Bojan (17 yrs.), Katarina (8 yrs.) and Marina (5 yrs.).

We caught up with the males of the family in the midst

of a construction project repairing and replacing the tiles

on their roof while Katerina and Marina occupied

themselves with the organization of a mini party for

themselves in their room dancing and singing to music.

This family survives by way of irregular social

assistance but thank God, is in far healthier

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

psychological and physical states than the Stojanovic

family. In addition to books and toys for the girls, we

obtained a washing machine and three beds for the

family. With this visit, we complete our tour of families

in the township of Novo Brdo.

On our return to Zvecan we stopped by Monastery

Draganac, an endowment of holy martyr Tsar Lazar,

erected in the 14th century and named after one of his

daughters. The church was destroyed several times and

rebuilt ten years ago, thanks to the arrival of Father Kiril,

an extraordinary individual who with his God-given

hands singularly rebuilt a large portion of the monastic

complex—the strength of this man is truly unbelievable

until it is witnessed firsthand on site. Father Kiril hosted

our small group and upon brief heartfelt conversations

we warmly part ways with an invitation from him to

return to the monastery when each of us marries.

An interesting aspect of our recent humanitarian mission

is the fact that, due to the financial contributions we

received and the number of families we subsequently

planned to visit, for the first time ever we were able to

devote two full days to the aide effort.

We begin day two of our mission in the early hours of

Sunday, January 16, 2011 heading to the township of

Strpce where we will help needy Serbs living in that

area. In Strpce we were greeted by Father Aleksandar,

our old friend from earlier missions in the area. With his

enormous help we discovered and visited six families

from within the neighborhood.

The first family Father Aca took us to was the family of

Branislav Stevanovic. In addition to Branislav, the

family consists of his three daughters, who are students

in Mitrovici (they were not present during our visit), his

wife and youngest son. In speaking with the family, we

learned that Branislav occasionally gets work in

construction when work is available and that aside from

that, the family does not have an income. We also

discovered that the daughters are excellent students

majoring in biology and chemistry but that they are

struggling with the housing fees in Mitrovici. Given that

we were convinced on site that their living conditions

were adequate regarding furnishings, we nevertheless

decided to make a small exception for this family. Due

to father Aca‘s advice and high recommendation, we

designated 300 euros for the family‘s student housing

fees so as to ease their difficulties and make possible the

timely obtainment of college degrees which, we hope

will ultimately enable a better life for the daughters and

their family. The youngest family member received

educational books on Serbian literature and a package of

sweets.

We continue and end our humanitarian mission by

visiting five families in the village of Vrbesnica at the

foot of Mount Sar. The landscape of the village features

green hills against the white peaks of the Serbian Alps,

antiquated cottages and mountain streams all of which

leaves an extraordinary impression on us. In awe of our

surroundings, we are unable to cease admiring another of

the beauties, which adorn our holy Serbian land. As such

moments pass so rapidly, we return to the task at hand

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

and the harsh reality of the first five families from that

village.

The Stankovic family, consisting of Stanko, the father

and Ivana, the mother and their two girls Aleksandra (2

yrs.) and Andrijana (4 yrs.) live in catastrophic

conditions without a bathroom in a one and a half room

dwelling, on social assistance and sporadic minimum

wage. We did not find the father at home and from

Ivana, his wife, learned about their most pressing needs.

Due to their dire living conditions and their small

children we have decided to designate for them a

refrigerator, washing machine, bed, four chairs and a

vacuum cleaner. The children will receive clothing, toys

and sweets.

The next family we came to is also named Stankovic and

consists of Zoran, the father his wife and three sons,

Nebojsa (12 yrs.), Nenad (9 yrs.) and Nikola (6 yrs.).

This family lives in a house that belongs to their cousins

and which has been offered to them on unspecified

terms. The house is fully equipped and furnished. The

issue was with the fact that the family has the necessary

items for a normal life however nothing belongs to them.

In the end we agreed to donate a bed as they were in

need of one due to the number of children they have.

Our visits continue with the Staletovic family consisting

of Zoran, his wife, Ljupka and their children Violeta (15

yrs.), Stojko (12 yrs.), Valentina (10 yrs.) and Stefan (4

yrs.). We were introduced to this family by their

benevolent neighbors who had good reason to bring us

to them. This family abundant in children, is severely

lacking in many other ways. With the exception of 7,000

dinars in social assistance, the family has no income.

Upon speaking with Ljupka, the mother, we agreed to

help them with a washing machine, wood-burning oven

and four chairs. The children received gifts of sweets

and books on Serbian literature and Orthodox themes.

Midst plenty of words of thanks we received from yet

another family, we moved straight on to the next family

in the neighborhood.

The Orlovic family, whom we were also introduced to

by the noble residents of this village, consists of

Svetislav, the father, Budimka, his wife, her elder and

disabled mother and the couple‘s four children

Aleksandar (16 yrs.), Jovana (14 yrs.), Dragana (11 yrs.)

and Darko (9 yrs.). Needless to say, their situation is

critical—there is no income aside from modest social

assistance, the household is large and there is no

possibility of owning livestock. For this impoverished

family we have designated a refrigerator, three beds and

four chairs.

And it is here, where we completed our family visits but

not our list of planned help. Namely, a cousin of the

Orlavic family named Vesna was present during the

visit. She has six children one of whom is seriously ill.

We met her family during our last visit and promised

them a small refrigerator, which were going to deliver

now. Prior to leaving the village we distributed more

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

sweets, toys and books to children who had gathered

because of our visit but whose families we did not help

during this particular mission.

We thank Ms. Nada Vulic from London who donated

3,000 dinars, which we used to purchase gift packages

for all the families we visited during this Christmas

mission in the holy Serbian land.

Reflecting on how the days pass for these brave Serbs in

an environment where they lack basic human freedoms,

where children have no fulfillment except for each other,

where people have not the opportunity for the most basic

and humble work as farmers and livestock proprietors;

we leave disappointed because we realize that our help is

just a drop in the cup from which the thirsty cannot be

satiated. Instead of being satisfied upon delivering to the

Serbian people in the Kosovo-Metohija region the most

comprehensive support to date through the continuation

of our organization, we retreat discouraged toward the

capital city (capital in terms of a lack of concern for

those who live outside its walls) because we know that

we have changed very little in the lives of the people

here.

We are not comforted by the fact that our small

assistance is a great deal more than what others are

doing, nor does this discourage us from continuing to

help our fellow people from the historic Serbian

judgment day and Serbian shrines, rather it inspires us to

persist more strongly and to help even more in the future

regardless of the bitter taste it might leave in our mouths

because nothing is changing for the better.

Each and every time, we will give our maximum effort

for the sake of sleeping Serbian pride, for the sake of

stirring the Serbian spirit (which has been sleeping a

winter‘s sleep for decades), for the sake of an example to

others, for the sake of a positive example to the country,

for the sake of future generations.

Get up and WAKE UP Serbs and think of your

generations to come-- think about what they will inherit.

NO SURRENDER! With faith in God,

Predrag Marinković

Help for Family Ljiljak and Milutinovic

Report: Bojan Ilic ,Serbia (Photos ,Serbian Report)

On Sunday, 23 January, three activists of the

Humanitarian Organization "Serbs for Serbs" have

visited two families from northern Serbia. We have

delivered aid worth about 1,200 euros and this time

pleased 22 people, including a 16 children. Assistance

for family Ljiljak the Banat villages Neuzina was in the

form of purchases cows in the value of 900 euros, and

assistance to family Milutinovic from Backo village

Pivnice consisted of basic food items to 300 euros.

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011

Charity Organization Serbs for Serbs

Annual Video Report 2010

(Click to open video report)

СВИМ ДОНАТОРИМА И

ПРИЈАТЕЉИМА ОРГАНИЗАЦИЈЕ

СРЕЋНА НОВА ГОДИНА!

Charity Organization Serbs for Serbs from USA wish

you a Happy Orthodox (Serbian) New Year!

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Support our organization.

Finance

We want to inform all donors and friends of

humanitarian organization Serbs for Serbs

that live in the United States and Canada we

have new Pay Pal account so you can send

your donation via email to:

szsamerika@gmail.com or

Office@SerbsforSerbs.org

Обавештавамо пријатеље и донаторе

хуманитарне организације Срби за Србе који

живе у САД и Канади да органак СЗС у

Америци има нови Пеј Пал рачун на који

можете да уплатите своје донације. Да би

ојачали организацију глобално морамо да јачамо

регионалне одборе.

Хвала вам

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011 We want to inform all donors and friends of

humanitarian organization Serbs for Serbs that live in the

United States and Canada we have new Pay Pal account

so you can send your donation via email to:

Donations@SerbsForSerbs.org

szsamerika@gmail.com

Note: If you wish to have initials, a nickname or to be

an anonymous donor instead of having your full

name in the donors list, with or without stating the

state where you are, please email us:

szsamerika@gmail.com or office@SerbsforSerbs.org

Donors in January

1. Мilan Kolundzija (IN) - $15.00

2. www.cikaskisrbi.com (IL) - $25.00

3. Mateja Stojkovic (IL) - $20.00

4. www.NemaPredaje.net - $20.00

5. Lidija Stojkovic (IL) - $20.00

6. Michigan Serbs (MI) - $16.92

7. I.S. (IL) - $20.00

8. Milan Dobras (AZ) - $15.00

9. Lazar Krsmanovic (IL) - $25.00

10. Zelimir Lalusic (IL) - $50.00

11. Milos Vujasinovic (PA) - $20.08

12. Dejan Petrovic (IL) - $15.00

13. Vladan Milosevic (IL) - $100.00

14. Savo Radulovic (IL) - $100.00

15. Nebojsa Madzarevic - $20.00

16. Ozren S. (Canada) - $40.00

17. Ljiljana Kalinic (WI) - $50,00

18. Aleksandar K. (NY) - $50,00

19. Sasa Lazarevic (IL) - $50,00

20. Mladen Simic (OH) - $40,00

21. Ankica D. (NJ) - $25,00

22. Serbos Kanada - $355,00

23. Magdalena Markovic - $100,00

24. Christina Spiwak- $100,00

Total: $1292,00

0

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30

Number of Donors (24) January 2011

0

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400

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Donations in January ($1292.00)

Monthly Report www.SrbizaSrbe.us 2011 Charity organization Serbs for Serbs is currently in the

process of applying for a 501(c)3 tax-deductible

organization IRS status.

Хуманитарна Организација Срби за Србе је

регистрована као непрофитабилна организација у

држави Илиноис и тренутно смо у процесу за добијање

статуса 501c3 који би омогућио свим донаторима да

донације упућене нама могу да се отпишу од пореза.

У наредних пар месеци очекујемо позитиван одговор

од IRS-а.

If you live in USA or Canada please use our new

Pay Pal account: donations@serbsforserbs.org

or szsamerika@gmail.com

CHARITY ORGANIZATION SERBS FOR SERBS

www.SerbsForSerbs.org

office@SerbsForSerbs.org

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